JR8 wrote:How about taking a job advert and calling up. If you reach an HR 'gatekeeper' discuss it with them or better still find out who the decision maker is going to be on it and speak to them.
Ten odd years ago I went to a workshop where this approach was demonstrated. There were maybe twelve of us in the room, and the host had a phone with a loudspeaker attached. He tossed a few papers on the table (FT, Times, Guardian etc) and asked us to pick some job adverts.
He then set about calling each one. We could hear the 2-way conversation, the receiving party was unaware of this. In most instances he got to speak to someone in a position to tell him more about what the job entailed and what was required, and at the least he then had the name of a contact and could follow up in writing as 'Further to our conversation of xyz'. In a few instances he got the name and straight through to the person doing the hiring. Some of the relevant people were unavailble, but at least he got their names to follow-up on.
It was really fascinating, and we sat around the table all a bit stunned at the brazen-ness of his approach. He'd ask them ... 'So the job is described as xyz which is fine, but what other skills or qualities are there that you're really looking for, what will make the difference?'. This was something he kept going back to with us, that the job description is often just a template description, meanwhile what will swing it is frequently unspoken - unless you get to speak to them.
Quite amazing really, these were FTSE-100 companies he was calling, and the cues and leads he was getting simply by asking were extraordinary. I remember after the 1/2 day feeling like I'd been in the presence of a magician or illusionist it was that surreal what he got just by being bold enough to ask.
If you have time or inclination to listen to podcasts, go find one called the "Social Engineering" podcast. There's a bunch, and it focuses on using social engineering in Information Security related settings (e.g., to assist in breaking into offices and computer networks). However a few are more generic, just on influencing people and psychology behind it.Quite interesting to listen to