How to bypass the gate keepers and reach the hiring decision-maker?
There are a couple ways to connect with a hiring manager, without having to go through their ATS (Applicant Tracking System) or deal with Recruiters.
Call Receptionist: If you are nice and engage the person on the phone, you will likely come away with a name. It sounds easy, and sometimes it truly is as easy as making a phone call and asking for what you're looking for.
Contact HR: When calling a company, you can ask to be directed to the human resources department. You will likely get the voicemail of a person within the department. Or get transferred to someone in HR who might direct you to the right person. Even if HR isn't the right person, when your resume shows up, they will pass it along to the appropriate counterpart in the department.
Use Social Media: Use LinkedIn and Facebook to find people. If you are on LinkedIn, you will need to do a lot of looking to identify people that are associated with the company you are targeting. Join affiliated groups so that you can write to those people directly without an introduction.
From there, you can introduce yourself to a person at your targeted company, network with them, and obtain a name for the hiring manager. Facebook takes a little more work because you need to introduce yourself and be added as a friend. We recommend LinkedIn first and foremost if you can.
Locate the Senior Management List: Traditional research also works. When doing research on a company, oftentimes the company will have a listing of senior management. Send an email to one of those people. You never know, you might get a response asking you to send your resume to them directly, or they might even give you the name of someone to reach out to within the company.
Your best bet at receiving a response is by writing your cover letter in the body of the email. That is, tell a compelling story about why you're passionate about the company and the problem you think you can help them solve. Never underestimate the power of storytelling!
Network: The rule of six degrees of separation is what LinkedIn is all about. Everyone is six or fewer connections away from each other. Therefore, you should step up your networking efforts. You can find the name of a hiring manager from friends, friends of friends, acquaintances, and many, many others.
Track down the hiring manager's email address: Hunter.io is a site that can help you track down the email addresses of people at a specific company. This is an incredibly useful tool to have in your job search. Use it to find the name of a hiring manager in seconds! Additional sites include: Validity.com and Lusha.com