As a follow up to my recent blogpost about the innovative job-hunting method by newly-minted MBA Eric Barker, I wanted to share his thinking behind what he did, how he did it, why, and how cost-effective it was, in his own words:

1) I chose Facebook for ads because it was unconventional, cheap, highly targeted and offered solid performance metrics. I targeted all Microsoft [one of his target companies] employees nationwide. Given that cost per click was so low, that I could manipulate my bid price and put a cap on it for the day I saw no sense in on limiting how wide I cast my net inside the company -- you never know where help will come from. Besides, I'm open to relocation so geography wasn't a concern.

2) At first when I was piloting the technique I wanted to see if it would garner any response at all (which it certainly did). I targeted a few select companies that I felt would be a good fit for my skills and interests but which may not be actively recruiting (Microsoft, YouTube, Netflix, Apple and IDEO). Essentially, I was hoping to be in the right virtual place at the right time for someone to recognize me as a great fit. I'm a realist, so I didn't want to place my bets all on one company but I chose this targeted method because I'm very focused on connecting with the right organization where I feel my unique background will create value.

3) When you consider this little experiment in unconventional job hunting took maybe a half hour of my time and less than $50 in expense, it's been wildly successful. My ad got over 50K impressions, over 500 clicks, and more than 20 people contacted me directly offering everything from a LinkedIn connection to the email addresses of recruiters to sending me the job description for specific roles in their division that they offered to submit my resume for. Because of the innovative nature of the technique I've also received requests from reporters/bloggers wanting to write about me. Considering my level of investment and the fact that I only need one job, I'd say this was pretty successful.

Hey, career coaches and job-seekers, are you listening? 

NOTE:  This idea of a Facebook jobseeker ad campaign was first proposed by Willy Franzen.