Worldwide research has proven that only 25% of jobs are advertised and the balance 75% are filled up through networking and referrals (Source: Cademix Institute Of Technology). Senior level jobs, generally speaking, are not advertised because of reasons like maintaining confidentiality, avoiding the load of thousands of job applications which may include irrelevant ones and the senior positions being sensitive in terms of the impact they can have on the company (stakes are high). So the preferred route is to focus on quality of the candidates and interact with them selectively and use executive search firms as one of the channels to source candidates.
The advantage of reaching out to this unadvertised (hidden) job market is that there is less competition because most professionals are not aware of these vacancies and because very few professionals are skilled at networking and presenting their value proposition directly to prospective employers. Additionally you as a senior job seeking professional get an opportunity to directly influence the hiring managers and start meaningful conversations with them, so no dependence on making online job applications.
So, how does one tap into this hidden (unadvertised) job market?
Here are 10 steps to tap this attractive hidden job market :
1] Target Employer List:
Identify 10 -15 target employer companies on the basis of their work culture and the kind of roles that exist which you are attracted to. Do evaluate the skills you possess and assess suitability. You can look up the current LinkedIn profiles of professionals in the similar domain which will give you an idea of the kind of skill and background requirements.
2] Pain Points Of The Target Company And The Role:
Do in-depth research as if you are already an employee of the company on what would be the potential pain points of the prospective job that you are targeting.
3] Leverage The Power Of Strategic Networking:
Look out for people known to you in the target employer company. They could be your ex-colleagues, your ex-bosses, your alumni network. If you do not have direct connections, you can approach people in your network who can introduce you to the hiring managers and the HR.
4] Using LinkedIn:
LinkedIn as a platform offers a great opportunity to reach out to key people and influencers in the target employer companies. Make a list of such key individuals and start developing meaningful relationships with them. Do not ask for a job the moment you are connected. It’s like with your bank account; you first need to deposit and then withdraw or else your bank account will become nil.
5] Optimise Your LinkedIn Profile:
Your LinkedIn profile is a powerful aid in introducing you as a brand and your presence online. Right from your LinkedIn profile headline to the About section to skill endorsements you got to ensure that your core skills are highlighted. In your headline, write what you can do for your target audience, not only your designation. Similarly the About section needs to include success stories which reflect your skill-set and expertise.
6] Presenting Yourself As A Solution Provider:
Doing homework on understanding the pain points of the company and the job is a prerequisite. You can have informational interviews with the prospective employer companies to gather information and then use a solution based project approach to attract the target employers for them to give you a hearing.
7] Personal Branding:
You got to align your key strengths, experiences and define your value proposition through personal branding and then customise your approach make it for each of the target employer company and it’s requirement. Know what is your area of expertise and what are you the Go-To person for.
8] Demonstrating Value Through Thought Leadership:
You can share meaningful content like contributions about the industry, your unique experiences which help you showcase your thought leadership. This increases your visibility amongst the target employers. By making meaningful comments on posts of the key individuals and influencers amongst your target employers, you increase your online visibility and brand presence.
9] Follow Up:
Following up is an essential step when you have started networking and you need to be strategic about it. By sharing a useful article or a case study on your industry with your target employers, you can use the opportunity to gently remind them about the value you get to the table.
10] Overcoming Challenges And Staying Persistent:
You will encounter challenges like people not responding to you in the first instance or some may not respond at all. You need to take it in your stride, treat it as a learning and finetune your approach and keep walking. However one does not have to go overboard here because we all know that you can’t win them all, so it is important to know when to stop gracefully.
So starting with developing a list of target employers to researching pain points of the prospective job/company to customising your personal brand to networking to using the power of LinkedIn as a platform and optimising it to attract recruiters and landing up with informational interviews to developing solutions to discuss with target employers to following up, you got to take all these critical steps to tap into the goldmine of the hidden job market for senior level roles.
I would encourage you to commit yourself to taking these steps and experience a sea change in the results that you get from your job search.
P.S: In case you are interested in my 1: 1 personalised career coaching where I help you fast pace your career progress let us chat here : 1:1 Career Coaching.
To know about our 1:1 Career Coaching programs, please click links below:
Career Development Coaching
Leadership Development Coaching
Personal Branding
Job Search Coaching
Interview Coaching
Navigating The First 90 Days In A New Company
Best wishes for a great career always!
Sarabjeet Sachar
Seasoned Career Development & Leadership Coach
Founder & CEO, Aspiration
Follow me on social media: FB – 2 lac followers, Instagram – 81,000 followers, LinkedIn – 35,000 + followers updated 28th August 2023.