The Hidden Job Market

Everyone knows the job market is a tough nut to crack these days. Even new college graduates are finding it hard to obtain work .

But knowledge is power. Here I introduce a concept championed by Tom Jackson in his brilliant guide to employment, Guerilla Tactics in the Job Market (now, sadly, long out of print): the Hidden Job Market. In sixteen years of career counseling, this concept was almost always a surprise to my clients, but knowledge about the Hidden Job Market often helped clients to find more suitable positions.

Most job seekers don't realize that the want ads (printed or electronic) are the last resort for a company seeking to make a new hire.

Look at it from the employer's point of view. Under the best of circumstances, posting a want ad will result in dozens, maybe hundreds, of applications to process. Of course, we now live in a place very far from the best of circumstances, so a want ad may bring in thousands, or tens of thousands, of applications.

For an employer, productive activity is pursuing the business: making widgets, making sales, serving customers. In the current economy, who has the extra time or personnel to take away from productive activity to scale an avalanche of applications?

So, before filing the dreaded want ad, employers resort to other activities. They seek referrals from people already working at the company; they call former co-workers now at other firms to see whether they know someone with the appropriate credentials. Only when these sources come up empty will employers at a large firm post a want ad. (This may not apply to companies with very high employee turnover, or to organizations where accepted procedure mandates public searches, like academia.)

All of this means that a large proportion of the jobs available at any given time are not in the public eye at all. This is the Hidden Job Market, which some have estimated to comprise as much as 80% of the jobs that one could start next week.

Knowing about the Hidden Job Market means that the job seeker should approach the job market through networking and information interviews.

Looking for work in the Hidden Job Market has worked repeatedly for me personally. I was taught the concept by a friend many years ago, when I returned to New York City (always a challenging job market) right out of college. My first two jobs were obtained through networking at my religious congregation. My third job was obtained through networking among my high school alumni. I have obtained jobs through connections among my graduate school chums, and more formal professional networks. In thirty years since my college graduation, only once have I gotten a fruitful job lead from a position posting.

I'm not saying that the want ads are useless. However, the job seeker should understand that, by definition, the want ads will never give entry to the Hidden Job Market.