Ahhhhhh….the mysterious unadvertised job market.

I dedicate this article to all those professionals out there who have heard about the hidden market but wonder why you should concern yourself with it.

This is not only a topic I love because I specialize in showing my clients how to succeed in landing a job using the unadvertised or hidden market, but a topic I can talk all day about! So I am splitting this article up into small, easy to digest sections in order to bring you the straight talk about the benefits you stand to gain by using non traditional job seeking methods.

So lets begin with a true or false:

True or false: With all the jobs listed on the internet today I don’t need to concern myself with any “hidden” job market.

False. That is, if you care about getting more than a measly 1-to-3% response rate from the resumes you send out using major job boards.

In other words, did you send out 50 resumes using job boards and you still haven’t heard anything back? Well by these standards your only problem is you haven’t begun to send out enough resumes yet…yikes!

The good news about these stats is that there are a whole bunch of job seekers out there that just started to feel a whole lot better about themselves. The bad news is that this proves job boards are a really depressing, hard and painful way for the majority of us to land great jobs.

True or false: I should only answer jobs that are advertised – because I will look stupid if I send my resume to a company when I have no idea if they need someone like me.

False. Way back when I had my own executive recruiting firm I remember client companies telling me “we don’t have any immediate needs right now but if you find a superstar please don’t forget about us, we want to see their resume!”

Not only do companies always make time for people who are “superstars” (and a lot of this has to do with the way you market yourself to them) but most companies go through at least five steps to fill a position before they will post the position to a major job board.

Think about it: if you have a key position that just opened up in your company is the first thing you do pick up the phone and call Monster? No of course not!

You get on the phone to a few trusted colleagues. You look to see if anyone already on board is qualified to be promoted to it or alert your staff to refer someone they might know. You launch an intimate grass roots campaign to try and fill this position wwaaayyy before the general public is notified. And if after a few weeks if the position is still not filled perhaps you contact a related association to post the job on their member’s only job board or you contract a recruiter.

True or false: I have heard the interview process is shorter and the salary package can be significantly higher with unadvertised opportunities.

True! Why? Because when you pursue unadvertised jobs you are almost always talking with the company key decision-makers right from the start. You have more creativity to sell your skills and build the value of who you can be to the company. And finally because these interviews usually lack the formality of a full blown-human resource driven candidate-search, your competition is significantly lower AND the salary terms are less likely to be chiseled in stone. I have seen this play out to my clients favor time after time!

True or false. I am not “high enough up” the ladder to seek out unadvertised opportunities. The hidden job market only applies to executives.

False. ANYONE and I mean even if you are right out of college can enjoy the benefits of the hidden job market. These jobs are available on all levels and in virtually all industries.

The trick is to hone your focus so you actually achieve the results you want. (more on that later!)

So why should you care about the unadvertised market? Because for you, it means more job opportunities, more market leverage, less competition, shorter interview processes and bigger offers. Golly, I can’t imagine why anyone would want to keep pumping out resumes via the internet when you can have all of this control over your next career move!

Stay tuned for next weeks article where I will reveal powerful tips on tapping into this market yourself!  

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Most executives are excellent at what they do, but struggle to market their skills when it comes to finding and capitalizing on better career opportunities.

You CAN be quickly respected as a powerful source of wisdom and authority in your areas of expertise to (people in) companies that don’t yet know who you are. You can do this by communicating to them in a way that positions you as an expert in areas that match the challenges of that company. 

So where do you start?

Step One: Know where to find fr*ee sources

Fr*ee sources of information on companies that are moving and growing that is! Industries that are growing and companies that are moving and growing, being acquired, going public or launching a new product or service offering are most often primed for new company hires.

Sources of this information include your local weekly business journals (fr*ee online), local chamber of commerce’s and economic development associations and trade journals. Find two sources that work for you and commit to reviewing them. In committing just an hour each week to doing this, you should be able to easily find two to five interesting articles that intrigue you.

Step Two: Write a letter

Write a cover letter to each company stating why their particular situation impresses or interests you. Tell them authentically why. If they are positioning themselves to “go global” and your background includes helping companies successfully do this, then tell them so and remember to give them an example of how much revenue this generated.

Share that you will follow up with them to see if they would be interested in an initial conversation. Use gracious, diplomatic language to get your point across. Include in your letter a copy of the article you are referencing. You can also include your resume if you discern it’s appropriate or not. What important is that you take action to make that initial contact. If you enthusiasm is authentic they will catch that immediately and you will have maximized your potential to generate interest!

Are you wondering who to send your letter to? The person or persons quoted in the article are best. Don’t worry if they are top executives in the industry. Many professions believe it’s not possible to connect with the top executives of a company but in most cases this is simply not true. In fact, you can use this erroneous belief to your advantage as your approach stands to be unique to your competition! If a decision maker isn’t quoted in the article simply imagine what position you would hold in the comply and go two levels higher. Company executives are often sited on corporate websites or sites such as Yahoo finance or zoom info.  

Tip Three: be consistent

When you commit to take action using this powerful strategy to easily find growth opportunities, you are making a wise investment in yourself and your career. Make it a bold goal of yours to find and send out a certain number of letters each week. If you only sent out and followed up on two letters each week (which should take you only a few hours) you stand to generate MORE interest than if you answered 40 online job ads! That’s right! So make a commitment to yourself to be consistent each week – to quickly and easily move forward towards your goals.