Chapter 9: Accessing the Hidden Job Market
What the hidden job market actually is
A significant proportion of roles are filled before they are ever formally advertised, through internal promotion, referral or direct approach. This is what is meant by the hidden job market, and it is reached through the networking and direct outreach covered in the previous two chapters, applied with a specific target in mind.
How to work it
Identify organisations you would genuinely want to work for, regardless of whether they currently have an advertised vacancy. Research their structure, identify the person most likely to be your future line manager, and make a direct, well researched approach explaining what you could bring to their team. This will feel less comfortable than replying to a job advert. It also faces far less competition, since most candidates only ever respond to what is visibly advertised.
What the research tells us
Estimates of exactly what proportion of jobs go unadvertised vary by source and by sector, but multiple independent studies place the figure well above half, with some estimates for certain sectors running considerably higher. The practical implication is straightforward. Restricting your search only to what is publicly advertised means competing for a portion of the market that may be smaller than the portion you cannot see at all.
In practice: Priya's direct letters
Priya had a shortlist of six organisations she admired but none were advertising relevant roles. She wrote directly to the head of department at two of them, referencing specific work the team had recently published. One reply led to a conversation, and eight weeks later, to an offer for a role that was created around her.
In practice: Simon's growth-driven approach
Simon, a supply chain specialist, identified an organisation going through a period of rapid growth based on recent news coverage. Rather than waiting for a relevant vacancy to appear, he wrote to the operations director outlining, briefly and specifically, how his experience could support the scale up challenges the coverage had described. The organisation had not planned to hire externally at that level, but created a role for him within two months once the conversation had opened.
- Waiting passively for a role to be advertised at an organisation you admire, rather than approaching them directly.
- Sending a generic speculative letter that could apply to any organisation, rather than one grounded in specific research.
- Approaching too senior a contact without a clear, concise reason for reaching out.
- Giving up after a single unanswered approach.
- Build a shortlist of five to eight target organisations, whether or not they are currently advertising.
- Identify the likely hiring manager at each and research their team's recent work.
- Draft one speculative approach and send it this week.
- Review the response, or lack of one, with your coach and refine your approach for the next target.
This programme gives you frameworks and actions. Your coach is where they become genuinely yours. Rather than arriving with answers, consider bringing these open questions into your next session and exploring them together:
- Which organisation would you approach if you were certain it could not go badly?
- What is actually stopping you from making a direct approach today?