How to doorknock

Greg Wyatt • March 19, 2024

Doorknocking is an old-school sales approach you may well have experienced, such as when a young person with a clipboard rings your doorbell and asks you to change electricity provider.

My wife even bought from exactly this scenario.

But while it’s not uncommon in a business-to-consumer situation, it can also work business-to-business… if you can get past security.

Although technology has moved on, the principle is the same, whether in person, by phone, email, letter or LinkedIn:

You approach someone cold and create your own opportunity.

This isn’t an approach for everyone, and certainly requires a modicum of chutzpah, but if you are used to a high failure rate in applying through job boards and agencies - what do you have to lose by not gaining a job through being proactive?

And more than that - look at all the advice on LinkedIn on how to improve your odds in a job search.

It’s all transactional and applicable, available to everyone - if you all follow it, everyone takes the same step forward.

While taking steps others are less prepared to do means the approach alone may stand out.

Of course, if you encounter the equivalent of a sign which says ‘Tresspassers will be shot’, that’s something to consider if the rules are important.

I’ve never applied through traditional means to a job. Here’s my successful application history -

  • Walked into the Cinema and asked for a job

  • Walked into Office World and asked for a job

  • Worked for Dad

  • Talked to one of my ex-colleagues and gained some by-the-call phone research work

  • Temped through an agency

  • Walked into the Pickerel Inn and asked for a job

  • Referred to Workplace Law

  • In managing their (small-scale) recruitment, I got to know the MD of Whitehill Pelham as a supplier. I went to work there.

  • Tapped up to return to a more senior role at Workplace Law

  • Started my business upon being given the boot


It’s true I did apply through job boards and agencies, but it’s mainly through my own means I’ve secured my employment.

Doorknocking has one key advantage and one key disadvantage as a route to a job.

The key advantage is that you approach companies by category, not because they are recruiting. These categories can be:

  • All the employers in your local business park you can walk around

  • Top 100 employers in your particular domain, whether industry or tech

  • Companies that have recently had funding and are about to scale

Or however you choose to categorise a list.

The point is to make contact and make a case for yourself, on the principle of

the right person, right time, right place, right message, right offer, and right price.

So of course, there’s an element of luck involved, for these elements to all come together.

We’ll dig into this in the next section.

The key disadvantage is that they may not be recruiting, or ever have a need to employ you, and even if they do have a vacancy, you still have to establish the right fit.

That means a logically low hit rate.

But again, let’s go back to job board applications - how many hours have you spent applying for jobs where you never even heard back?

The difference is the anonymous rejection of a volume based application versus the personal rejection from your direct approach.

Your threshold for an acceptable failure rate will inform whether this is the right approach for you.

Right person, right time, right place, right message, right offer, right price.

This is a principle of any marketing activity, including other means of looking for work.

Let’s reorder the list and see how we can make them work for us:

Right Place

Those Categories above. The place is the Company, and how you contact them. You can go in blind, if you are a bold prospector by nature, or you can research them in advance.

Right Person

Typically this will be the ‘next one up’, Head of department, Director, CxO or Owner.

Who would be the budget holder at work? Those are a good target. Research, as usual, can help - look them up on LinkedIn, PR, news, video platforms. What can you find out?

Right Time

In most situations, if you categorise by anything not time-related, this will be pot luck.

What if, instead, you categorise by timed factors? What might be a hiring trigger?

Perhaps you could contact a list of companies who have just announced funding, or a big win - events that can trigger investment in the business through hiring.

Or maybe you hear through the grapevine that Janine is about to go off on maternity leave.

If their process isn’t time-related, can you make it time-related?

“We aren’t hiring right now” might mean they’ve run out of headcount in H1 (Jan to June), and may have a new budget in July. What can you find out that helps you both?

And if you have radio silence, why not try again in a month or three months?

Think about how you buy - if you don’t need something it doesn’t matter so much about how good the message is.

If you do need something, someone who keeps in regular touch might sell you what you need.

Right Offer

You have more opportunity for career creativity, in being unemployed, than someone entrenched in a 9 to 5 permanent job.

What problems can you fix for a company, in a non-traditionally employed capacity?

