 Hidden
Job Market
Most job-seekers don't realize how much hiring is going
on. They only see a small portion of the total,
and are unaware of the hidden jobs (in other words, they don't know what
they don't know).
Employers hired over 4 million people per month in 2009 according to
Bureau of Labor Statistics
JOLTS
data. Since employment was declining, most of these were replacements
for turnover rather than new
jobs.
And, hiring is increasing.
| Check out our Hidden Job Market Workshop to
see what it's like. The
Recording takes you to a hidden
page and answers these questions: What exactly is
the hidden job market? How big is it where you
live now? What makes it better than the visible
job market? How can you access it? |
Hiring rates
According to
US
Census Bureau data, about 10% of employees make more
than $100k. If hiring
follows the trends described above, the number of hires
per month in 2010 will be:
Hiring is down in 2010, for sure, but there are STILL
plenty of jobs out there.
 Turnover
Employees quit, retire, get laid off or leave for
other reasons (aka separations). Employers bring on new
staff as replacements or for new growth (aka hires).
Turnover is a combination of these two, and the black
line on the graph is the average. Since growth averages
only 1% per year, almost all of the hiring every year is
for replacements.
The take-away: Employers on the average replace
almost 40% of their staff every year.
Hidden vs. visible jobs
Hidden jobs: about 5% of executives go after the
truly hidden jobs (80%
of the job market) by sending letters directly to thousands
of decision-maker at the same time.
Competition is minimal, 85% land a job in less than
90 days, and 50% get multiple job offers when they do it
right.
Visible jobs: about 95% of executives compete
for visible jobs (20% of the job market) through
networking, recruiters, and job boards. They find one
opportunity at a time, competition is extreme, and only
50% land a job in less than 12 months. Multiple,
simultaneous job offers are rare.
Here's what these numbers look like, to scale.
Networking for hidden jobs
If you're networking to find the hidden jobs, and
someone other than a decision-maker tells you about a
job, that job is not hidden. It can't be - hidden
jobs are only known to decision-makers.
To network for hidden jobs, you must network with decision-makers who have the authority to hire you.
Since that's not very practical, and since most
decision-makers don't know you, and since you won't find
too many decision-makers (if any) at your networking events,
or on any of the online networking sites, send
them a letter - it's the only polite and practical way
and 4 times faster.
Most jobs (80%) start out hidden, and only the
decision-maker knows. If the hidden job is not filled
right away, it starts becoming visible. For example, a
decision-maker might tell a few others, who in turn tell
others. This is a continuous and gradual process with
new hidden jobs being created every day as others become
visible.
In the "old
days" before the Internet, a hidden job remained mostly
hidden for a long time - simply because it took a long time for
the word to get out. Back then, networking was indeed
the best way to find hidden jobs. Today, a single "tweet" can make a
job visible to thousands in minutes.
If you want to find a job when it's truly hidden and
only the decision-maker knows, you'll need to reach the
decision-maker before anyone else knows about it.
The longer you wait, the more visible it becomes, and
the more the competition increases.
Road map to the hidden job market
Find the decision-makers most likely to hire you and
send them a value proposition letter. Use a website and
video clip to interview while you sleep.
Hiring rates defined
This is the
BLS
JOLTS definition:
Hires are the total number of additions to the
payroll occurring at any time during the reference
month, including both new and rehired employees,
full-time and part-time, permanent, short-term and
seasonal employees, employees recalled to the location
after a layoff lasting more than 7 days, on-call or
intermittent employees who returned to work after having
been formally separated, and transfers from other
locations.
The hires count does not include transfers or
promotions within the reporting site, employees
returning from strike, employees of temporary help
agencies or employee leasing companies, outside
contractors, or consultants.
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