Not Just Any Job: How to Build a Target Employer List and Search with Intention, Ep.118

You're not 22. You're not looking for your first job out of college. And you're not willing to take just anything.

So why are you searching like you are?

In this episode of the Her Next Chapters job search series, I'm sharing one of the most underused strategies in a midlife job search: building a target employer list. Instead of reacting to job postings, you'll learn how to use LinkedIn's company search and filters to identify the right employers — before a role ever gets posted. Then I'll show you how to activate your network with something specific and actionable, so the people who already know and trust you can actually help.

This is the job search as an act of intention. And it changes everything about how you show up.

Topics covered: LinkedIn company search, filtering by location, industry, and company size, how to research target employers, and how to give your network a concrete ask.

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Transcript

Series Context And Today’s Problem

Christina Kohl 0:00

Hi friends and welcome to this week's episode of Her Next Chapters. I'm Christina Kohl, and if you're new here, welcome. This is part of an ongoing job search series I've been recording, and we've covered a lot of ground together already. We've talked about your resume as a marketing document, not a historical one. We've talked about clarity as the actual foundation of your search because if you don't know what you're looking for, no strategy in the world is going to get you there. And we've talked about going above and beyond in your applications to get past the ATS, those automated systems that are screening your resume before a human ever sees it. And last week we talked about networking through your references, bringing them in early, making them part of your job search team before you even need a reference call.

Christina Kohl 0:51

And today I want to talk about something that came up in a conversation I had recently, a direct message on LinkedIn. It's something I haven't been able to stop thinking about. Because what this woman said captured something that I think a lot of you are feeling, but maybe having given yourself full permission to say it out loud. She told me she's not 22. She's not looking for her first job out of college, and she's not willing to take just anything. She wants strong leadership. She wants a vision. She can actually stand behind. And I just thought, yes, that's it. That's exactly it. And here's what I want to say to that, and to you, if you're nodding along right now, that's not being difficult. It's not being unrealistic. And it's not having your head in the clouds about what the job market looks like. It is clarity, and clarity is a gift, especially in a job search. But here's the thing I also said to her, and I want to say to you, knowing what you won't settle for is only half the battle. The other half, the part that most people skip, is knowing how to actually find and vet the right companies before you're deep in a process. Because here's what happens when we skip that step. We apply, we get excited, we go through two, three, four rounds of interviews, we start imagining ourselves in the role. And then somewhere in round three, we realize this culture is not what I thought it was. This leadership is not what I was hoping for. And now we've invested weeks of time and a lot of emotional energy into something that was never going to be the right fit. So today I want to give you a tool, a

Clarity And Standards Are Not Too Much

Christina Kohl 2:40

practical, concrete way to get ahead of that. It's called a target employer list, and it changes the posture of your entire search. I created this resource for a client of mine. She's a career returner, she's deeply experienced in HR and operations, and she's looking for her next HR role. She knows her field, she knows her value. What she needed was a way to identify the right companies in her area to focus on. So she wasn't just reacting to whatever job postings happened to land in her feed. So here's what we did. And you can do this too, right now, with a free LinkedIn account. So you go to the LinkedIn search bar and you can push pause on this, go pull up your LinkedIn, or come back and listen later. But go to your LinkedIn search bar, type the letter A, just the letter A, and then hit enter. For some reason, when you just do a blank, it gives you nothing. Nothing shows up. So we're gonna start with that letter A, and then across the top, you're gonna see filter options, people, jobs, post, companies. I want you to click on companies. Now you're gonna see like a million results of companies, which feels overwhelming, but stay with me because we're about to narrow that down very quickly. But first, you're gonna delete that letter A from the search bar and just leave it blank. And now you're working with all the companies on LinkedIn. When I did this today, there were 60 million. So our list just got bigger, but we're gonna make it smaller. You're gonna go and click on locations and type in your city or your region.