Let’s say an employer has a problem that needs fixing. They don’t have capacity to do it right now, it isn’t burning enough to seek professional help, and there isn’t sufficient work in view to make it a job.

What if you caught them at the right time?

An out-of-work TA Manager who offered to revamp an onboarding process.

A web designer who notes lots of issues with their website.

A strategic operational issue that is their unknown unknown, but your expertise identifies.

A swamped team who could benefit from their admin burden being reduced.

An orchard that needs pickers at harvest - no shame in that.

Who knows what that might be?

What starts out as a short-term / project / part-time piece of work can become proof of concept. The FD of one company I’ve recently recruited for created his own job, contacting them a couple of years ago because he loved their products.

Right message

This is both nuanced and vulgar.

It’s nuanced because nailing the message CAN create an opportunity a poorly written message can miss.

But it’s vulgar because sometimes you can just catch people at the right time, no matter how cruddy your message is.

This is very much the case in recruitment - I’ve picked up several senior appointments by happenstance.

“I’m glad you called Greg, I’m just starting to think about my maternity cover in June.”

Had I not called, that HR Director may well have gone to the specialist HR recruiters she is also in touch with.

If you have a strong hook in your message -such a key area of rare expertise, or a clear issue you’ve identified which companies may have - great, go in with that.

But if you don’t - done is better than procrastinating:

“Hi Greg, I live locally to Bircham Wyatt Recruitment. Love what you do. I wondered if you might be recruiting for an apple picker at any point? If you can’t help, could you point me in the right direction?”

Right price

I’ve left this til the end because much of this is variable and subjective. What are your needs? What can they afford? What does the market say? How flexible can you be?

Research will help, if you can get a sense of what they generally pay through indeed, glassdoor or others. Or maybe what comparable companies who are advertising will pay.

One approach might be simply to pro-rate your salary over the period you’ll work there.

As a related aside, door-knocking can sometimes inadvertently give you access to jobs that are being actively recruited. Consider it a happy byproduct of your work, if you find yourself in this situation.

Like any activity in a job search, it’s worth persevering. Otherwise it’s too easy to think, after 10/20/100 unsuccessful efforts that the approach itself is at fault.

There is always an element of good fortune in any marketing activity.

This may be out of your comfort zone, in which case it’s an opportunity to grow.

Or it may be out of your capacity, which is understandable.

You may even find other approaches are more effective than you.

But the only certain thing is that if you don’t try you definitely won’t benefit from it.

Thanks for reading.

Regards,

Greg

p.s. if you found this article helpful, may I ask that you share it with fellow job seekers? This will always be a free publication, and I have no intent to monetise career coaching, which I hope allows it to be as accessible and objective as possible.

I’ve no idea if ‘liking’, commenting or reposting helps. What about ‘commenting for coverage’ 😂?

Why not share it in a LinkedIn post? You may start some interesting conversations, and help others you don’t yet know.

