Job Searching the Hidden Market

In a climate like the one we are in, it’s easy to feel like we will never find the job we want, or that ‘no one is hiring’. However, you can increase your chances of landing multiple interviews if you can tap into the “hidden” job market, or, the one that hasn’t been advertising. Contacting the companies/contacts directly makes a much more powerful impact then random online resume posting.

How do you do this? Have a plan! This may take a little longer, but it’s the best way to control your job search, land quality interviews and increase your pay scale.

1)  Get your online presence together. Chances are, if you are going to be Google-ing companies, they will Google you. Create a Google profile or a LinkedIn profile and put your brand out there for the employer to see. Show your stuff.

2)  Make a list of your target information– industry choice, job position, company listings, etc.

3)  Do a Google search on your industry and job titles. There may be quite a few, but you can weed through what you like and don’t like. You can also do a local business search with the same requirements and see what you come up with.

4)  Send your resume directly to the hiring person. This is usually the person who is 2-4 levels above where you see yourself within the company. Make sure your cover letter is short and concise.
If this method makes you squirm a little, remember that you will see significantly higher results than you would normally. It’s also good to move beyond your comfort zone. Clients who’ve used it report more interviews, shorter interview cycles and less competition. This also works much better than blindly submitting your resume to lots of job search engines and reduces your anxiety of not knowing if the person who you want to see it really saw it or not.

In the end, it will give you greater job search confidence and renewed excitement about the job search process. Try it and see. Then let me know how it went.

Oh how I love thee, let me count the ways…

LinkedIn has become my new favorite thing. It is the fast growing professional networking site with 30 million users in 150 different industries. It helps open doors and uncover opportunities on a broad spectrum while building contacts and relationships.

I am constantly asking clients,

“Have you joined LinkedIn yet?” or

“Have you beefed up that LinkedIn profile yet?” or

“If you don’t have the time, let me know and I’ll do it for you– just make sure you do it!”

By now you can probably sense my passion about the site. I’ve only lately become overzealous about LinkedIn because of some very useful information I’ve heard at conferences AND because of the success my clients have had with it.

Did you know that some employers are hiring directly from within LinkedIn? Some are also posting their job openings ONLY on LinkedIn. This is a big deal especially since the majority of these companies are huge.

LinkedIn also has other benefits:

1) Unlimited amount of exposure and visibility of you and your business. “Connect” with as many people as you can. If you are job searching this is a great way to network. Once you start connecting, you become visible on other people’s pages, increasing the chances of getting to the top of a page when people are looking for someone to hire.

2) Use your LinkedIn profile to research companies you would like to work for. Go to the “Companies” tab and type in the name of a company you are interested in.  Check and see if they are hiring and inquire!

3) Get help or advice. Use the “answers” section of it to pose and answer questions. Answering questions and having your answers voted as “best” or “good” boosts your creditibility and gets your name out there. Use it to get answers to just about anything. Be prepared for a lot of feedback.

4) Boost your Search Engine results. If you are a business owner, we all know it’s all about Search Engine Optimization. The great news about LinkedIn is that it allows search engines to index your profile information. Adding your LinkedIn link to your signature line while posting to other sites further strengthens your visibility to the search engines.

This is just a quick version of how LinkedIn can help job seekers and professionals. Create your profile and see for yourself.

I’ve come across a few articles lately about how our birth order affects our careers and found the answers most interesting. Especially for the youngest born children. I am sure I find the youngest most interesting because I am the youngest in my family.

In Science Daily, it states, “A child’s place in the family birth order may play a role in the type of occupations that will interest him or her as an adult. First born and only children may be more interested in cognitive pursuits than younger siblings. Whereas later born children are more interested in artistic or outdoor-related careers.”

Rachel Zupek, from CareerBuilder.com said there are a few characteristics similar in each role:

Firstborns are more ambitious, rule-followers and confident, while secondborns (or middle) are the easy-going, diplomatic peacemakers. Firstborns are determined to succeed and tend to follow through with higher education. Middleborns tend to lean toward ‘negotiation’ or ‘helping’ professions like nursing, law enforcement and machine operation.

Youngest are charming and creative and are often found in administrative, journalism, sales or athletics. According to birth order expert, Frederick Leong, we are fun-loving, artistic, and well, not quite as driven as our elder siblings.

As the youngest of three daughters, I always strove not to wear the “baby of the family” label. While I liked being the youngest, I definitely wanted to prove to everyone that I can do it. I worked hard to “prove my worth” by working full time through high school and college. I’ve been working hard ever since, juggling marriage, kids, family, a farm, and a career.

So, does our birth order really have anything to do with our success in life? Are we doomed, as middle children, to make a low income every year (as stated)? Or perpetually goofy and non-serious as the youngest? Will firstborn forever fear ‘losing rank’?

I think our success has everything to do with our own thoughts and how we feel about ourselves. I don’t know if my being the youngest made me strive to be successful, or if that was always just my own inner desire. One thing I know for sure is that if we put any sort of ‘label’ on ourselves, it will hold us back from what we really want to do.

GREAT NEW SITE

A new federated search tool that allows users to simultaneously search job listings from hundreds of sites.

“Indeed.com includes all the job listings from major job boards, newspapers, associations and company career pages – and we continue to add new sites every day.”

The site is: clutter-free with a simple interface, you can sort results by relevance or date, search term refinements are available on results pages, job listings are available via RSS and/or e-mail, jobs are ranked solely by relevance or date, and indeed.com does not accept money for placement.

Related articles about indeed.com at: http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/001300.html and http://battellemedia.com/archives/001140.php

Let me know if you’ve landed your new job through this site!

Until next time…

Erin Kennedy, CPRW