Guest blog by Jayne Saul-Paterson, Executive & Career Coach
Have you been applying for advertised or listed jobs but not getting to interview or even getting a response? Are you being told that there are jobs out there but can’t seem to find the job you want ? Maybe you haven’t looked for a job in years and are floundering about how to get started?
Despite the large number of vacancies out there, (ONS job vacancies 1.1 million between July to Sept 2021), it can still feel as if you are competing with a large number of applicants, not getting your CV through applicant tracking software to a ‘real person’ and not getting an opportunity to interview for advertised roles. However, did you know that between 40 % to 70 % of jobs are never advertised and are found through the hidden job market.
So, what does the Hidden Job Market mean?
The hidden job market refers to the way people find and gain new jobs where a vacancy hasn’t been advertised and through a combination of personal connections, using their network and making direct approaches to hiring manager, they get jobs which many people don’t know exist.
There are different reasons why a job might not be advertised – the process of advertised recruitment is expensive, or the current role holder is still in the job but has made it clear they are thinking of leaving. But probably the key reason, is the employer would rather not hire a complete stranger, rather they prefer a referral from someone already in the company so that the person being put forward for a job is a known quantity and therefore a hiring manager can better predict their work performance.
So how can you navigate the hidden job market…
Well, the first thing to do is stop taking a scattergun approach to finding your next job. Stop looking and applying for lots of jobs that are visible, in other words advertised and listed and stop making irrelevant and non-specific applications e.g. applying for anything whether you have the skills or experience for it without carefully considering what you have to offer and finding jobs and companies which are a great fit.
The four key steps to navigating the hidden job market effectively:
1) Be vocal that you are job hunting – tell everyone you know including your friends, family, ex- colleagues/bosses, suppliers and clients/customers as well as your network outside of work that you are looking for a job.
Be sure to tell them the type of work and organisation that you are looking for and what you have to offer including your key strengths and experience to-date. It’s often about who they know who might be able to help you – you never know who they are connected to and they can make introductions for you.
2) Make social media work for you – social media is a great way to network and find new contacts or reconnect with old colleagues, line managers and friends.
Make sure you use LinkedIn to show recruiters that you are looking for work, make sure photo is up to date, your headline and summary clearly explain your skills, strengths and experiences and the type of work or organisation that you are looking for.
Remember to be proactive on social media, search for the organisations you would like to work for, join relevant groups or follow relevant people and employers and like or comment on their posts. Write blogs or articles that showcase your talents and knowledge. Think carefully about your personal brand, what are you known for online and offline, what does your activity or communications say about you – are you developing a personal brand that will attract opportunities to you.
3) Be clear about what you have to offer – consider your USP (unique selling proposition) and make sure that you know what you can offer an organisation. The people who often succeed when finding a job not advertised have done their homework about the challenges the organisation that they are targeting is facing and offer how they can solve these problems with their experience and their achievements to-date.
4) Proactive and direct approaches – aim to have insight conversations with people working in the job/career or organisation/sector you are looking to get into.
These informational interviews are about directly approaching someone for 15-20 minutes of their time, for you to find out more about the job/career/sector/organisation. You are not asking for a job but connecting to people who can provide insight and information. You might find out about an opportunity that hasn’t been advertised yet or even be given a recommendation or introduction on who might be a good person for you to talk to next. Another key strategy is to send a direct letter to an organisation that you would like to work for asking about openings or possibilities of working for them. These speculative applications need to be tailored with relevant information on what you have to offer and why you are specifically motivated to want to join the organisation. Proactive and direct approaches need you to research properly to find the person and or the organisation who can open doors for you.
A proactive approach is key
So, access to the ‘Hidden Jobs Market’ is open to all. It’s not just open to the ‘old school network,’ but navigating it will take a more pro-active rather than a passive approach.
It is a good way to bypass all the competition that will be applying for advertised roles. Job hunting can start to feel frustrating and disappointing especially if you start to get rejections, so this approach helps you take back some control, get creative, discover and connect to new people in finding that next job.
Finally in order to navigate the Hidden Job Market well, ask yourself what do I have to offer my next employer and who do I need to be talking to in order to secure my next role.
Jayne Saul-Paterson
Jayne is an executive career coach and facilitator currently working a range of different organisations delivering coaching and training programmes.
Since qualifying as a coach 20 years ago, the key focus of her work as a leadership and career coach has been successfully supporting leaders and professionals to effectively manage their leadership or job responsibilities particularly responding to challenges in the workplace including building resilience and maintaining work-life balance.
Jayne is a qualified and registered career guidance professional and through career coaching, she has supported large numbers of people to change jobs/careers and find more fulfilment in their working lives. She has a specialism in coaching people of colour across all levels in an organisation and particularly works with leaders and professionals from diverse ethnic backgrounds to support them in succeeding in the workplace and developing their careers.
Resources
You may find these resources helpful:
Event highlights and replay: The Hidden Job Market – what does this mean and how can you access it?
Blog: How to Lead the Conversation about your Personal Brand
Blog: 7 Job Search Tips during Covid-19
Event highlights and replay: Bouncing Back from Redundancy, Bullying or Being Fired
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