Finding "Hidden Jobs."

FINDING HIDDEN JOBS



Most DAWU Forum Members are LTU, so you personally know

(from bitter experience) that many ads posted on mainstream

job boards are not functionally open for competition. The

employer already has an incumbent, so the ad is merely pro

forma window-dressing that they only do because they are

required to demonstrate open hiring practices (LOL).

Also, few will contest my assertion most legitimate ads posted

on the mainstream job boards receive a deluge – no, actually a

“tsunami” - of candidate responses. And for many DAWU

Members, perusing and responding to want-ads on the

mainstream job boards comprises over 50% of their total time

and effort searching for work.



Some here, perhaps rightly so, are now starting to sigh to

themselves and say:


“oh, Worrywart’s going to talk about ‘networking.’ Yeah, it

sounds good on paper, or if you’ve been a social-butterfly all

your life and you’re Christmas card mailings are so large you

keep your post office from laying people off, but I ran out of

people to call after three weeks and I don’t see any point in

embarrassing myself by continuing to bothering them all the

time.”


But hold the phone! I am not going to write about “networking”

right now . . . or at least, not “per say.”



Let’s talk about “Hidden Jobs.”

What do I mean by Hidden Jobs? Well, the very word “hidden”

implies that you are not going to be able to use your favorite

internet search engines to find these positions. No, they are

not listed in the newspapers either, or in a file folder on the desk

of some state or county job-service staffperson. If they were,

then they would not be “hidden jobs.”


So, how could any jobs be hiding in a market such as this, when

tons of employed people are keeping their eyes open on behalf

of an unemployed family member or in-law or close friend?



The answer to that question is not only simple, but also the only

possible answer that would make sense to your ears: “hidden

jobs are jobs that, technically, do not exist.”



Well now what am I saying? (“Hi Mr. Manager, do you have any

jobs that don’t exist? I would like to apply . . .”). That sounds

ridiculous, does it not? Fear not, I will have this make sense to

you in about one minute. . .



Prior to placing a job ad on a mainstream job board, an organization

will generally post the job opening internally, where employees or

persons with close-ties to employees get a crack at it.



Prior to posting a job opening internally, certain people in different

sectors of the organization will already know that a job is being

created - or that a job vacancy exists which cannot remain very

long unfilled.



Prior to that, several people within the organization are privy to the

progression in the development and ratification of a description for a

new position. Or, in the case of a vacant position, several people within

the organization will be privy to discussions that must take place before

a decision can be made in favor of filling that vacancy.



Prior to that, at least a few people within the organization will be involved

in (or aware of) discussions which finally result in the decision to create a

new position. In the case of a pre-existing position, many people within

the organization will know that an employee has left the company or

has submitted two-week notice.



Prior to that, perhaps a few – perhaps many people within the organization

will be aware of a need within the organization that is not being adequately

met. Or, in the case of pre-existing positions, some people within the

organization will know that an employee is either not working out well, or is

dissatisfied and actively looking for work.



Prior to that, some people within the organization will be aware of changes

taking place that *might* result in a need for a new position to be created,

or changes that might result in mediocre employees (or employees lacking

in certain skill sets) to become an “endangered species.” Or, the changes

might cause an able employee to become sufficiently dissatisfied that s/he

might sit down and update his/her resume. Or, the changes might mean

that an able employee is going into a new (higher-level) position of

responsibility, which would then mean that s/he would vacate his/her current

position.



So long, long before most positions would ever hit mainstream job boards,

there will, all along the way of these stages of “incubation,” be people within

the organization who are (to differing degrees and at different steps along the

way) “in the know.” People are social animals; they talk . . . and not just with

other people within their organization.



According to job-search facilitators employed by the Feds, who’ve shared with

one of my 99er friends what I am sharing with you today, only 10% of all

legitimate, living-wage positions make it onto the mainstream job boards as

truly-open-positions.



