How to Find a Job in the “Hidden Job” Market
Ita John, PhD
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Getting directly to a potential employer should be one of your goals in the job search strategies you’re adopting.
Agreeing with Simon Gray, the hidden job market is one of the best places to find a job be it an executive role or others.
Today, I’m examining the book “Super Secrets of Successful Executive Job Search- everything you need to know to find and secure the executive position you deserve” by Simon Gray, of Career Codex Limited. I’ve found it an incredible piece written for people who want to know exactly how to succeed in finding an executive position anywhere in the world.
Key topics the book covers include “The Super Executives CV/Résumé; Cover Letters; Getting in Front of Decision Makers; The First-Class Executive Interview; The Online Executive; Effective Executive Networking; Innovate to Stay Ahead, and Handling the Offer & Negotiation Stage.
Among the salient points raised in this excellently-written book, I’m thrilled about how Simon captured the concept of getting a job through the hidden job market. ‘Hidden’ because there are always jobs there, though 80% of job seekers don’t know this market and ways to access it.
For example, Simon narrated a real-life case where he employed someone because the person (he called Matt) understood and used the hidden job market tactfully. Simon employed Matt even when he wasn’t fully ready to hire a ‘recruitment consultant’ at the time, only because Matt impressed him. Simon wrote,
“ Matt sent me an introductory email with his CV attached. The subject line caught my eye as it read: Previous experience in recruitment . He’d actually done a brief stint working for one of my competitors.”
A few days later, Simon says Matt called him to confirm the email was indeed received. Simon continued, “I remembered him (Matt) and was pleasantly surprised to find an articulate young man on the end of the phone who had clearly researched my business.”
The long and short of this was that Simon invited Matt for a coffee and was very impressed. Within a week, Matt was given two interviews and was hired.
3 Things Matt Did Beautifully:
1. He didn’t wait to respond to a vacancy advert – he tried his luck on the hidden job market
2. He was persistent and was always polite
3. He researched and prepared well for the initial phone chat with Simon
Again, the author narrated how the hidden job market works exactly. An example:
Suppose Mr Bradley is a businessperson and wants to hire someone, let’s see three scenarios are likely to happen.
Conversation 1 ─ First, Mr Bradley will naturally ask his peer group, close friends and associates, to know whether any of them can recommend a person to him. Because these persons are Mr Bradley’s long-standing business associates, he knows them and will trust them should they recommend persons to him. Imagine if you had had a relationship, professional or personal, with any of Mr Bradley’s associates! Mr Bradley will first explore this network, and if he exhausts this group, he will try the next conversation.
Conversation 2 ─ Next, Mr Bradley will talk to his professional advisors, suppliers and general business connections. Though these people may not be Mr Bradley’s inner circle, nevertheless, he still respects and trusts these group and can welcome any recommendations from them. If he can get a good person recommended from them, then, that’s perfect! If not, next, he will move to conversation three.
Conversation 3 ─ Lastly, Mr Bradley will talk to a job board (executive) to advertise the job or to a professional recruiting firm.
These are the scenarios that happen daily, weekly, monthly and in all job industries/sectors and at all job levels. About 80% of jobseekers put themselves in the tight-corner of conversation three only.
Simon then compared these three conversation scenarios to a pond. So, pond three is the biggest and the most overcrowded. He advised that to benefit from your job search maximally, you can’t just depend only to swim in pond three.
Note, ponds one and two are smaller, with less competition, and these are where you should be fishing more for jobs. Note also that since referrals here are based on the recommendations by persons known to Mr Bradley, the probability of a successful placement is higher as the potential candidate may have been more tried and tested by the person recommending her/him.
Moreover, sometimes you can even uncover and create a vacancy that didn't exist previously and the company will then employ you to do the job; all because of your approach to the hidden job market. Simon showed how this can happen too (see p.17; 90-94).
Last remarks
The ponds one and two constitute the hidden job market.
Understanding and positioning oneself in this market alongside pond three (the conventional job boards) give better access and more opportunities for succeeding in your job search.
Moreover, what you can do is not so much of what media you will use to reach the employer (e.g., email, phone, LinkedIn, Twitter, post, or face-to-face) but more importantly is how you can come up now with a well-thought-out scenario (content) to present before a potential employer in a "hidden job" market to secure an interview.
(P.15-17; 75-80)
Order your copy of the book to read here
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Hi, my name is Ita John. I train people to get good-paying jobs quicker. I use an empirical methodology and framework I developed that is based on 14 KEY themes and actions to take. I’ve got 100% job placement success so far. Ignore these 14 themes; you'll struggle longer than necessary in getting a good-paying job.
PM to have a FREE one-hour session with me on how you can find a job anywhere in the world:[email protected];+447716508624
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To help you create all your job application documents to outsmart your rivals & land more interviews this month, we created a smart resume/CV creator app, cover letter maker & LinkedIn profile builder, CVJury, Visit Us
6 年And sometimes you can even create a vacancy that didn't exist previously and the company will then employ you to do the job; all because of your approach to the hidden job market. Simon explained how this can happen too (see p.17)
To help you create all your job application documents to outsmart your rivals & land more interviews this month, we created a smart resume/CV creator app, cover letter maker & LinkedIn profile builder, CVJury, Visit Us
6 年*there are always jobs there