Tap the Hidden Job Market
15 September 2016
“This stuff doesn’t really work does it?” Simon was skeptical of my suggestion he do more to tap into the hidden job network.
Digging a bit it was clear his concept of the hidden job network was outdated. To tap into it he had images of being ‘pushy’ and ‘awkward’ and talking to strangers and people he hardly knew, asking them for a job. Nothing was further form the truth.
Simon was at an interesting point in his career. He had been in his current role for about 5 years and was quite comfortable. He was also aware he wanted to make some sort of change in the next year or so to avoid becoming stale. Most often people in Simon’s situation take a passive approach, keeping their eye on the web sites and lists where available roles are advertised. I was suggesting he be a bit more proactive.
Tapping into the hidden job network is about doing two things.
First it is about starting to recognise and staying aware of the opportunities that continually open up around you. Most people don’t recognise opportunities as opportunities because they are not looking for them. Be on the look out for projects you can volunteer for, short-term roles, back fill opportunities, roles people might be scared to advertise, roles that are only conceptual, and emerging needs. Ongoing career maintenance helps you do this.
It is also about ensuring that the people around you know you are looking, and are aware of and value the potential you have.
Staying aware of, and tapping into the hidden job market is something to do even when you are not looking for a job. Do it because it keeps you relevant, informed, creative, innovate and fresh within you current role – the bonus is that it may also open up new opportunities when you start looking for them.
This is what I asked Simon to do:
Step 1 – Become clear on what types of things he finds meaningful in the work he does.
Step 2 – Ensure he has a fuzzy big picture idea of the direction he would like his career to move in.
Step 3 – Brainstorm a whole bunch of opportunities that might move him in that direction, from tiny little things to big breaks.
Step 4 – Update his résumé so it reflects what he is looking for (there are lots of resources for updating your résumé on this blog - have a bit of a poke around).
Step 5 – Get out there and start having conversations with people in which he elaborates upon the meaning he gains and wants to continue to gain from his work and the fact that he is open to moving forward in his career – I encouraged him to have 2 of these conversations per week using a specific format that I outline below.
Simple as that.
Here though, is the important thing: The people Simon spoke with didn’t have to be any particular people and the conversations could occur anywhere – with his brother in law at a BBQ, with a work colleague over coffee, with a shopkeeper when buying a pair of jeans, with his neighbor while out walking the dog, with a fellow parent at a school assembly…
Tapping into the hidden job market is not about getting to talk to a specific powerful person who holds the key to your ideal job, it is about talking to lots of people. The more people you talk to the wider the range of individuals who know what you care about, and know that you are open to exploring opportunities in the areas you care about. You also become practiced and comfortable chatting about your career development - something that just doesn't occur enough in our workplaces.
The thing is you do not know who knows whom.
Nor do you know what someone might hear about. Your neighbor may hear about a new role and let you know about it. The girl you play futsal with may come across an interesting article that she sends you. The friend of a friend you sit next to at a birthday celebration knows that a team in the department she works in is snowed under and they do the type of work you are interested in – she is happy to introduce you to the manager. Your work colleague may suggest you link with her on LinkedIn as lots of people in her network are interested in the same things as you and you might want to join in some online conversations. You cannot know where these conversations will lead. And so often they lead to leads.
Hidden jobs are found not with the people you know, but with the people who the people you know know. The jobs you haven’t heard about, the short-term secondments, the back fill roles, the help that is needed during a busy time, the unadvertised roles – most of these are to be found with the people who are once removed from you.
As I mentioned above I asked Simon to have these conversations in a specific type of way.
First I asked him to not force the conversations, but to allow them to happen naturally. He did have a target number of conversations to have each week so this meant he was looking for the many opportunities that are always there.
Second I asked him to be generous and look for ways he could add value for the person he was having the conversation with.
Third he needed to be clear on what he wanted to say about the things he cared about and how he wanted his career to develop. In the hidden market people will be talking to other people about you so clarity is essential. You need to make it easy, simple and clear for them to tell others what you are interested in.
Finally I advised him to use the word ‘should’ – “Should you hear of anything, think of me”. Not the word ‘could’ or ‘ if’ or ‘can you’ these all have commands embedded in them. The use of the word ‘should’ is light and open and allows people to take action because they want to, not because you have asked them to.
Most of us only have conversations in a limited circle of people, and the people we converse with all have exactly the same information as you. Tapping into the hidden job market opens you to opportunities that you may never hear about otherwise. It doesn’t mean you have to take these opportunities, but it is better to know about them than not.
Simon has diligently had a minimum of 2 hidden job market conversations per week for several months now. Two opportunities have presented themselves that he would not normally have heard about. He didn’t pursue either of them as neither were quite right, but he does feel quite hopeful about something coming up which to his surprise has made him more engaged and motivated in his current role. He also reports that the conversations are actually quite easy to have and don’t feel ‘salesy’ or ‘pushy’, but are generous and natural.
In addition some of his conversations have opened up information and new thinking that he would never have been exposed to normally. This has made him a more valuable employee. Through his conversations he has also seen a number of opportunities when he can help others – something he has found very gratifying.
How many hidden job conversations do you want to have each week?
As ever wishing you a Flourishing Career
Katherine