| Winning The Salary Negotiation Process By Not Answering »
The “Hidden Job Market”
By Pat O'Donnell
© December 1, 2007, all rights reserved.
Most job hunters do not know how to market to the “Hidden Job Market.” If you find yourself saying, “That’s me. I don’t know how to do that,” then listen up. Not only is this job market hidden from you, YOU are invisible to all the people awarding jobs in the Hidden Job Market.
A job is said to be “hidden” when it is not public knowledge (such as being posted in a newspaper or on a job-posting site like www.monster.com.) Very early in the life cycle of a job posting it is only known by the hiring manager and perhaps 2-3 key execs who work closely with the hiring manager. It frequently is not even approved by HR before the hiring manager has 2-3 candidates in mind he intends to interview and is biased towards because they were recommended by someone he knows well.
Industry studies show that 30-35% of people hired are identified before the knowledge of the opening gets beyond this stage.
Over time the job is posted on the cafeteria wall, in the company intranet, is discussed by current employees with former co-workers, and makes its way into the meetings and websites of professional associations like the AMA (American Marketing Association) or IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.) Knowledge of the job is still confined to insiders and their sphere of influence, although over time more and more outsiders are learning of the job opening.
70-80% of jobs are awarded to someone referred to the hiring manger before the job gets beyond this semi-public stage.
If the methods above have not yet produced a satisfactory candidate, it is published in the newspaper, on job-boards like www.monster.com and www.careerbuilder.com. At this stage, these efforts usually generate more candidates who DO NOT fit the job, than candidates whose skills are appropriate.
If the above methods have not worked well, or the client does not have the time to screen candidates, or does not have HR staff who have been able to identify the desired candidates, the client hires a recruiting firm to find and screen candidates.
By the way…
If you are one of those candidates who submit themselves to jobs which they clearly don’t fit, don’t bother. I have an interesting metric for you. An HR person from one F100 firm headquartered in town told me they get 50,000 unsolicited resumes per month company-wide. Another F100 firm I work with receives 30,000 unsolicited resumes per month. Now how do you imagine that your ill-fitted applications stand up in that environment?
These figures will also hopefully motivate you to improve your resume, cover letter and interview skills as much as possible, even if you fit the job specs.
What have you been doing about it?
Most of you concentrate 80-90% of your job seeking efforts responding to ads on client websites and on job boards like monster.com or careerbuilder.com. Both tactics result in you being in a pool of many applicants where you are statistically less likely to succeed.
What you can do about it
You are far more likely to be hired if you are referred to the client by someone whose opinion the hiring manager values. The earlier in the life cycle of the opening the hiring manager sees your resume the fewer competitors you have and the more likely the hiring manager is to take a chance on someone who is not a perfect fit but whom was recommended by someone he/she trusts.
Topics: Career Strategies, Hidden Job Market, Networking |
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.