Something to readChanging jobs
The 2-Hour Job Search
Dalton's book that turns looking for work into a short, step-by-step routine aimed at first interviews
Why it’s worth your time
Steve Dalton's The 2-Hour Job Search replaces mass online applications with a short, structured routine: a ranked list of employers, brief emails to people who work there, and reminders that tell you when to follow up. If you're a recent grad, or anyone tired of applying and hearing nothing, it gives you something specific to do tomorrow morning.
How to start a job search with a target list
The book · About 5 hours of reading · Buy or borrow
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- Start with the target list.
Read the part on building a ranked list of employers first. The rest of the method, the outreach email and the follow-up routine, works from that list.
- List 20 employers you'd like to work for.
Set a timer for 20 minutes and write down employers you'd consider, including smaller ones you haven't thought about. Rate each from 1 to 5 for how much you'd like to work there, and note whether you know anyone at it, even through your school. Your top five are where the first short emails go.
Good moments for this: on the first day of a job searchafter weeks of applications with no repliesbefore your last semester
Keep going with Truest
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- It actually happensWe’ll put it on your calendar and remind you before it starts.
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Making it work for you
Every workplace is different. Here’s what to think about before you start, and what might get in the way.
Things to think about
The conversations Dalton describes tend to go well because people like helping someone who asks good questions, and an early request for a referral can make that harder. His suggested questions, such as what they would do in your position, give them an easy way to help.
What might make this harder
Start with your own college's alumni on LinkedIn; Dalton treats a shared school as a ready-made reason for someone to help. Keep the email short and end on one question, for example: I'm a recent graduate of your school looking at roles like yours, and I'd value your view of what it's like at your company. Would you have 15 minutes for a call in the next couple of weeks?
Questions people ask
What is The 2-Hour Job Search about?
A step-by-step job search method by Steve Dalton, who advises MBA students on careers at Duke's Fuqua business school, first published in 2012. Instead of mass online applications, it uses a ranked list of target employers, brief messages to insiders at each, and a follow-up routine, all aimed at an informational conversation and, through it, a first interview.
How do I ask a stranger for an informational interview?
Write a short note that says how you're connected, such as a shared school, asks for their view of their company or field, not for a job, and suggests a brief call at a time that suits them. If no reply comes, Dalton's follow-up routine covers what to do next.
What is a LAMP list?
Dalton's ranked list of target employers. The letters stand for List, Alumni, Motivation and Postings: you list employers, note whether you have an alumni contact at each, rate how much you want to work there, and note whether they're posting relevant jobs, then sort to decide where to reach out first.
What is the 3B7 routine?
Dalton's follow-up rule. When you email a new contact, set reminders for three and seven business days later. If there's no reply by the third day, try someone else at the same company; at the seventh, follow up with the first person.
What it says, and how it holds up
The limit on a job search, as Dalton sees it, is how fast other people respond, not how hard you work. In his telling, hiring managers with too many applicants lean on referrals, so his method aims at the insiders who might vouch for you. He calls it instructions rather than tips, with each piece taking at most 15 minutes, so a day of searching has an end and some days need no searching at all.
Dalton is a career consultant at Duke's Fuqua School of Business, and his publisher says the method is a formal part of Duke's first-year MBA curriculum. He has written that most of its parts are borrowed and that the value is in how they fit together. A 2013 Chicago Booth CareerCast interview, free to read as a transcript, is a good way to hear him explain it: he walks through the list and the follow-up rules, and argues for asking contacts thoughtful questions rather than selling yourself.
The third edition, published October 6, 2026, adds advice on job searching after the pandemic and on using AI, and its publisher describes the method as three steps. Details such as the LAMP list, the 3B7 routine and the 15-minute pieces come from Dalton's descriptions of earlier editions (his own site, the 2013 interview and a 2025 seminar), so check them against the edition you read. A 2025 Georgetown seminar summary presents the method as a solid starting point for career changers, not a way to find perfect jobs or perfect contacts. The blurb from Dan Heath on its publisher's page calls it a guide to finding a white-collar job, and its tools assume an office search run through email and LinkedIn. The people you write to may also get a lot of these requests, so the courtesy built into the method, short emails, real questions and keeping them posted, matters as much as the mechanics.
When a job is filled through a formal process, such as a civil service exam, a union hiring hall or a hospital's credentialing, outreach to insiders tends to count for less and the application itself for more. There, the time is better spent getting the application exactly right, and asking someone who has been through that process what tripped them up.
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Picked by Truest and described in our own words. The original belongs to its creator. Last updated October 9, 2026. We sell a career membership; where that’s relevant above, we say so.