3 Easy Ways to Get a job via a hidden job market (little known secrets)

A few days later, Simon says Matt called to confirm the email was received. 

Simon recollects, 

“I remembered him (Matt) and was pleasantly surprised to find an articulate young man on the phone. 

He had researched my business.”

The long and short of this was that Simon invited Matt for a coffee and was very impressed. 

Within a week, Matt had two meetings, and Simon hired him.

3 Things Matt Did Right

1. He didn’t wait to respond to a vacancy advert – he took the first step and tried his luck in the hidden job market
2. Matt was persistent and was always polite
3. He researched and prepared for the initial phone chat with Simon

Again, the author narrates how the hidden job market works. 

Here’s an example: Suppose Mr Bradley is a businessperson and wants to hire someone. 

There are three scenarios likely to happen.

Conversation 1

First, Mr Bradley will naturally enquire among his peer group, close friends, and contacts. 

He will see if they can help by recommending someone or connecting him with a potential employee. 

Because these contacts are in Mr Bradley’s long-standing commercial network, he knows them and will trust them should they recommend someone to him. 

More than any recommendation from a recruiter.

Imagine if you had had a working relationship with any of Mr Bradley’s associates! 

Mr Bradley will first explore this network. 

Then, if he exhausts this group, he will try the following conversation.

Conversation 2

Next, Mr Bradley will talk to his professional advisers, suppliers, and general connections.

Although these people may not be Mr Bradley’s inner circle, he still respects and trusts this group. 

And he will welcome any recommendations from them. 

If he can find a suitable person they recommend, that’s perfect! If not, he will move on to conversation three.

Conversation 3

Lastly, Mr Bradley will consult a job board (executive) to post or list the position or work with a professional recruiting firm.

These are the scenarios that happen daily, weekly, and monthly. 

And in all job industries/sectors and at all job levels.

About 80% of job seekers put themselves in the tight corner of conversation three. 

That is, relying only on websites to look for a job.

Simon then compared these three conversation scenarios to a pond. 

So, pond three is the biggest and the most overcrowded. 

He advised that you can’t depend solely on fishing in pond three to maximize the benefits of your job search.

Note: Ponds one and two are smaller and have less competition. 

Indeed, these are where you should be fishing more for jobs.

Note also that referrals depend on the recommendations of people whom Mr Bradley knows. 

So, the probability of a successful placement is higher. 

Because the person recommending the candidate may have tried and tested the candidate previously.

Sometimes, you can uncover and create a new vacancy that didn’t exist previously.

The company will then employ you to do the job, all because of your networking skills and approach to the hidden job market. 

Simon showed how this can happen too (see p.17; 90-94).