Simply Hired Blog

Finding the Invisible Job Market

Job seekers today probably realize that the online job marketplace is extremely visible and therefore, extremely competitive. Sometimes thousands of potential candidates will view a job and hundreds will apply. With competition so fierce, many job seekers may favor better in the invisible job market. 

But what is the invisible job market?  Well, it’s not another name for Diagon Alley of Harry Potter fame.  The invisible market refers to the market of job openings that never appear online, or any public job-posting site.

Here are some strategies for finding this invisible job market:

Social Networking 

If you know a specific company you are interested in, find a hiring manager or recruiter at the company to follow with LinkedIn.  Once you have found a recruiter on Linkedin then search for them on other social media sites, for example Twitter, and follow them.  Now keep a close watch on their social channels.  If they post any jobs on the social sites that do not appear on their company’s site you’ve found a hidden job!  

Another great way to tap into the invisible market is through referrals in your own network. Simply Hired's Who Do I Know® feature can help you find contacts at companies of interest to you within your Facebook and LinkedIn networks. Ask these contacts to help you set up introductions with recruiters, hiring managers, and other decision makers.  Even if the company isn’t hiring right now, making a good impression with these people may lead to hearing about a job opening before it ever gets posted.

The Old Fashioned Way 

The old fashioned way is the job hunt equivalent of a cold sales call.  But rather than calls to sell aluminum siding, you are dropping in at companies with your resume, whether or not they have any job openings.  To execute this first you will need to research the company of interest, and tailor your resume and cover letter to fit their employee requirements and culture (start by checking out previous job opening requirements and current employees’ Linkedin profiles). 

Once you’re ready to drop off your resume, identify a contact at the company (the recruiter, department hiring manager, etc.) and when you arrive request to speak with them.  If you’re lucky you’ll get the chance to talk with the contact about yourself and possible employment opportunities.  But if you are unable to speak with the contact, leave your resume and cover letter for them.  Follow up with a quick call or email, letting them know you stopped in to drop off your resume, and wanted to discuss employment opportunities.  You may get lucky and get a phone call. If you don’t hear back, you can try again in a few weeks.  Be patient with this method, out of ten drop ins, you may hear back from one.  But your go-getter approach may just get employers’ attention.

Internships and Promotions

Internships can be a great way to decide if you are a good fit for a company or a job.  They can also be a great way to land an un-posted job.  When a company recognizes an intern would be great addition to the staff, they may carve out a full-time position to keep the intern on as a full-time employee.  So, what can you as intern to improve your chances of converting to full-time?  Be respectful of the company's time, money and culture. Be sure to always go above and beyond their expectations.  Finally, demonstrate your improvements as an employee by learning new tasks and asking insightful questions. Interns who keep these tips in mind will greatly improve their chances of converting to a full-time employee.

Have you landed a job using the invisible job market? If so, share your method below.

How to Optimize Your Simply Hired Job Search

Simply Hired has 8+ million job listings. It is important to sift through the jobs to find only those relevant to your job search. You can do that through Boolean operators. However, you can also accomplish the same thing through Simply Hired's advanced search feature.

To get the advanced search click the link on the right side of the search results page.

From the advanced search page a variety of options will appear:

Keyword:

• with all the words: Use this option when you have specific words that you would like the job description or title to include. This can include skills which you have used in the past.  
• with the exact phrase: If you have a series of words that you would like to see in the job description or title input them here.
• with at least one of the words: When you have multiple skills that you are flexible on which you use include them here.
• without the words: Remove any jobs which include skills or job titles which are not a match for you.
• within job title: For if you have a specific word or title that you are interested in.
• within company name: Already know which company you want to work at? Excellent! Input your dream company in this field.

Location: To conduct a search you must have at least one keyword and/or location. If commute time is an item of consideration in your search you can change the radius to focus on one specific city.

Preferences: If you dislike moving from page to page increase the number of jobs per page. Also you can opt to change the order of the jobs to by date instead of the default by relevance.

Once you have made the search that is ideal for your needs setup an email alert to receive the jobs automatically in your inbox.

 

6 Tips For Experienced Job Seekers Who Have Been Unemployed Long-Term

By Gerrit Hall

The tight job market has affected all demographics -- but older workers have really felt the squeeze, particularly if they found themselves out of work for one reason or another. Statistics show that older workers are unemployed for an average of 44 weeks (more than 10 months), according to an AARP report.

