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JOB NEWS from PERFECT CVs |
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Advertised jobs on job boards, physical publications and at Job Centres have always represented a minority of job vacancies. In 2009 we estimated the proportion to be 29%, recently we estimate this has reduced to nearer 20%. We believe the main reason for this drop is the result of hiring organisations cutting recruitment budgets; agencies and job boards are certainly experiencing reduced vacancy volume; Hays one of the largest agencies recently reported quarterly results showing a 6% drop in fees.
Companies have also found that other recruiting mechanisms actually produced more effective employees that proved more loyal than candidates recruited via agencies, headhunters or conventional advertising. Collectively, these recruitment mechanisms make up a large part of the so called “un advertised job market”.
The mechanisms are: recruitment by recommendation, via networking of some description, via accessing a “talent pool” (often comprising previous suitable applicants for vacancies who were unsuccesful at the time and current employees on career development routes) and via direct specualtive applications, (ie candidates who have taken the effort to search out the Company they want to work for).
For the candidate, accessing these vacancies takes much more effort than writing a CV, posting it to job boards and CV databases, responding to individual adverts and waiting for contact. It requires a highly pro active and targeted approach but puts the candidate more in control of their job search project. Such a project would typically include:
- Physical personal networking via an extended business network and via workplace and social contacts. By “extended network” we mean using current business contacts to generate new contacts and using those new contacts to generate yet more contacts etc.
- Subscribing to on line social media and business networking sites and optimising content for a specific type of job or job title
- Direct applications to organisations for which the candidate wants to work and where there is a requirement for the candidate’s skill set and experience
- Creating a reputation as an expert in a particular field or with particular marketable knowledge or skill
- Encouraging recommendations
These routes to finding a new job require a very good CV aimed at the type of job sought but also require a different set of tools to those required when responding to job adverts.
Firstly, the application letter becomes a much more important element of the application. It still has to link the CV with the type of job sought but in addition needs to put forward a much more rounded case in terms of values, outlook, style etc to for the candidate be considered.
Profiles listed on social and business networking sites need to be written for a web audience and optimised for relevant keywords and there needs to be 100% consistency between data on different sites and CV. Recruiters often use networking sites to check a candidate’s credentials by contact with friends or work colleagues, so what is presented in profiles also needs to be absolutely accurate.
Physical personal networking and creating a reputation for expertise can both be enhanced using the web. A personal web site or at least a blog, e.g. on a site such as blogger.com ensures that your views, aims, skills and expertise are clearly stated for your entire network (and recruiters) to see and can be instrumental in supporting one-on-one personal networking. For candidates in some sectors, such as marketing, design, arts, fashion etc where visual presentation of work undertaken would present a clearer understanding of skills and experience a personal web site is a must. Increasingly senior managers and consultants are also turning to this media with their web sites providing a series of case studies to showcase skills in use.
Once the necessary tools are in place, the candidate accessing the unadvertised job market needs a plan of action with clear objectives mapped out, an action plan that integrates the approach mechanisms chosen and time. We estimate a succesful job hunt in the unadvertised jobs market requires a minimum commitment of 2½ hours per day, every day. We know of candidates who have won unadvertised job offers with relatively little effort but they are definetely the exception. There are organisations, often called Outsourcing Companies, that claim to do the ground work on behalf of a candidate. This does work for very senior managers and costs several thousand pounds, but our experience has been that it is not a viable route for the vast majority of candidates even if they could afford it.
Web profiles, personal web sites, application letters as well as CV writing are all services offered by reputable job seeker support Companies and are affordable. So there really is no reason for not targeting the unadvertised job market for that next role. Take a look at the Perfect CVsr products pagel