Many Jobs are Never Listed, Creating a "Hidden Market"

Noted CEO and author, Lou Adler, has developed a rule he believes will help job seekers find a new career.

Adler suggests only about half of all job openings are actually public. The other half are in what he terms the “hidden market”.

The “hidden market” jobs are filled through internal company promotions and referrals from current employees. The recognition that available jobs are split equally among public and private means a job seeker should spend considerable effort accessing the “hidden market”.

Adler suggests both hiring managers and job seekers employ a 20/20/60 rule. The hiring manager should spend 20% of their time posting public jobs, 20% of their time looking for resumes, and 60% of their time networking to find employees.

According to Adler, a similar 20/20/60 job hunting strategy should be used by job-seekers. In this case 20% of the time responding to job postings by going through the back door rather than applying through the front, another 20% ensuring your resume and LinkedIn profile are easy to find and worth reading, and the remaining 60% networking to find jobs in the hidden market. In another post I described in detail what job-seekers need to do to improve their networking skills. Rather than repeat the techniques, I’ll just repeat the theme: being referred to a hiring manager by a trusted person is 50-100X more likely to result in being interviewed and hired compared to submitting a resume to a posted job.

For more information on accessing the “hidden market” for jobs click HERE.