Tip #15: Tapping into the hidden job market
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This email is part of a series “20 Job Search Tips in 20 Days”. Every day in December, you’ll receive a job search tip for career changers.
Job Search Tip #15: Tapping into the hidden job market
When you hear the phrase, “hidden job market” - what comes to mind?
You may imagine of a box stuffed away somewhere with ‘jobs’ hidden in it, like a buried treasure chest. Maybe you imagine a secret job board with job postings only certain people can see. Well you may be in for a bit of a surprise…the hidden job market is not hidden at all…because many of the job openings that are NOT posted publicly on the job boards, the jobs are not even ‘open’ in the traditional sense.
The hidden job market is the combination of new job openings that are CREATED when the right person comes along through a mix of internal hire and referrals.
Hiring for the right fit
Many ‘hidden’ job openings are created exclusively for the person interviewing because of the right fit between the candidate and the company. The matching of the candiate to the company can only happen if the candidate is gets a referral to someone at the company.
Aaron, a former lawyer, turned developer, started networking with people in the legal-tech space. He connects with someone from the legal-tech industry who invites him into a community with legal-tech companies. From there, he connects with a CEO of a startup in the space, and then gets a job at that startup.
This position was not even posted because the company was very small and not even sure they wanted another software engineer. Yet because of Aaron’s unique background in law and engineering, her stood out as the perfect fit for the role. The company is a small startup, they did not advertise the position anywhere. Networking was the route that helped him find the legal-tech company in the first place.
Read the full story here:
Why the ‘hidden job market’ exists
Jobs that are hidden are no different from jobs posted publicly. The only difference is that they are NOT posted publicly or don’t exist yet. These jobs are accessible through networking because they are only advertised in a small, closed network that is related to the employees that know about a potential opening in their company.
Hiring costs money
Companies that are hiring are trying to bring on a qualified candidate as quickly as possible, instead of spending hours qualifying people. That’s why most companies reply on referrals and internal hires to make new hires. It’s always faster.
Hiring costs money. Most companies can expect to pay between $4,000 and $20,000 to hire a new employee, not including salary and benefits. The larger the company, the more it can cost.
Things like putting up a job posting on the big job boards can cost hundreds of dollars. Every interview employees conduct costs the company money. To avoid spending thousands on hiring, companies don’t post openings publicly.
Companies don’t always know what they want
Sometimes a company may not even know that they want to bring on a new person until they meet them. This is a common occurrence in smaller companies that are typically more open to the ‘perfect fit’ candidate when they meet them. On the other end at larger companies, new positions may open up when new work streams emerge, or people get fired or promoted, so hiring through referrals is the fastest way to fill positions in those cases.
The ‘hidden’ job market can be broken down into three main categories:
Job is not yet open
Company may be thinking about opening a job but have not decided to open the position formally
The position is MAYBE open, depends if the right candidate comes along
Job is not posted yet
Company is planning to make a posting public but haven’t yet
Company wants to hire internally, so is sourcing candidates internally
Before posting publicly, company seeks referrals to start the hiring process
Company doesn’t have budget to post publicly on a job board
Employee quits and position becomes suddenly open
Hiring manager is very busey, so waits to post publicly
Job openings doesn’t exist
Company does not yet know that they needed a specific candidate until they meet them
There are key business reasons that determine whether they post a position publicly or not. While these reasons are OUTSIDE of your control, you do have control over your networking outreach and branding.
Ways to access the hidden job market
The ‘hidden’ job market is always available. It’s accessible through networking and referrals. It’s essentially what happens when you friend tells you they got their job through ‘someone they know’.
Remeber, no one is hiding anything from you. If you are interested in a company and want to get in line when they are hiring, network and have connection calls with people from that company. If you want to break into a startup, start posting content relevant to their field.
Find creative ways to connect with people in your target role and industry. The more people you know, the more access you’ll have to the hidden job market. The most common strategies to access this market include:
Virtual Networking (ex. Linkedin direct message, Slack, Discord)
In person netowkring (ex. conferences, meetups)
Connection calls
Ask for intros to new people from current connections
Posting content on Linkedin
Engaging in hobby activities to connect with more people in real life
Tapping into the hidden job market is essentially the same as engaging in ‘networking’. As long as you are connecting with new people and growing your network, you’re finding opportunities come to you, that sometimes look like they were made just for you. That’s the power or networking to access the ‘hidden’ jobs.
To everyone job searching during the holidays… you got this, keep going 🌟
If you missed them, here are 3 previous tips: