This past week I facilitated a two-day job search techniques workshop that focused on penetrating the so-called “hidden job market”. We had 30 very active participants in the workshop that on average have been out looking for about five months.
I opened the workshop with an exercise asking the participants to review how they learned about their past five jobs, starting with their most recent position and then working backwards. The worksheet asked them to tally their responses by the following categories: Friends/Family, Co-workers, Managers, Staffing Agencies, Others, and Online Posting/Advertising. The participants consolidated their data together with the others at their respective table and then each table recorded their data on the master flipchart to reveal the entire class’s results. Drum roll please: 73% of the jobs were found through friends/family, co-workers, managers, staffing agencies, or some other connection. Only 27% of the jobs were found through advertised postings– the front door.
We have all heard that roughly about 10 to 15% of all jobs are ever advertised. That means that the other 85% to 90% of the jobs are filled through other methods, the hidden job market. The hidden job market is the jobs that are found through friends, family, co-workers, managers, connections, and networking and to a smaller percentage, through recruiters. The Department of Labor provided results that revealed that only 5% of jobs were filled through advertised posting. 48% were found through referrals, 24% were found the direct networking, and 23% were through agencies.
When I happen to get into a job search discussion about job postings and networking with people that I meet, I regularly ask them the same question that I asked the workshop participants, how did they learned about their past jobs? Inevitably, they pause and say that it was a friend, co-worker or some other type of connection that introduced them to the job opportunity. Typically they will say that 4 out 5 of their past positions were found that way. It surprises them after they say that, because they never really have thought about it from that perspective. One job seeker that I recently spoke with indicated that she hadn’t really searched for a job in the past because she always just put the word out to her friends and they always connected her to her next job. I pointed out that she was actually job searching, and that she was leveraging her network of friends as connections.
I asked the workshop participants a follow up question: Where are you currently spending the majority of your job search time looking for work? Is it searching job boards and responding to ads or is it out networking and trying to make new connections? Most participants nodded and raised their hands to the first option, searching job boards and responding to ads. They were spending a disproportionate, and typically the vast majority, of their time on the smallest slice of the pie.
As I shared with the workshop participants, I recommend that you spend less time trying to get through the front door of the company (applying for jobs that are advertised) and focus the majority of your time on getting through the back door, side door, patio door, hidden door, trap door, cellar door or any other crack or opening that you might find. That is how they found their past jobs and will likely be how they find their next job. The same will be true for you as well.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Small World? Networking Reveals How Interconnect We Really Are
I have been reading about job search experts saying that summertime is a good time to make connections at social functions. You know; the barbeques, family reunions, backyard picnics, and even Fourth of July celebrations. I say, why wait for summer to make and provide connections in social settings? These situations happen all year round; not just in the summer.
The other night I was waiting for a friend in a local pub and I saw a couple of former co-workers from my prior company. I hadn’t run into either one of them in several months, so I went over and said hello. We ordered a round of beverages and, as we talked, one of my former colleagues shared with me that his new company was actually doing well and he was even hiring for his department. My ears perked up? “Hiring, oh really, what for?” I asked. Within about five minutes of striking up the conversation I learned that he had not just one position, but two different positions that he was looking to fill. I shared with him that I am part of job search group and I might know some people that might fit his needs. Shortly after that my friend showed up and I expressed my appreciation for the beverage and told my former colleague that I would pass along the openings to a couple of people that might be a match for the positions.
Another day I was having lunch with a technical recruiter that I stay in touch with. This time he invited along a fellow finance and accounting recruiting associate. I always ask recruiters when I meet with them if they have any tough jobs they are currently working on. They typically give me some job with obscure skill requirements that usually only five people in the entire U.S possess. Well this day I asked him again, and as usual the recruiter threw out a job with some unique requirements figuring I wouldn’t know anyone. The requirements included being fluent in Japanese and a controller. Bingo! I whipped out my phone and started to give him a contact. He looked stunned and in disbelief, like you have got to be kidding me. I said no kidding; here is name and number of a friend that is a controller, an SAP expert and fluent in Japanese. After lunch was over, I called my friend and passed along the lead.