The Target Employer List Strategy

Christina Kohl 4:18

For my client, that was Sarasota, Florida. The moment we added that location filter, we went from millions of results down to around 20,000. So still a lot, but we're not done. Next, you're gonna click on all filters. This is where it gets interesting. You can filter by company size. So if you know you want to work for an organization that has real structure, real leadership, real resources, you might want to filter for companies over 200 employees or whatever size makes sense for you. For my client, filtering by size brought us down to 462 companies. Then we added industry filters. She knows her field, HR and operations, so we selected the industries most likely to have the kind of HR functions she's looking for. And just like that, we were down to 144 companies. 144 in one geographic area, filtered to the right size and the right industries. Now that is a list you can actually work with. Now here's the part I want to slow down for a second. Because this is the part most people don't do. Most people in a job search are reacting. A posting goes up, they apply. Another posting goes up, they apply. They're always chasing. And there's nothing wrong with applying to postings. That is absolutely part of it. But if that's all you're doing, you're leaving so much on the table. When you have a target employer list, you shift from reacting to being intentional. You're not waiting to be found. You are deciding who you want to work for, and then you're going to them. So what do you do with the list once you have it? Start researching. Go to each company's LinkedIn page. Go to their website. Look at their leadership team. Read their about page. Not to check a box, but to actually ask yourself, does this feel like a place I could be proud to work? Does this leadership team seem like the kind of people I want to learn from? If the answer is yes, follow them on LinkedIn. Start engaging with their content. Like it. Comment on it. Repost it when something generally resonates. Connect with employees who are active on the platform. And if a company has a careers page that lets you sign up for job opening notifications,

LinkedIn Filters To Build The List

Christina Kohl 6:40

do that. You are building a relationship with these organizations before a job posting ever exists. And that matters because so many roles are filled through relationships, not cold applications. And then this is a piece I really want you to hear. Take that list and give it to your network. I talk a lot about networking on this podcast, and I want to come back to something I believe deeply. Networking is not asking strangers for favors. It is not self-promotion. It is connection. It's conversation. It's letting the people who already know you and trust you know specifically how they can help you. And here's the thing about specifically, your network cannot help you if all they know is that you're looking for a job. That's too vague. If you fear of anything, let me know. That's a lovely thing to say, but it doesn't give anyone anything to act on. A target list changes that completely. When you reach out to someone in your network, a former colleague, a friend, a professional contact, and you say, I'm focusing my search on these companies, and I'd love to know if you happen to have a connection at any of them. Now they have something concrete to work with. And I want to say something here directly to you. If you're someone who finds this part hard, if asking feels uncomfortable, if you always try to figure things out on your own, you don't want to be a burden, you don't want to ask for too much. I hear you. I really do. A lot of the women I work with feel exactly the same way. But here's what I want you to think about. The people in your network who care about you, they want to help. They just need to know how. And a specific ask is actually a gift to them. It tells them exactly where they can show up for you. That's not imposing, that's letting people in. And now they can actually think through their contacts and hopefully make a meaningful introduction on your behalf. That is a much more powerful ask than let me know if you hear of anything, right? And it's a much easier ask for the other person to answer. Now I want to come back to where we started because I think it matters. The woman in my LinkedIn messaging, she knows something important about herself. She knows she's not 22. She knows she's not willing to take just anything. And she knows what she's actually looking for. Strong leadership and a vision she can stand behind. That self-knowledge is valuable. And it deserves a search strategy that owners it. Because here's what I want you to understand. You're not just a candidate hoping to get picked. You are someone with real experience, real expertise, and real standards. And you get to be selective too. The target list process, the research, the relationship building, all of it is you deciding which companies are worthy of your experience, not just waiting to find out if they think you're worthy of theirs. This is a fundamentally different way to show up in a job search. And it changes everything. How you feel going into conversations, how you present yourself, how you evaluate offers when they come. You're not just throwing your resume into the void. You're choosing your targets, and then you're going to them with intention. So, my friends, I have a resource for you: a step-by-step guide to creating your target employer list using LinkedIn's company search and filters. If you're interested, just send me an email. It's Christina at her next chapters.com, or even just message me on LinkedIn with the word target. And I'll send you the guide so that you can follow along and build your own list. And if you've been listening to this series and you're realizing you want more than just the podcast, if you want someone in your corner helping you think through your strategy, your positioning, your search, I'd love to talk. You can find me on LinkedIn or at the link in the show notes. Thanks so much for being here. I will talk to you next week. Thank you so much for listening today. I hope this episode hit home for

Research Companies Before You Apply

Christina Kohl 11:15

you. And if you haven't already, be sure to connect with me on LinkedIn and say hello like importantly, thank you for listening. Until next time, remember your story is replaying your own. And your next chapters are ready to begin.