What executive jobseekers need to know about how employers recruit...

Following the publication of my second book, Super Secrets of Successful Executive Job Search, I receive regular messages from people who've read it.

If you've seen any of my previous blog posts, you'll know that feedback is something I actively encourage, as in my opinion it's the best way to learn. Nothing brightens my day more than receiving a personal message through LinkedIn or my website.

One of the main topics people mention when they get in touch and one of the biggest revelations for those having read the book, is how employers make recruitment decisions. As a senior executive in the job market it can be tempting to leave your executive job search to third parties, namely executive job boards and executive recruiters, but relying on this approach as your sole strategy is a big mistake.

In my book I explain some of the challenges employers face having made a decision to hire. Recruitment is time consuming, painful and costly in terms of both time and money. Add to this the risk associated with making a bad hire and you'll hopefully be quick to realise that anything you as an executive jobseeker can do to alleviate some of these challenges is likely to be well received.

Pain + time + cost + uncertainty can mean one big headache for an employer in trying to hire. This knowledge gives you, the executive jobseeker, power – the power to influence by making the recruitment process far easier for the employer. In making the process easier, you have a far better chance of finding and securing the opportunity you want.

This comes from an understanding of the ‘hidden market’ (see below) and going directly to market as part of your executive job search strategy.

Most executive jobseekers are one of many with profiles on executive job boards and one of many registered with executive recruiters. They are small fish in a very large pond and have limited control over when and how they will be caught – if they are ever caught at all!

Ironically, because this is what most executive jobseekers do, this is what the majority of executive jobseekers think they should do.

But isn’t success in the executive job market about standing out from the crowd?

If you do what everyone else is doing and have limited control, which can have a detrimental impact on your confidence, then how is this standing out from the crowd?

Successful executive jobseekers use this knowledge to their advantage and do the opposite. They still sign up to executive job boards and register with executive recruiters, but that is only a small part of their game – they divert their energy in a different direction!

The 3 conversations...

This different direction starts with an understanding of the three conversations employers have. Understanding these conversations reveals the hidden market, which is one of the best places to find the executive position you want. If you’ve hired staff in the past, you’re likely to have had these conversations yourself, but may not have consciously thought about them.

Let’s look at an example:

John runs his own business and needs to recruit someone into the team. He's looking to alleviate pain, time, cost and uncertainty so embarks on a series of conversations.

Conversation ONE – He asks his peer group, his close circle of associates, to see if they know anyone they could recommend. These are friends or long-standing business associates who have become friends. They are people John knows and trusts. He’ll have a number of conversations like this, and once his personal and trusted network is exhausted, he’ll move to conversation two.

Conversation TWO – Next, John talks to his professional advisors, suppliers and other business contacts. They’re not quite in the inner circle, they’re not friends or business associates who have become friends, but nonetheless they are people he respects and trusts. He asks this group whom they know and whom they can potentially recommend. If he gets nowhere, he moves to conversation three.

Conversation THREE – Finally, John talks to an executive job board about placing an advert or to an executive recruitment company in his sector.

These conversations happen all the time, every day of the week, in all industries and at all levels.

Most executive jobseekers put themselves only in a position to be picked up by conversation three. If you think of the conversations as ponds, then pond three is the biggest and the most overcrowded. As an executive jobseeker, to maximise your chances of success, you can’t afford to just swim in this pond.

Ponds one and two are smaller. There’s less competition, and here is actually where John would prefer to fish – not in pond three because that costs him money in advertisement and recruitment fees.

Furthermore, ponds one and two come with an implicit recommendation because the individual being recommended is known by the person making the recommendation. The success of the placement is left less to chance; the candidate is more tried and tested.

Ponds one and two are the hidden market! I’m not saying to discount pond three, but don’t rely on it solely. Understanding the existence of the hidden market allows you to position yourself there, too, giving you access to more opportunities with a higher probability of success.

The hidden market also presents an opportunity for the executive jobseeker to create a position that does not yet exist in the mind of the employer – where the employer has no intention to recruit but recruits anyway.

If your organisation were considering expanding into China, if the right individual appeared with the necessary skills and experience, might you bring the decision forward, even if the decision had been intended for a later date?

Although this happens on a less frequent basis, it does happen. When it does, the executive jobseeker in this position has no competition. There are no other candidates in the process, and the opportunity is for the taking.

Routes into the hidden market...

So how do you access the hidden market? Invisible to most, the first thing you need to do is believe in its existence based on an accurate understanding of how the executive job market really works. My 'Executive Edge' Programme clients are well aware of my advice that 'believing is seeing'. While most rely on 'seeing to believe' (they see a job advertised and as such believe in its existence and that they have a good chance of being shortlisted and ultimately hired) those who understand how the executive job market really works divert attention to the hidden market. They may not see it at first, but with dedicated and consistent effort to attack it, the fruits of their labour result in high probability opportunities revealing themselves before they ever enter the public domain.

LinkedIn has been a game changer for employers, as for the first time it's empowered employers with a tool to access the hidden market directly. Previously conversations one and two took place in the physical world and as such their scope and reach was limited. Now through LinkedIn, employers have access to a database of talent, what's more if they know how to use the platform properly, conversation three may no longer be needed.

LinkedIn identifies 'contacts in common' and 'recommendations'. This gives employers additional comfort and essentially an implicit recommendation, albeit in the virtual world. They have access to not only active jobseekers, but also passive jobseekers (those not actively looking for a career move) with the right skills and experience.

This is one of the reasons embracing LinkedIn as an executive jobseeker is of paramount importance whether you're looking for a new executive position, right now, or not.

To help position yourself correctly on LinkedIn and use it as both a 'shop window' and 'proactive engagement tool', please click here to watch an online event I ran on the subject.

In summary...

Understanding the existence of the hidden market is often a turning point in the fortune of executive jobseekers looking to secure a new position in the executive job market. Of course, there is still a place for executive job boards and executive recruiters, but as a c-suite executive looking to gain an edge where opportunities can be visibly scarce and competition fierce, the hidden market should not be ignored.

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