A couple of weeks ago, I happened to strike up a conversation with another parent on my son’s lacrosse team while we waited for the game to start. Our sons are friends at school but I hadn’t met the friend’s mother before. I don’t even remember how we got to the point in the conversation, but along the way I learned that she was battling with her former employer and the situation was moving in a litigious direction. I asked her if she had connected with an employment attorney. She said she had a referral to an attorney from a family friend. I suggested that she really needed an employment attorney instead of a general business attorney and sent her a couple of names that evening after the game. I later heard from her about the unique set of circumstances that followed. She had first met with her original family friend referral but it wasn’t a match, and then she met with one of my referrals. That attorney happened to be tied to the same school that her young children attend, and his firm had also resolved a similar case for another client against the same employer that she was dealing with. She was so surprised that she sent me an email with the subject: Small, Small World. Here is how she closed out the message: “Small world? Fate? Being in the right place at the right time? Call it what you will but know this...you played a significant part in this, whether you realize it or not, so thank you for being at the game on that day, at that time, and for stopping to chat with me!”
Small world? It is amazing how interconnected we really are. Sometimes it becomes apparent just by asking that one additional question during those casual conversations at social settings. So, strike up those conversations this summer at the barbeque or at the pool. But don’t stop there. Look for other situations as well. You never know if it will lead to another connection for you or someone that you know.
The other night I was waiting for a friend in a local pub and I saw a couple of former co-workers from my prior company. I hadn’t run into either one of them in several months, so I went over and said hello. We ordered a round of beverages and, as we talked, one of my former colleagues shared with me that his new company was actually doing well and he was even hiring for his department. My ears perked up? “Hiring, oh really, what for?” I asked. Within about five minutes of striking up the conversation I learned that he had not just one position, but two different positions that he was looking to fill. I shared with him that I am part of job search group and I might know some people that might fit his needs. Shortly after that my friend showed up and I expressed my appreciation for the beverage and told my former colleague that I would pass along the openings to a couple of people that might be a match for the positions.
Another day I was having lunch with a technical recruiter that I stay in touch with. This time he invited along a fellow finance and accounting recruiting associate. I always ask recruiters when I meet with them if they have any tough jobs they are currently working on. They typically give me some job with obscure skill requirements that usually only five people in the entire U.S possess. Well this day I asked him again, and as usual the recruiter threw out a job with some unique requirements figuring I wouldn’t know anyone. The requirements included being fluent in Japanese and a controller. Bingo! I whipped out my phone and started to give him a contact. He looked stunned and in disbelief, like you have got to be kidding me. I said no kidding; here is name and number of a friend that is a controller, an SAP expert and fluent in Japanese. After lunch was over, I called my friend and passed along the lead.
A couple of weeks ago, I happened to strike up a conversation with another parent on my son’s lacrosse team while we waited for the game to start. Our sons are friends at school but I hadn’t met the friend’s mother before. I don’t even remember how we got to the point in the conversation, but along the way I learned that she was battling with her former employer and the situation was moving in a litigious direction. I asked her if she had connected with an employment attorney. She said she had a referral to an attorney from a family friend. I suggested that she really needed an employment attorney instead of a general business attorney and sent her a couple of names that evening after the game. I later heard from her about the unique set of circumstances that followed. She had first met with her original family friend referral but it wasn’t a match, and then she met with one of my referrals. That attorney happened to be tied to the same school that her young children attend, and his firm had also resolved a similar case for another client against the same employer that she was dealing with. She was so surprised that she sent me an email with the subject: Small, Small World. Here is how she closed out the message: “Small world? Fate? Being in the right place at the right time? Call it what you will but know this...you played a significant part in this, whether you realize it or not, so thank you for being at the game on that day, at that time, and for stopping to chat with me!”
Small world? It is amazing how interconnected we really are. Sometimes it becomes apparent just by asking that one additional question during those casual conversations at social settings. So, strike up those conversations this summer at the barbeque or at the pool. But don’t stop there. Look for other situations as well. You never know if it will lead to another connection for you or someone that you know.
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