I’m sure all you job seekers out there are familiar with the Hidden Job Market… No? Let me quickly explain… the Hidden Job Market is the reality that most job openings are not released to the public but rather filled by employee recommendations. When a company has a job opening, they have two main choices, post to a job site like Monster, LinkedIn or Indeed where they will get hundreds or thousands (depending on the size of the company) of responses from qualified and not-so-qualified individuals OR ask around for employees they trust to recommend qualified candidates. Guess which one of these gets the best results and is most often used… That’s right! Recommendations for jobs that are never formally posted!
One of the most difficult things for job seekers may be getting in front of the right people who can recommend them to the right type of jobs. My recent graduate friend Damian and I started brainstorming different ways to meet the type of decision makers who would have access to these types of “hidden” jobs… The result:
Where do business people go that we can visit and prove to them very quickly that we have the initiative and drive to fulfill their company’s needs? How about rush hour traffic on their way to work? Crazy, you say? Maybe. But we tried it anyway…
This past Wednesday, Damian and I went out to a busy intersection downtown in our best suits and held cardboard signs with the phrases “Not Homeless (yet) Take my résumé” and “Will Work for Good company (Free résumé)”. We figured it would be a good way to get seen and–who knows?–maybe run into that hiring manager who is looking for a couple of go-getters to add to their employee roster. At the very least, they would have a great story to tell.
To my surprise, people were incredibly receptive to this tactic. Between the two of us, we passed out a couple dozen résumés and got nothing but positive responses from passersby. I posed for a couple of pictures and got thumbs up from those who didn’t stop to ask for a copy. We were so amazed with the feedback that we went back out a couple days later. I passed out a few more résumés and even had an informal interview in the parking lot of the nearby Walgreens. Damian gave away a score and we both have already received calls from companies and staffing agencies looking to match us to a fitting position. I don’t think we should overdo it but maybe a few more days of exposure to keep people on their toes.
The moral? A good story goes a long way. And a good marketer knows how to get people talking about a product (which is, in this case, us) and we’ve got people talking. A few more days and we’ll hopefully get the right job offers coming to us. See you on the street corner.
My Quest for a Job 