The method I take my clients through on job hunts is an aggressive approach, that if applied with real focus, and intensity you can bring in some dramatic results. It revolves around the idea of making contact with people, real people, not machines, not automatic online résumé submissions, but real people, who are feeling real pain. The kind of pain that you are going to solve with the competencies that you bring, and services you can offer.

Yes, you need to be able to get the attention of a hiring manager, who wants what you have to offer.

So how do we do this? Well, if we think in turns of being in business for ourselves, and that we are offering a service for others as my own personal company then we can think from the perspective of using basic marketing principles. Remember, everyone is in business, whether we’re serving one company as an employee, or multiple companies as a Sole Proprietor, you are still in business providing and filling a need. So no matter if you’re entering a job setting, you need to start acting as though you are your own business.

Now, being in your own business, you have to develop a model. A basic business model that’s going to help you attract ideal customers, or in your case ideal companies to work for, who are your customers. The model that I walk my clients through revolves around getting the attention of your hiring managers multiple times, with the intentions of ending up with multiple offers.

We don’t want to be applying for jobs online. You are literally batting one out of a thousand; literally. True story, I knew a gentleman who did all his job hunting applying on sites such as Monster and CareerBuilder, and after months he ended up landing a position; success? Well, yeah, because he got the job, but I bet he could have done a lot better. I asked him about that length of time spent as we were talking about his process. He said he believes he did submit over one thousand résumés over that course.

I’m thinking, well of course it took that long. You are competing with thousands of other candidates, and not to mention some imaginary job boards, and already filled job ads.

I used to be a recruiter, and I won’t mention where I worked, but it seemed to be a common practice to post bogus jobs up on job boards just to get the attention of qualified candidates. Call it “Bait”, if you would.

Not to mention, those recruiters are sorting through stacks of résumés everyday, and it’s really hard to get noticed in the middle of all those shuffling papers.

Also, anything job board related, or newspaper ads, you can be sure that by the time a posting makes to the paper, nine times out of ten, that position is already filled.

Keep in mind also, that many companies are also hiring from within. Bersin & Associates report released in 2011 says that “talent mobility” is on the rise along with many huge changes when it comes to filling positions. Alternative ways to laying people off or moving them up the chain have been put into place.

Meaning, instead of just focused on cutting costs, leaders are now looking for ways to invest in what they currently have.

For the employee, this can be great news. For the job hunter or the employee that doesn’t want to work for that company anymore, a more systematic and creative approach is going to have to be put in place.

It’s time to get creative, it’s time to get systematic, and it’s time to fire up the engines and get intentional about what you want.