Tapping onto the Hidden Job Opportunities (Part 1)
The Hidden Truth Behind Open Job Market
Many job seekers depend heavily on the open job market for the prospective employment opportunities. Such means include the regular search on the ‘wanted’ advertisements in the local newspapers and myriad job posting boards. While such options may look very tempting, in reality there are only a few people who get successfully placed through these leads. The placement percentage through these two methods combined stands at a dismal 5% – 10% only. One of the primary reasons for such bad ratio is the limited means for the job seekers to differentiate their abilities among a huge number of competing candidates. It is quite common for the hiring managers to receive 500 plus resumes for every position that is posted. In the absence of any personal interaction with the hiring team, the job seeker is left to the whims of technology. It is only if his application has enough keywords and features matching the profile that he/she stands a chance to get audience with the hiring manager. The sad part is that among the various companies that post their requirements through such mediums, less than 25% acknowledge the receipt of the candidates resume. Much less, only the exceptional 5%-10% receive subsequent information regarding the job profile.
How to Get Maximum Returns from the Time You Spend on the Open Job Market?
There are several job searchers who waste valuable time by sending out their resumes to various non-reliable job search portals. Many of them, in fact, shoot their CVs to all the job placement portals and then wait endlessly for that rare interview call. Ideally, no more than two hours must be spent per week for posting ones resume on various job websites. One must instead opt for time saving methods like posting on the aggregate boards, for example, SimplyHired, Jobster and Indeed. These websites gather precious job related information from various online boards and then send job alerts to the subscribers based on their profile.
Reasons behind the Hidden Job Markets’ Tremendous Opportunities
Besides the couple of hours dedicated to the weekly online job search, the candidates have many hours available to adopt different methods. As much as 80% of the jobs taken up through the hidden job market are the ones that are filled by the word of mouth method.
There may be several reasons for open positions not making it to the online job boards. In all likelihood, the company might’ve had a sour experience searching for candidates via online method and is looking at offline resources now. It may also be the case that the company doesn’t have the required finances to post for jobs online.
A large number of companies constantly use the employee referral method to save on the hiring costs. It is a very effective method to hire in situations where an individual is on performance counseling and may soon vacate his/her position in the company. It may not be feasible for the organization to go through a longer hiring procedure just to fill up one vacant position.
Vacant positions are also filled up by the method of internal job postings. This method not only results in a cost effective fulfillment of a vacant position but is also a great motivator for the existing employees. Many a times, a company opts for internal job postings to avoid public attention associated with a new venture. No company would want to loose out on the early starter advantage in an unexplored market. All these are valid reasons for a company to abstain from posting its job requirements online.
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