You think you're doing all the right things ... but is it enough? You've got a great resume that you've posted on the resume banks, you've sent it in response to company job postings. You've got a robust LinkedIn profile and spend a lot of time being visible in the right groups and posting insightful shares about your profession. Each of these actions acts like a baited fishhook, but being passive as you wait for a bite isn't the fastest way to land a job, especially when your competition is doing the same. You've got to be proactive and think of your job search like a sales and marketing campaign.

It All Starts With a Conversation

Look at it this way: The only way a corporation survives is by earning money through sales and marketing activities. You should be treating your job search as a sales and marketing job too. Marketing activities are the baited fishhooks you throw out, while sales is all about getting into conversations with customers to understand their needs and sell them your product or service. The sales function exists because marketing alone -- positioning the product in places where potential buyers will see it (your social media profiles and resume in resume banks) -- is never enough for consistent profitability. The same need for sales and marketing activities applies equally to you in your job search.

Your successful job search, like any sales campaign, depends on your getting into conversations, as quickly and as often as possible, with people who can make the decision to hire you. Right now you are the sales team and the product, and that means your job is mostly concerned with getting into conversation with the people who can give you interviews and make job offers.

Target Companies to Approach

If you want to control the trajectory of your life, it demands doing more than just spending your time on social media and uploading resumes. You need to identify all the companies in your area who might hire someone like you, and after that, you need to locate living, breathing people within those companies who you can talk to.

Who to Approach Within Your Target Companies

Your first step is to identify who you want to talk to and how you are going to find them. The people you want to start conversations with as quickly and as often as possible are:

1. People holding the job titles one, two and three levels above the one you want.
2. Corporate recruiters.
3. People who hold the same job title you want to get. These people will have jobs in the departments where you want to work, and will know the high-value job titles one to three levels above you.

Develop High-Value Networking Assets

Put these titles together and you have a hot list of the high-value job titles that represent the people who are most likely to know about suitable jobs for you and who are in position to hire you or make the right introductions to someone who can. These are the people you want to get into conversation with as quickly and as often as possible.

These are the titles and people you want to bring into your growing professional networks, because these are your future colleagues and they can have a decisive effect on this and future job searches. Building such profession-relevant networks is critical to your success, these are your professional colleagues, and for as long as you are in this profession, they will be the people who can help you most.

Paying It Forward

Professional relationships thrive on reciprocity, so just as you hope for help with the things you need, you must also be prepared to help your colleagues whenever the opportunity arises. Building a network where these job titles predominate will get you into the conversations that will increase your chances for getting hired today and help you build a strong professional network for the lifetime of your career.

An ex-Silicon Valley headhunter & HR Director of a publicly traded storage company, N.Y. Times bestseller, Martin Yate CPC, brings a lifetime of street-wise career management experience to his work.

The Knock Em Dead career management books unfold a new and unique approach to getting what you want out of life rather than becoming a powerless drone trapped in some high-rise salt mine.

With 17 career management books collectively published in 81 domestic and 63 foreign language editions, he is increasingly thought of as the father of the new career management. Perceptive, direct and witty, you can join Martin here to change the trajectory of your life forever. As Dun & Bradstreet says, "He's just about the best in the business."

Knockemdead.com delivers exemplary resume and coaching services and encourages affiliate relationships with professional colleagues.