Tapping In To The Hidden Job Market

There is an old saying that goes, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. So, how do you tap into the hidden job market if the people you know aren’t able to help you connect with a job in the career of your choice? Well, they probably know someone that does. Have you heard of the six degrees of separation? The six degrees of separation is a theory that you are only six people away from knowing everyone on the planet. In fact a trivia game was created a few years ago called, “The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” based on this concept. It tried to prove that Kevin Bacon is separated by only three degrees from every actor in Hollywood. The point is that if you don’t already know someone that works for an employer that you are interested in, you can get to know them and below are some ways to do that.

1) Send letters requesting an informational interview.
2) Attend every social gathering you can.
3) Attend networking functions or chamber of commerce events.

One way that you can get to know people in the industry that you are interested in is by compiling a list of the companies and their addresses and phone numbers in that industry from research on the internet or chamber or commerce websites. Next, you’ll want to call each of those companies and ask for the hiring manager’s name for the department that you are interested in. Send each person a letter outlining your background, experience, career objectives and request a brief meeting so that you may explore career opportunities within the industry. Include in your letter that you will follow up in one week’s time by phone. If your letter is politely asking for help, most people are pretty obliging. Don’t get discouraged if you get turned down by anyone, just keep going and you are bound to meet a few nice people along the way.

Once you get to the meeting with the company you’ve contacted, it’s important to keep things focused on your aspirations in that career field and to get ideas for how you might find employment in that industry. If you can come away with some company names and contacts, you’ve done a great job. Ask the person you’ve met with if you can use their name in contacting those other companies. Do not turn the meeting into an interview unless the person you are meeting begins conducting an interview style meeting. Make sure that you keep the meeting to the timeframe that you’ve discussed or requested in your initial introductory letter. Within a few days of your meeting, send a thank you note and follow up periodically with that individual with a short note to keep in touch and remind them of who you are.

Another place where you might uncover opportunities is at social gatherings. If you are invited to a friend’s house for a get together, you should make a point of going – you never know who you might run in to. Assuming that you’ve already divulged your career aspirations to your friends, you will want to speak to the people you don’t know at social gatherings. Let people know what you are looking for in a career but start off by breaking the ice with questions about them first. It might also be a good idea to print up some business cards with your career objective, a short list of your skills, telephone number and address on them. You can hand these out to the people you meet at these gatherings.

You should also attend you local Chamber of Commerce events whenever possible. Most of them will have at least one free monthly social gathering that is open to all local businesses. It may be a bit uncomfortable if you don’t know anyone there but if you make it a goal to talk to at least one person at the event then it will be a success. Again, start by asking them about themselves and their business and ask for their business card. Then, they will most likely ask you what you do.

A far greater number of jobs are filled by applicants that knew someone than by newspaper and internet job postings. Have you ever applied for a job that you saw a posting for only to find out that it was already filled by the time you sent you resume in? When you apply for a job through an advertised posting, you are potentially competing with hundreds of other applicants but when you know someone, you usually know about the job opening before it ever gets posted.