Furthermore, the further the open position advances along this “incubation

continuum,” the exponentially greater the increase in the volume of competition

for the position. So the earlier you can get your name into the ears of those

who would make a hiring decision, or of those who could potentially influence

the hiring decision, or of those who have some form of relationship and the ear

of those who would make or influence the hiring decision, the vastly greater the

probability that you will be offered the job. On average, only five percent of the

total potential competition for the job occurs prior to an organization’s formal

(internal) announcement/posting of the position availability. Once that internal

announcement/posting occurs, the competition more than triples. But even that

level of competition pales in comparison to that which occurs the moment an

organization “goes public” with an opening on the mainstream job boards - a

five-fold increase (at minimum) over the TOTAL competition already in play

prior to “going public.”



The question is: “where are the hidden jobs?” The answer is: “all over the place.”


The trick is to get your name into the brains and onto the tongues of decision-

makers, decision-influencers, and/or people with ties to decision makers or

influencers.



DAWU Members who’ve read my posts on the original Forum already know

that I’m not the type to “blow sunshine. . .” Therefore, I hope you will not

be discouraged by my sharing my opinion that finding hidden jobs is neither

easy, fast, nor intuitive.



Finding hidden jobs can require any (or all) of the following: intensive online

research, “humint” (spy speak for human-intel), networking of an oftentimes

tortuously circuitous nature, meticulously maintained user-specific personas

tailored to please each person along the circuitous chain, cold-calling, tasteful

“stunts.” This is a long-term approach!



To successfully impart and instill the concepts that underpin even one of the

methods listed above would require several sub-topical posts containing

“realistic examples followed by granular explanations.” Nevertheless, because

there might be DAWU Members who’re wholly unfamiliar with the topic of

“hidden jobs,” I thought that even this merest sketch of the subject might be

of interest to a couple of my Brothers and Sisters of Displaced American

Workers United . . . who are looking for alternative approaches to better their

chances for employment.



WW

Thanx WW. Good words!!

Another thing people can do at the same time is to look at getting back into school to get credentials needed in the field they want to enter.

Hi Phillymg,

It is a blessing that you are back to work - regardless of whether it was for one hour a week and paid one dollar for the hour. It would be worth two dollars in gas to get there! Even the least amount of work causes a biological and psychological change, I believe, and that change is POSITIVE. Not to mention the fact that, as you've already mentioned in a different post, qualifications from this little gig have helped augment your candidacy for another position : - )

WW

Hmmmm WW, great post, inspired some job hunting tactics I used when there were jobs that you had to hunt for, and using the right methods, skill..could land, even if temp to permanent. Thanks again

easier said than done...

Thanks WW at this point in our struggle we all need any ideas we can get. Yes you are right it won't be easy but these days what is?

Thank you for posting this info, WW. It does give me a couple of ideas on getting my foot in the door prior to an actual job opening announcement.

worrywart wrote:Hi Phillymg,

It is a blessing that you are back to work - regardless of whether it was for one hour a week and paid one dollar for the hour. It would be worth two dollars in gas to get there! Even the least amount of work causes a biological and psychological change, I believe, and that change is POSITIVE. Not to mention the fact that, as you've already mentioned in a different post, qualifications from this little gig have helped augment your candidacy for another position : - )

WW

Many thanx for your support & encouragement WW.....not just for me but for all the laid-off Americans whose lives you have touched in a positive way & they are many. Keep up the good work!!

Man I looked under my bed this morning and found a hidden job I wasnt prepared for! Might be just short term for a day! Where did all that stuff come from?

Whew thanx you guys for a minute there I was thinking WW meant I'm getting a demotion to 1 hr a wk for $1 an hr but still have to pay $2 each way to get there & back!!

Just kiddin WW!!

Tho the pay at my new job sux & my gf & I can't possibly continue to support our family on what we make working p/t & the meager partial UC benefits we've gotten. We're so embarrassed that we haven't found better jobs despite applying for jobs constantly. We live on HOPE.