Four Strategies Help You Find Your Dream Job in the Unpublished Job Market
Did you know that the traditional job market only covers around 30% of all jobs available at any given time? Some experts claim that this traditional job market covers no more that 10% of the jobs available. So where are the rest of the available jobs?
The unpublished job market, also known as the hidden job market, covers around 70% of all available jobs available in the marketplace. But there's more; 80% of the six-figure salary positions are filled within this unpublished job market. Due to its importance, it should be part of your overall job search efforts.
Let's look at four strategies that you can use to leverage on the opportunities available on this hidden job market:
1. Have a list of companies of interest.
Why it's important to take the time to research companies? Because if you just apply for any job opening you find, you're wasting time and energy, even though you might feel like you're accomplishing something by sending out tons of resumes out there.
The time you spend upfront researching about companies you are interested in will benefit you in the long run, because you won't be spending time and energy applying to companies that aren't a good fit for your career plans. Instead, you will be applying for job positions at companies in your field of preference and where you would like to work for.
2. The Informational Interview
The informational interview is one of the most effective tools when it comes to leveraging the unpublished job marketplace. In kind of interview you interview a person from the company or field of interest to gather information about the work environment, job opportunities, work ethics and other useful information and to get feedback and advice on how you can improve your chances of landing the job you are looking for, beside the fact that you will expand you network of contacts in your target company or field.
3. Your network as source of information and referrals
When it comes to looking for your next job, the importance of career networking should never be discounted. In fact, career networking should become a part of your daily work and career-related endeavors. Your career network should be in place for when you need it, for relationship for day to day business, job searching and for moving along the career ladder. As we never know when we might need it, it makes sense to have an active career network, even if you think you don't need it right away.
4. Contacting employers directly
Sometimes you may want to contact a potential employer directly, in addition to or instead of applying for a position of interest on their website. Or maybe you didn't find a position of interest among the ones posted and you want to contact the company to let yourself known for when the right time comes.
When asked about what is the best method of getting ahead in the unpublished job marketplace, the best answer I can give is that the best method is a combination of all. You should do your homework to study and filter out your potential employers and you will see which combination of strategies will suit your purpose for a potential employer.
When you compare to the traditional job market, you might be thinking that the unpublished job market is not as easy or convenient as responding to published jobs ads, but when we look at the number of possibilities available, working the unpublished job market is something that you should include in your over job search strategy when it comes to find that job or career advancement opportunity you want.
Ramon Torres is the founder of http://ramonto.com and the author of the video course "Getting Ahead in the Unpublished Job Market" on Udemy.
