How to attack the invisible job market
It is estimated around 90% of jobs aren’t advertised hence the term ‘invisible market’ which straight away conjures up a picture of a secretive and little known world. Yet closer inspection of the invisible market reveals nothing particularly mysterious or out of the ordinary about it – just a hotchpotch of recruiting methods used by employers instead of going down the familiar route of putting an ad in the press or on a website.
Is it a case of employers wanting to play their cards close to their chests? Not always. Often the reason for not wanting to advertise boils down to nothing more than a wish to avoid the hassle of sifting through hundreds of applications and the time it all takes.
So what do they do instead? Here are a few ways of filling vacancies which don’t involve advertising:
- Asking a few firms of recruitment consultants (agencies) to do a trawl through their files.
- Looking at unsolicited CVs which have been sent in and which have been stored on file.
- Putting the word round in the trade or to selected individuals.
- Doing nothing and hoping someone suitable comes along.
Viewed from the outside the invisible market at first looks impenetrable. But it is possible to access it by:
- Registering with the right agencies
- Cold calling employers from time to time to see if they have anything available.
- Sending in unsolicited CVs.
- Getting your name known in the right places.
Like everything else to do with job hunting there is a right and wrong way of attacking the invisible market. It may at times seem like a lot of effort for little return but the return, when it comes, is usually good. Jobs sourced on the invisible market don’t attract hundreds of applicants and sometimes you can even find yourself in the enviable position of being the only runner in a one horse race.
Finally, in times like these when business confidence is low, employers sometimes need a nudge when it comes to hiring people. The nudge can sometimes come in the shape of a CV either submitted by an agency or arriving in the post.