After a recent post by my co-founder Sean, on the things employers want to see on your resume, we recognized how easy it is to get frustrated and want to give up during the job search. But staying active and positive is the key to job search success. Follow the tips below to maximize your job search and get one step closer to your ideal position.

1. Sell, sell, sell. Consistently, the biggest mistake we see is that people write a ‘me’ focused resume. A primary example of this is the outdated objective statement – if you have the word ‘seeking’ on your resume, you’re writing a ‘me’ resume. Employers don’t hire you for your satisfaction; they hire you to fill their own critical need. Think of it this way. If you were in sales, would you ever say to a customer “Buy this item because I need the commission”? And if you were the customer, would you buy? A ‘me’ centered resume says essentially the same thing.

Your job is to think of the potential employer as a customer. You’ve know they’re a hot lead because they’ve taken the time to post the job – so someone is going to close the deal with them. How do you make sure they go with you? By selling to them like you would sell to anyone else. Figure out their pain points. Why are they hiring? Who have they hired in the past? What’s their most critical need? And then go in there with your sales guns blazing; be the solution to their problem.

2. Really tap your network. As you’ve heard before, “it’s who you know” that often helps you land a job. This is especially true with small businesses who cannot afford to post jobs on pricey job boards (or don’t have the time to sift through the hundreds of applications they may receive), but some larger companies also rely on referrals to fill open positions.

Actively keep in touch with former colleagues, friends, and family, and let them know you’re on the job search. If you know someone who works at an organization you’d like to work for, ask them to grab coffee or lunch to strengthen your relationship and inquire about possible opportunities there.

3. Perfect your resume. If you’re on the job search, your first priority should be your resume. It must show your value to potential employers to ensure you make it to the interview round. Make sure resume uses active writing to show hiring managers and recruiters what you accomplished and what you’re capable of.

Make sure that your resume is clean and clutter free. Anything that does not effectively sell your skills needs to go. Clean up your resume by using the ever faithful bullet points. Always keep in mind that less is sometimes more. You don’t need to get too fancy with fonts, language or formatting.

4. Search for free using your resources. Find job opportunities from sites across the Web -- from job boards and government sites, to company career sites and newspapers, and more. Set up email alerts or RSS feeds to learn about jobs as they’re posted. Keeping on top of new postings can help you be one of the first to apply and ensure you get your resume in front of employers before the position is filled.

5. Learn new skills. Although you likely have a lot of experience in your industry, there’s always room to learn something new, particularly if you have been unemployed for several months. Look for certification programs or relevant classes you can take to boost your resume and impress potential employers.

6. Use social media for personal branding and networking. According to a study by Jobvite, 16 percent of job seekers (a combination of unemployed and looking, employed and looking, or employed and open to a new job) said “an online social network directly led to finding their current/most recent job.” Of those, the majority (78 percent) attributed their job to Facebook, 40% to LinkedIn, and 42% to Twitter. Since each network can be beneficial to your job search in different ways, it’s important you don’t write off certain online opportunities because you don’t see the value or think your age demographic isn’t right for them.

You should also keep in mind that your presence on these networks represents your online brand. The majority of employers now use social media to screen job candidates, and 68 percent said they have hired someone based on what they saw about them online (such as giving a positive impression or supporting professional qualifications).

What do you think? Are there other tactics that helped you land a job when you were unemployed? Please share in the comments below!

Gerrit Hall is the CEO and co-founder of RezScore, a free Web application that reads, analyzes, and grades resumes -- instantly. Gerrit has successfully combined his passion for computer science and the careers space by helping job seekers write the best resume possible. You can connect with Gerrit and RezScore on Facebook and Twitter.

3 Things You Don't Need in Your Job Search

By Tony Morrison

It might not be spring yet, but, in my humble opinion, it’s always time for "spring cleaning."

There is something particularly freeing about clearing out the clutter and having a clean work space. Whether it's your desk, your car, or your closet, we all need to sometimes say "out with the old!" to make room for other new, and possibly better things. Clearing something off your desk is equivalent to putting to rest tasks and thoughts that occupy mindshare as well. Think of how much more relaxed you will be and how good you will feel by clearing your mind of old projects and obligations.

However, this blog post isn't going to be about the importance of a clear workspace. Instead, this post is about the importance of a clear job search and how to get it that way.