Introduction to personal branding

By Greg Wyatt • March 30, 2026
What follows is Chapter 39 of A Career Breakdown Kit (2026) . It's 10 months old, so surely the algorithm has moved on right? Indeed, my own content performance has tanked if you compare 2026 to 2025. Around 12 million views of my content last year, while if I extrapolate my year to date performance, it looks like a little shy of 640,000 views. My LinkedIn feed is quieter, yet real life relevant conversations go from strength to strength, many of which stem from my content. Look, I don't love the term, but I am a fan of putting your message out there, across multiple means, so that your most relevant audience might become aware of you. And perhaps your relevant audience is an audience of one, a person who can put you nearer that job. Which is the only algorithm you need. This is a three part series, with part 2 on " Content strategy and philosophy " and part 3 on " A flair post ". Click on the links for the unedited versions on Substack. 39 - Introduction to personal branding Whatever you think of LinkedIn, you shouldn’t overlook its nature as a free marketing platform, where you can build a reputation through the words of your posts, comments and messages. Personal branding is a viable tactic as part of a multi-channel approach to your job search and it can bring opportunities to you. I'll start off by saying I'm not a fan of the term personal branding. It can lead to make-work which can even get in the way of what you should be doing. Writing and using content to create experiences that support a job search is a great idea and calling it personal branding - as a discrete activity - isn’t a bad thing. I expect there are many mediums through which you can build a personal brand. I'll focus on LinkedIn because of how entrenched it is in other job search activities. What a personal brand is For businesspeople the idea is that by building awareness of your personality, lifestyle and what you're promoting, you also build trust. So that when people are ready to buy, they'll buy your products. The brand might be personal. The goal is sales. When you see personal branding on LinkedIn it’s often a business that promotes their services through the account of the author. ‘Here’s my puppy, buy my stuff.’ Take note that the target audience for these advice posts is the businesspeople above. And these posts often seek to part them from their money. Your goals are similar. If there’s a commercial outcome you want, it’s likely a single job, not a throughput of leads. You’ll also see that controversial content gets huge engagement and can also repel readers. If you need a job, what’s the danger of writing overly spicy content? Could a reader make a decision against you based on your words? How much you need any job should inform the experience you want to create for your readers. How it sits in your wider job search Publishing content is about raising awareness and starting conversations with the right people. This can be your profile, written posts, newsletters, (bestselling) career breakdown kits, videos, you name it - anything you can become known for. In many ways the hierarchy of relationships your content appeals to is the same as with networking. Content can be publishing posts, commenting on the posts of others, sending direct messages. I’d argue even your applications and interviews are part of your personal brand. I think of LinkedIn posts like a plumber’s van driving around town. Most of the time you’ll disregard the van unless it cuts you up with noxious fumes. When you have a leaky pipe, you’ll surely take note of their number. It can support an application if a hiring manager decides to surreptitiously stalk your profile. And it can work against you if it suggests problem behaviour. A good balance for content is the poster in my daughters’ primary school from a few years back: THINK. Is it True? Is it Helpful? Is it Inspiring? Is it Necessary? Is it Kind? Achieve those five points and content will rarely work against your job search. Content should be consistent with your wider activity. Which means that everything people (potential employers) experience of you is a complementary and non-contradictory message. Content that contradicts your CV or cover letter may lead to red flags, whether that’s fair or not. Content should be intentional. HOW TO GO viral, and why you shouldn’t Anyone who writes content will enjoy the sweet, sweet flow of dopamine when you see reactions and comments trickle in. Such as that first flair post announcing you are available to help your next employer with examples of your achievements and what you are looking for. Do that and you’ll get loads of engagement. Why haven’t you done it yet? Tag me in and I’ll support you. Or you can do what most people do and say, ‘I’m sorry to announce I’ve lost my job, please help’ and that will get loads too. Because it is relevant and relatable to fellow job seekers, recruiters and sympathisers. Then you feel the soul-crushing defeat of a well-thought-out post, highlighting a problem in your industry, with tumbleweed to follow. Both types of content have a place. That tumbleweed post is relevant and relatable to a niche audience. I try to take a land and expand approach to content - job seeker advice, recruitment advice and stories, ponderings and satire, which I use to tackle topics from different directions. Over the past three years I’ve had between 3m to 11m views of my posts and I’ve gained a bit of business through them too. What I don’t do is try to go viral anymore. Because when I have gone viral with a few 1m impression posts, it’s taken weeks to extricate myself from them and there hasn’t been real benefit. I find my tumbleweed posts start better conversations from lurkers - those that never engage publicly. I promised you I’d show you how to go viral. Here you go. Relevance + relatability + readability + entitlement. Maybe add a selfie. If that seems too simple, search for this sentence on LinkedIn: “An employee asked me if he can WORK from HOME permanently.” You’ll need to use the double speech mark to search on the phrase, and rank by Posts. ‘Does it really work?’ asked Charles. I told him to try it as an experiment. He rarely got more than a few hundred impressions per post. 170,000 impressions, 2,000 reactions. Pretty viral for a first timer. It is the wrong path. What do these posts actually say? Who are they aimed at? And if they don’t appeal to people who can help you reach your objective, what’s the point? 

