Hidden Job Markets Are Your Secret Weapon! 4 “Ways In” You Can Do Today

It’s become entirely evident to me that just going to Monster.com and looking for ‘Position X’ that you’re interested in, probably is not going to work for most people. You want to know why? It’s tougher because everyone else in the world is doing the exact same thing. You do need a secret weapon. You do need a little step up above the rest.

Steve Jangles. Secret Job Agent for Hire.

You do need to be innovative – innovative and creative in the way that you approach your job search. It’s just the way the game has changed. It’s more of a path to prove your problem-solving skills to get in, to the interview, than ever a time and opportunity there was before. It’s exciting. It’s more difficult and it’s a new way to think about things, but, knowing these four ways in, that you could do today, is your secret weapon to getting your next interview. Let’s jump in, to those topics.

#1 – Check Company Websites

I know what you’re thinking. It’s like “yeah, yeah, I’ve heard all this before. You’ve said it before. Blah blah blah yada yada”. I understand, but, if you have your main targets on a list and you check them regularly. You’re doing that part and that’s great, but you might also want to check the sub-sub-websites or forums or blogs that are associated with the company you’re working with.

Because chances are there are comments enabled and there are employees that are not only active, but encouraged to be active; and if you build a relationship with these individual contributors that you could potentially be working with later, you’re going to already have a relationship and a foot in the door before you even know if there is a position.

I understand this is an investment of time and interest, but if you’re willing to commit your life to future growth with another company and you’re actually interested, it’s a no-brainer. It’s something you should be interested in. Probably just haven’t thought about, but, check out some of the other social and interactive aspects of the company website that might not have been there a decade ago.

Companies are changing and they are opening up the doors a little bit to interaction and sharing with, what they do. So take part in it.

#2 – Network With Relevant People

Ok. I’m not saying show up to, these networking events, where you just huff around and everyone taunts all their wonderful qualities. That’s probably not the best way to approach things. But if you know that there is, for instance, a seminar in your town that happens quarterly, that’s related to the industry that you’re aiming for and you know that usually people that are with the company you’re interested present there or show up there, then that’s a perfect opportunity to get in and start that relationship.

Now there may be costs involved. Sometimes they’re not, sometimes they’re minimal and that’s great, but if you’re want is big enough, it might just be worth it. And hey, you might learn something along the way. So there’s another way in that is just far enough removed from easy, that it is a secret weapon in.

#3 – Look At Offbeat Local Papers

I’m talking about Green Sheet, for Houston, Thrifty Nickel, whatever it is. Local, small town, surrounding town, just non-mainstream newspaper type publications. These are where usually small to medium companies are posting opportunities because either they don’t know some of the big websites are available or they just don’t have anyone that’s very familiar or comfortable with dealing with those on a regular basis.

Let’s face it. It’s pretty easy to give someone at a newspaper publication your bare minimum details and a phone number or an email address, and whatever couple of bucks, and be done with it; as opposed to, signing up for an account here, here, here, making sure all these things are great and responding to millions and millions of people that are in different states, that might not be relevant to what you’re looking for.

Whereas if it’s in a local paper, you know it’s someone within a 20-mile radius that is interested and at least got the locale qualification in place. So, take the opportunity to check those out. Chances are these are very low volume response positions and that is exactly what you are looking for.

#4 – CraigsList+

Now, CraigsList is an interesting beast. It’s not pretty. It’s got a bunch of wacko people on there, in some certain areas, and it’s pretty much the wild west of offerings and selling stuff.

But, in order for any company or any person to post a job posting there, it costs money. Most of their other postings are free. This is a huge qualifier. And it shows that someone was interested enough, and legitimate enough, and pay a decent sum of money, to post a job posting.

So, you can set up an automatic alert to search for terms or locale or any number of characteristics that you’re looking for and have this emailed to you on a regular basis. It’s basically a way for you to leverage your time and see if any of these low volume positions are being posted to a website that is locale specific and has qualified companies posting their job offerings. Check it out.

Uncover the Hidden Job Markets and Win

Hidden Markets are really what you’ll need to succeed when it comes to finding positions that are low volume and highly targeted towards a legitimate company and what they’re looking for. It’s tough when you can picture an HR person getting hundreds of emails and they go completely into axe mode. They are looking for reasons to say no to people.

However, if you are hitting up positions where you know you’re qualified and you know only fifteen or twenty other people are applying for, you stick out automatically. And they don’t go completely into no mode. They go into well, let’s call these people and figure stuff out mode. Great! You have another opportunity to prove how awesome you are.

So, make sure these four ways in are in your tool bag. And that’s: checking the more interactive and new social aspects of the company website, relevant people networking at the kind of off-the-beaten path networking events, looking at offbeat local newspapers, and checking CraigsList’s local job postings. Keep these things in mind, build up your toolbox, and I guarantee, these will be great sources of phone calls and in-person interviews for you.