Everybody has heard the way to find a job is to tap into the hidden market. Estimations are that 80% of all jobs filled are never advertised publicly. Certainly you may feel that you have already alienated yourself from family and friends asking for a job at every turn but there are ways to exponentially increase you opportunities to find a job within this untapped market.
Sure reading all the self help books you can find about interviewing and negotiating an offer are good things to improve upon your abilities to land a job but what you should be most concerned about is landing an interview. The only way to exponentially increase your chances to land an interview is to market yourself.
Marketing is a smart aggressive game that you must follow with consistency and vigor. It is estimated that only 20% of all jobs filled come from public advertising. This means that 80% of all jobs available to you come from you reaching out and tapping into this hidden market.
So let’s put the cuddly nice “you deserve it” books down and go out and take it.
What is It?
Target Your Job Search Market
Probably the first lesson in marketing is that you must know your market. If you do not know your target then how can you possibly aim? You must define your targeted job market search, measure it and understand it.
There are three elements that define a targeted job market search – geography, discipline, and industry. Nothing else goes into the equation.
There obviously can be and will be multiple selections of each element but you must identify them. This will include targeting geographic areas and not focus on the world. Be specific. Also identify within your discipline all movements you are willing and able to work laterally and within a companies hierarchy. Producers and consumers should be listed within your industries as you may fit an industry you have not worked prior specifically because they have interest in what happens or has happened in a sector you have worked.
Companies
To target this market, I would first find all the companies within specified geographies. Using one of the large company databases like Thomas Register or Hoovers is preferred. Remember you are looking for companies and that is free information.
Influencers
The next step would be to identify people within your target. If you have participated in Linkedin and have a large enough database that you can find people within your target then this is the likely source. If you have not participated, then get started. Identify all people that can influence you getting an interview. Do not focus on a job but on an interview. This would be obviously peer related people and supervisory. It could also include primary decision makers in the company and sometimes subordinates.
Another source that is fantastic for names is Jigsaw. Join this free service and you will surface names galore.
Primary Influencers
If you have targeted an industry you know well, you should know some of the primary influencers within your Targeted Job Search Market. These are the people that you want to be in contact with as they can make things happen for you that others cannot. It is a neverending process within your search to identify and contact these powerful people. Keep in mind that to be a primary influencer a person does not always need to be of a lofty position. They simply have to be a person that those that make decisions listen to.
I think the very best way is to identify primary influencers in your target market is to list all that you respect and listen to first. From there I would branch out communication channels to all of my personal contacts within my targeted search.
Communication Channels
As with any strong marketing plan how you communicate is paramount. There are many means to communicate your message to your market including telephone, email, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, postal mail, and personal contact.
As you have started a spreadsheet with company name, then contact names, you should now start adding in all the addresses you have as listed above plus the many others available to you. Use that powerful mega tool google and you will be surprised what you can uncover.
Your Message
“Hi I need a job.” That is your message, yes? If you carry your message in a transactional fashion then you will be met with transactional decisions and likely they will be negative. Instead you should devise a system of contact that is more dynamic and can lead to tomorrow.
The very best result from one of your messages is that you have someone asks you to interview with them and you have not asked for the interview. That is optimum. Now I am not saying do not ask for an interview. Instead, I am suggesting how you ask is very important.
Work Your Market
You must work your market and wait for openings that you can take to communicate. My wife received her annual birthday greeting from Starbucks and we went in and spent $15 while redeeming this free cup of coffee. Birthdays are an obvious opening but also watch the news and listen to the developments of the industry. Wait for opportunities to engage conversation within one of your many channels.
After approaching your Primary Influencer three to five times, it is time to ask for an interview. The way I suggest to do this is via the telephone. I believe that any time you are in front of a Primary Influencer, it is for an interview. Anytime. I do not care what the message is. If you are one on one with a Primary Influencer, you are interviewing.
I noticed this “always interviewing” phenomenon within my own business life. As a headhunter, I was approached by everyone about a job for their third cousin on their wife’s side of the family. Normally I had 10 ready-made excuses lined up in my head on why I could not possibly help Cousin Ricky as my clients demanded my time and not helping the unemployed or underemployed masses.
Occasionally I would have an individual approach me to give advice to their graduating son or a friend that is unsure of their job search and every time I would give countless hours to these people. Each and every time they were in my office, I was trying to think how they could help my organization.
The same with Bob, the man who cleaned my office. Every time I greeted Bob late in my office, I always asked about business and wondered how he could possibly fit into my plans.
Same with each and every interaction I had. I could not help it. I needed my company to grow and if I was not constantly looking for sharp strong people then we would not grow.
The same will happen to you. If you can get in front of a Primary Influencer for advice or input, you will be interviewed. It is not always necessary to apply the tag of Interview for an interview to happen.
You have value in the market. You have skills that are marketable. Without marketing them properly, efficiently and with vigor no one will know you have those skills and you will continue to compete with the masses for 20% of the jobs available.
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By: ddostal
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