Hidden Job Market

In your job search, the challenge is to keep your own job goal in mind, while also trying to fit into what is available in the job market.  This becomes more difficult as money starts to run low, and circumstances can often change your priorities as you search for work.  Looking for a job in standard ways is often not the most effective way forward.  Your challenge is to find the jobs that aren’t advertised – the hidden job market.  Everyone else is applying for the advertised jobs, and the particular job and employer may not suit your job goal.

The following chart, adapted from Richard Bolles’ What Colour is your Parachute, helps to understand the difference between how employers hire and how job searchers search for work.  It stresses the importance of building your network as a job search tool.

The Way Most Managers / Supervisors Look for Employees 

 (Hint....this is the direction you should look for a job!!)

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Step 1 Promotion from within the company

Step 2 Someone known to the manager / supervisor

Step 3 A referral from a friend or co-worker

Step 4 Resumes in manager’s file - names of people who have contacted the manager recently about a job

Step 5 Human Resources Department - resumes on file

Step 6 Personnel Agency - resumes on file

Step 7 Newspaper Advertisement / Internet Posting

 

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The Way Most People look for Jobs 

Adapted from What Color is Your Parachute, by Richard Bolles

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