Accessing the Hidden Job Market

The Truth Behind the Open Job Market

Most job seekers rely on the open job market which includes
job posting boards and help wanted advertisements in local
newspapers to source job leads. While it appears on the
surface that these search vehicles have an abundant number
of job leads, the reality is that very few people secure
their positions through these methods of search. Only about
5-10% of people in search find their jobs using these two
methods combined. One of the main reasons it is so
difficult to land a job through a job board is that the job
seeker is faced with insurmountable competition and limited
means to differentiate their candidacy. It’s not
unusual for a hiring manager to receive over 500 resumes
for one open position. With no personal relationship with
the hiring authority, the job seeker is forced to rely on
technology and hope that the resume they submitted for an
online opportunity contains enough keywords and consistency
with the job spec to garner an acknowledgement from the
hiring manager. The sad truth is that the number of
companies that even acknowledge receipt of the resume is
under 25% and the percentage of companies that offer
candidates any additional information regarding their
candidacy is in the single digits.

How to Make Time Spent in the Open Job Market More Effective

So what’s a job seeker to do? Send their resume out
into cyberspace, cross their fingers, and hope for the
best? Absolutely not. Far too many people waste valuable
hours of search time sending their resumes into a virtual
black hole. If an unemployed job seeker considers their
full-time job to be finding a job and an employed job
seeker considers their search to be a part-time job, no
more than two hours of each week should be dedicated to
posting for jobs online. Candidates should be frugal with
the amount of time they spend online and take advantage of
time saving online search methods such as using aggregate
boards such as SimplyHired, Indeed, and Jobster which cull
information from numerous online boards or setting up job
email alerts on several large or niche board sites.

Why There is More Opportunity in the Hidden Job Market

Once the two hours of online search is accounted for, the
job seeker still has several hours per week to dedicate to
the rest of their search. Most people (over 80%) find their
jobs through the hidden job market, the jobs that are not
posted and that are communicated word of mouth. Open
positions might not be listed on job boards for several
reasons. Perhaps the company once had the position on a
board and was unsuccessful in finding a candidate, so they
are now searching offline. Maybe the company doesn’t
have the money to post online. Many companies consider
their employee referral programs a better source of hires
and promote the program extensively throughout the firm. Or
a situation exists in the office where someone is on
performance counseling and will probably be managed out of
the organization in the coming months. Still other
companies have policies regarding internal posting
practices and make opportunities available to their current
employees before looking outside for potential candidates.
In some instances a company plans to expand in a particular
area but doesn’t want to post online for fear of
tipping off the competition regarding their future
expansion plans. These are all reasons why a viable
position might not be posted online.

Finding Job Leads Through Cold Call Techniques

There are two main ways to access jobs in the hidden job
market. The first is to cold call into an organization and
try to find a connection to the person who is capable of
making a hiring decision. Approximately 10-20% of people in
search find their jobs by cold calling into companies. The
cold call is made regardless of whether there is an open
position or not. The goal is to identify industries and
companies that provide a good fit for the job seeker based
on their competencies, achievements, and geography and try
to gain an introduction to someone in the company to
convince them that you are a person worth knowing. By
proactively establishing the relationship before the hiring
authority has an actual need, you increase your chances of
being the go to guy once a viable position surfaces.
Prospecting for a new job is very similar to sales
prospecting. The difference is that in the first scenario
you are marketing yourself. There are numerous ways to find
leads into companies. The public library houses an
abundance of company-relevant reference guides that you can
use to cull valuable information about an industry,
company, or decision maker. Some of the many valuable
resources available include Hoovers, The Corporate
Directory of U.S. Public Companies, Consulting and
Consulting Organization Directory, Gold Book of Venture
Capital Firms, Thomas Register of Manufacturing Firms, and
the Corporate Finance Sourcebook. In addition, there are
professional research firms such as FTT Research that
specialize in finding decision makers within companies.

Networking Your Way to Your Next Job

The second and most successful method of sourcing jobs
through the hidden job market is networking. Over 70% of
people in search find their jobs through networking.
Networking at its most fundamental level is information
sharing and relationship building. When you network
effectively, you seek out opportunities to meet new people,
share information about yourself, learn about other people,
and offer assistance to others whenever possible. Good
networkers agree to meet with people to try to help them
even if on the surface there is nothing in it for them.
They open up their minds and their rolodex, share contacts
and try to make recommendations in an effort to help people
get closer to their personal and professional goals.
Networking is not about asking for favors or asking for
jobs. As a matter of fact, when you network you should
never ask for a job. Doing so might make the other person
uncomfortable, because they may not know of a job opening
or the appropriate decision maker. Good networkers ask for
information about an industry, company, or person to get
one step closer to the decision maker. The problem that
most people face when they network is that their circle of
contacts has stagnated over the years because they have
become far too comfortable within their inner circles. But
it’s never too late to jump start your network and
start planning for your future.

Job seekers can start to accelerate their networking
efforts by first identifying people in their immediate
world. This may include friends, family, members of local
community or religious organizations, doctors, dentist,
accountants, etc. Everyone you know knows approximately 200
other people and one goal of networking is to try to tap
into the people that your acquaintances know to extend your
visibility and reach and try to pinpoint others who can
help you in your search. Next try to identify companies you
are interested in and people who work for those companies.
They don’t have to be people who do what you do; they
act as a bridge between you and the people you need to meet
at a company. They can offer you invaluable information
about the company’s culture, how open jobs are
handled, where employees hang out after hours, etc. They
can introduce you to others in that company who may be one
step closer to your ultimate decision maker. Excellent
resources for finding members of companies you are
interested in include professional associations, virtual
social/business networking sites such as LinkedIn, Ryze,
and Ecademy, corporate alumni sites such as
CorporateAlumni.com and BrightCircles.com, and school
alumni sites including those listed on your
undergraduate/graduate school home page and Classmates.com.

Whether you are currently in job search or are planning for
a new position or career in the future, it is imperative
that you begin to tap into the hidden job market now to
build relationships with people and companies that can help
you secure a place for yourself in another organization in
the future. Make networking an integral part of your career
strategy today so you can reap the rewards of the process
for years to come.

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Barbara Safani, owner of Career Solvers,
(http://www.careersolvers.com ) has over 12 years of
experience in career management, recruiting, executive
coaching, and organizational development. Ms. Safani
partners with both Fortune 100 companies and individuals to
deliver targeted programs focusing on resume development,
job search strategies, networking, interviewing, and salary
negotiation skills.