Nothing but the truth. Innovation from Iteration, pt 4

By Greg Wyatt • March 26, 2026
I was tempted to use another Tom Cruise AI image for this article, but his hands ended up looking like feet, which wasn't a true representation of him. Probably not fair to use AI in this way either, stealing copyrighted material without permission. And so I use this AI 'stock image' instead, which is probably also highly unethical, but feels more suitable and sufficient . Anyway here's an article about why the same principles are crucial for good recruitment: ‘True and Fair’ is an accountancy concept that lies at the heart of reporting, and can be applied effectively in recruitment. Its meaning is that any financial statement made about a company should accurately and completely represent its financial position and performance. The role of auditing is to confirm that documentation meets this definition. Do so and everyone knows what they are dealing with. HMRC, shareholders, customers, suppliers, employees – useful, and in many cases necessary, to have access to a true and fair view of a company’s accounts. Can something be true and not fair? In 2001, Enron went bust, a huge scandal with real-life repercussions that led to new legislation in the US. Their accounts were true, in that they conformed with the required laws and standards. However they had an incredibly complex reporting structure which made it impossible to see the overwhelming debt they had. Poof! Bye-bye a $100bn company when this all came out in the wash. How about fair but not true? This can happen if a situation is described which gives a fair picture but lacks accuracy. An example here could be the UK politician who HMRC deemed behaved fairly but made errors in his tax reporting. Only a few million quid plus penalty. What types of recruitment documentation does this apply to? Three key ones that spring to mind (although there’s no reason it can’t be applied everywhere): The job description. The job advertisement. The CV. If these three documents were always a true and fair representation of either a job or a candidate, you’d interview and hire better candidates who stick around longer. With the caveat that these documents should also be ‘suitable and sufficient’, if you remember last week's edition. Documents are the first step in a recruitment process, relating to a decision to apply and the decision to interview. Is it not the case, that the second most common complaint in recruitment is “not what we expected”? Therefore, if we nipped this complaint in the bud, with true and fair documentation, wouldn’t life be better for everyone in the recruitment process? What does true and fair mean in recruitment documentation? I think it has to cover three points. 1/ factually correct 2/ shows context suitably 3/ describes sufficiently An immediate objection might be that job descriptions are always true and fair, but I’d argue this is actually rarely the case. If you recruit for a new role, do you audit your job description against the current context? If you have a generic job family description does it show the specific day-to-day duties of a role? Have things changed in the current role that makes it different to the last time you recruited? A common scenario in recruitment is that Greg resigns, and the hiring manager says “we’d love someone just like Greg”. Yet if Greg resigned, wouldn’t someone just like Greg be at risk of resigning for the same reasons in future? Would now-Greg have applied for the same role that then-Greg applied for? Which definition of Greg is the true and fair one you’d hire? It feels strange writing my name like this. There are lots of different situations in which a job description that was true and fair a few years ago is no longer so. The only way to ensure it is true and fair, is to audit documentation prior to going live. You may think a fully representative and accurate contextual analysis is too time-consuming for most vacancies, especially where it doesn’t actually matter if there is some inaccuracy. “Oh yeah, that’s not relevant anymore”. But if you have a key hire that can make a difference in your business, ‘true and fair’ should be the starting point, each and every time. If you have a systematic process that finds truth and fairness, you’ll see the benefit of applying the same across any vacancy – for the reason that the time invested at the outset is offset by interviewing fewer unsuitable candidates and wasting less time and resources overall. And what should be the more important reason of better recruitment outcomes. For any project I take on, this is the first step – getting the documentation in order. Get it right and everything flows from there. It’s a key reason behind my nearly 100% fill rate. It’s also one of the reasons my average tenure is over 4 years for key hires. These achievements don’t come down to chance. They come from my process. If you've forgotten why suitability and sufficiency is the other pillar, here's an example that isn't suitable: Nineteen experiential bullet points might be true and fair but will also encourage ideal candidates to run away screaming. See you next time. Regards, Greg p.s. While you are here, if you like the idea of improving how you recruit, lack capacity or need better candidates, and are curious how I can help, these are my services: - commercial, operational and technical leadership recruitment (available for no more than two vacancies) - manage part or all of your recruitment on an individually designed basis for one client. This can be a large as end-to-end delivery of a programme of vacancies, or as small as writing one job advert for a key hire- recruitment strategy setting - outplacement support