Have you ever heard the term ‘the hidden job market’? If you’re a job seeker, tapping into this hidden market is critical if you are serious about finding that dream job. Basically, the hidden job market is a term that is used to refer to the 75% of positions that are never advertised and can be accessed through networking, cold calling and referrals.
Networking
Love it or hate it, this is a valuable activity for many reasons. Try to attend as many business functions as you can. Breakfast meetings, lunches, drinks etc. Business functions are the perfect environment to informally mingle with other people in your industry and find out which companies are expanding or experiencing staff shortages. It’s up to you how open you are about looking for a career change but remember the golden rule. NEVER, EVER bag your current employer or express how much you hate your current job. It’s extremely unprofessional; you’ll just sound like a whinger and no-one will want to help you. Instead, ask questions to gather information. EG “how did you find your self employed with XYZ Company”, “what do you like most about working there”, “sounds like a great place to work, how does your company recruit people”, “could you give me the name of your HR person”. It’s fairly simple, but the idea is that if you happen to be in the right place at the right time, you may just come across a great opportunity.
Cold Calling
This is as simple as picking up the phone and calling the organisation that you would like to work for. Ask to speak to the person in charge of hiring, and then find out how that organisation conducts their recruitment. They may keep a talent database of potential candidates so ask if you can send your resume to them. Be prepared for some form of rejection, but if you are tactful and professional, many recruitment consultants may be prepared to give you some advice or guidance. Whilst keeping in touch is a great idea, do not be a pest and call the person every week to see if anything has come up yet. If you must make contact, keep it relevant and have a purpose for contacting them.
Referrals
Many organisations have staff referral programs in place because it is a very effective recruitment method saving companies time and money. Think about all of your contacts and how they might be able to help, but ask for information, not for a job. You may know someone who works in your desired industry so ask them if they know anyone. For example, “I’m considering a career change into the XYZ industry, do you know anyone I could talk to about that?” sounds much better than “I hate my boss, hate my job, can you help me find a new one”.
You never know when an opportunity might present itself so make sure your resume is up to date so you can send it quickly and make sure you always have business cards with you!
Till next time,