As a society, we struggle with defining what we truly need. What typically ends up happening is that our lives are so choked up with our "necessities" that we miss out on our original goal.

Check out this list of three things you don’t need in your job search:

Abandoned social media profile.

I'll be the first person to say that social media is important and job seekers are missing out if they’re not participating. However, there are simply too many job seekers signing up for the latest and greatest social media site only to never return to their profile again.

I completely understand. You're a busy person and there is only so much time you can dedicate to Facebook, Twitter, and the like.

The problem lies in the fact that abandoned social media profiles still lurk and speak volumes about you to those who stumble across them (like potential employers). An old social media profile can be a huge red flag to employers – after all, do they really want to hire an employee who starts things and walks away without finishing or following through?

Instead of having ten or fifteen social media profiles that split up your time, aim to have two or three. A few well-maintained social media profiles make up for a dozen abandoned ones. Also try scheduling tools like Tweetdeck so that you don’t have to worry if you are only available once or twice a week.

Expensive resume paper

…or that leather-bound portfolio or the designer suit… Whatever it is, you don’t need it. Too many job seekers are caught thinking that there is no way they’re going to get hired without spending a fortune on this accessory or that. More important than "looking the part," is "walking the walk and talking the talk."

An employer isn't going to hire you for the pricey stationery and accessories you bring to a meeting. You're going to get hired based on merit and experience, not labels.

5,000 acquaintances

As more and more people jump on the social media bandwagon, our friends/followers/connections lists have expanded to gargantuan numbers. While it might be nice to reconnect with that guy you were reading buddies with in kindergarten, how many of your “friends” are anything more than acquaintances, or friends of friends that you think you met once at the Houston rodeo.

Instead of treating your entire social network like your intimate circle of friends, take some time to sort out your connections. Facebook and Google+ make it easy to filter content for specific people without any awkward deleting or de-friending. When you organize your connections, you’ll find that you can have more meaningful, purposeful interactions with your different friends, without neglecting or having friends in certain cliques virtually drowned out by content streaming from more, shall we say vocal, friends in certain other cliques.

What do you think? What other things would you add to this list? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

 

Tony Morrison is the Vice President at Cachinko, a unique professional community where social networking and job opportunities come together. Tony is focused on helping job seekers find their ideal job and employers attract and engage rock star candidates. Find him on Twitter and Talent Connection. And, connect with Cachinko on Facebook or Twitter.

How a Step-By-Step Process Can Improve Your Job Search

By Mona Abdel-Halim

Looking for a job can be a long and difficult process. Recent information shows that the average time to find a job or a new position is at 33 weeks, or right around eight months -- and can cost a job seeker a significant amount of money from subscriptions to websites, hiring a career coach or resume writer, printing necessary documents, and more. Instead of going way out of your way to do these things that could cost you valuable time and money why not revisit your most basic and important tool -- your application process!

Breaking the job application process down into a few simple steps will help you in your job search more than anything else. Follow these steps and you’ll be well on your way to job search success:

1. Search: Look for positions that you qualify for. Be sure to read over the full job description when searching for a position, including requirements, qualifications, education and skills -- as well as researching the organization to determine if it's a good fit for you.

2. Compare: Compare your resume and experience to what the position is asking for. Be sure to look at keywords within the job description when getting ready to customize your resume for the application.

3. Customize: Be sure that your resume is customized to fit each specific job description. An employer doesn’t want to see a cookie cutter resume in their inbox -- instead, you need to show them how you can positively contribute to their company

4. Review: Go back over your application for the position to be sure that you have covered everything that the employer is looking for. You don't want to submit a resume that doesn't meet their needs or, worse, one that’s full of mistakes.

5. Apply: Finally, once you are satisfied with your documents, apply using the instructions provided by the employer. You'll now have confidence knowing you covered everything the employer has asked for.

Although these steps may seem generic, taking the time on each one and tailoring your documents to the job opening is vital to job search success. So, take a step back and make sure you have a well thought-out plan for applying to each job you find!

Do you follow each of these steps when applying for a new job? Are there any steps you would add to this list?

Mona Abdel-Halim is the co-founder of Resunate.com, the world's only search engine optimizing resume builder. You can find Mona and Resunate on Facebook and Twitter. See what employers see in your resume that you don't -- and get your JobFocusTM score for free today at Resunate.com.