If you’re in a job search, there is one important fact you need to know: Approximately five out of every 1000 online job applications ever make it to the hiring manager—that’s it. Companies are often so swamped with applications from their online job postings that your application gets lost in the flood. They choose a few perfect applications from people who are probably overqualified for the job and dump the rest.
Related: How To Tap Into The Hidden Job Market
On top of that (and maybe because of that), somewhere around 70%-80% of all available jobs are never posted. Put these two together and you get shut out from almost every job you qualify for. This is why you must tap the hidden job market.What is the hidden job market?
The hidden job market is made up of all the jobs that companies don’t have posted, but are in fact available to be filled. When you learn to tap into these hidden jobs, you dramatically boost your chances of getting interviews. Think about how many jobs you’ve seen posted online in your arena. Now, think about the fact that anywhere from 70%-80% of jobs aren’t posted online at all. Multiply those job openings that you know about by three or four and you’ll have a pretty good idea of the actual job openings that are available right now. Those job openings are an opportunity gold mine for you—a treasure just waiting for you to find them.How to find hidden jobs
Unluckily for you, there’s no “X marks the spot” for you. However, you do have a big clue: Don’t go after the job; go after the hiring manager. The hiring manager is the boss, or the decision-maker hiring for that role. Who is that for you? Identify those people, and contact them directly. They know, more than anyone else, what’s coming up for them and when they’re looking at needing someone, long before it’s ever posted on a job board. Catching them before they post it gives you the best opportunity for success, because then you’re the big fish in a smaller pond of potential applicants, rather than an ocean of them who saw the online ad. Identify companies you’d like to work for first. Search your industry for the names of organizations who do what you do—the more the merrier. Use Google, ask around your network for names, and definitely utilize LinkedIn. Then, find your contact within those companies. Get the name and the email address of the person who would potentially be your boss. That’s who you need to be talking to.Get more interviews
The more jobs you put yourself up for, the more interviews you’ll get—that’s just math. Statistically, you will have a certain number of interviews for every X number of opportunities you go after. Opinions on this vary, but the concept is the same: If you go after more opportunities, you’ll end up with more interviews.Start today
There’s no time like the present. Start looking for hiring managers in your field. Make that contact, start that relationship, and put yourself on the radar. That will lead you right to those hidden jobs. If you need more specific direction on how to find hiring managers quickly and what to say in your message to them, check out my Hidden Jobs Finder. It’s a comprehensive, foolproof system for finding hidden jobs and getting more interviews. This post was originally published at an earlier dateRelated Posts
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