Source: klwells.squarespace.com
Where are you looking for your next job?
If you are like most serious job seekers, you probably cruise the internet regularly, looking for jobs advertised on the online job boards, maybe on the websites of companies or organizations that interest you. Then you send your resume, or maybe dozens of resumes, in response to those advertised jobs, only to realize that your efforts produce little or no result.
If this is you, you are following the popular – though not the most effective – way to find a job. Let’s look at some job market stats to understand why this is and… a more effective alternative.
The Advertised Job Market
Did you know that the Advertised Job Market – AJM – accounts for less than 20% of all available jobs? For every job you see advertised, there are 5-10 – or more – jobs being filled that will never be advertised at all. That’s right. At most, only one out of five positions for which someone is hiring, today – right now – is advertised. One out of five. Maybe as few as one out of ten.
Here’s another fact to know: more than 95% of all job seekers apply only to advertised jobs. 95%! Put these two facts together and you have 95% of all the people looking for jobs applying for less than 20% of the available positions.
When you confine your job search to the AJM, know that you – and 95% of all job seekers – are looking read: competing – for work among less than 20% of available jobs.
The Hidden Job Market
Hidden Job Market Circles
All those unadvertised jobs comprise what is commonly referred to as the Hidden Job Market, or HJM. Hidden jobs are filled without being advertised. How? Before posting a job the decision maker (hiring manager) taps her own network for potential candidates. And not just any candidates; “known entities”. Known entities are trusted referrals: people whom the hiring manager knows or who are referred by someone she knows…and trusts.
Trusted referrals pose dramatically less risk than hiring an unknown resume. Hiring managers fill over 80% of their available jobs with trusted referrals – known entities – before those jobs are ever posted, thereby reinforcing the process.
So how do you find these hidden jobs? And how do you become one of the known entities in the hiring manager’s network? There are four basic steps:
- Decide what your next career step will be.
- Build a list of companies and organizations you would like to work for.
- Identify the decision makers at those companies who could hire you.
- Establish relationships with those decision makers.
What’s For Work? can help you through each step via our Career Forum and by helping you network with other members who have successfully created multiple opportunities in the Hidden Job Market. The most successful spend 90% of their time establishing relationships with decision makers who could hire them if they had a need. They spend no more than 10% of their time pursuing advertised jobs. When you conduct your search primarily in the HJM, you become one of the less than 5% looking among over 80% of available jobs, significantly improving your odds of success.
About the Author
Dennis Thompson is the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and Career Expert at What’s For Work? The Premier Career Site for Women.
About What’s For Work?
The Premier Career Site for Women. Real People. Real Connections. Real Support. — with everything in one place! http://www.whatsforwork.com/
Mission: To redefine how employers acquire talent and women find and preserve their dream jobs using innovative technologies.
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