Most of us in the careers field preach diversification: don’t put all your eggs in one basket… pursue a multi-channel job search… you never know where your next lead or next job will come from.

And that’s all true, in general. But last week I learned a startling statistic from a reliable source – an early peek at the CareerXRoads annual study of the Source of Hire data from “large, highly competitive, high-profile firms.”

Guess what? A referral from someone in the hiring company is 70x more likely to lead to a hire than any other source.

That’s right – 70 times.

So what does that tell you? Target your search… Align your skills and value with what you learn about the organization… Network to get a referral… And be ready to discuss the company’s challenges and how you can provide solutions. Do this whether or not there’s a current job opening. Do this as often as you can (it’s not as easy as zapping out a resume in response to an online posting).

Given this finding, if you’re going to concentrate your search in one channel, the only smart choice is the targeted/referral route.

Cross-posted at CareerHub

A post over at Indeed.com examines whether Fortune’s 2008 list of 100 Best Companies to Work For are hiring.

But really, does it matter? Only if you want to be one of the herd… stampeding toward “where the jobs are” (or supposedly are) rather than pursuing a targeted search. By that I mean identifying companies that are a great fit for you (products, industry, culture, growth plans, etc.) and using your network to connect with a decision-maker there. In this kind of search, it really doesn’t matter whether the company is “hiring.” If you can prove you’ll bring value to the company, there’s a good chance they’ll (a) make a position for you; (b) keep you on their radar screen for future opportunities; or even (c) refer you to someone they know who’s facing similar challenges. The worst that can happen is you’ll have a good business discussion (NOT an interview) with someone who can now become part of your network.

Fortune itself tells us that “even during an economic downturn,” these companies are “constantly scouting for talent.” And here’s some more good advice on the subject of targeted search.

Bottom line – worry less about who’s hiring and more about why a specific company might hire you. Make your case, and see what happens!

The weekly Member Bulletin from Allan Hoving at ExecuNet arrives in my email box every Friday morning, and of the first things I do is check the “Learnings from Landings” – my favorite part of the bulletin! It’s a nice up note to hear about someone who has landed, but even more importantly, learning what they learned is always helpful and interesting.

This week, a newly landed executive shared this: “If I had it to do over again, I would focus my message and network earlier.”

In a nutshell, that’s the best strategy for any job search:

• Focus your message. What do you need to convey to let network contacts know how they can help you and let employers know how you can help them?
• Network. Talk to people. Deliver your message. Ask for help, appropriately. Follow every lead, focusing on identifying business problems, then show how you can solve those problems. Help others and let them help you.

It might sound simple, but it’s certainly not easy. Kudos to all who land, and thanks for sharing what you’ve learned.