How to survive redundandy: If you don’t like the rules, change the game

It is widely acknowledged that only 20% of all senior level jobs are found in the advertised market on job boards, traditional papers and recruiters. This is a small pond to fish in when there are many Executive fish in the job market. Recruiters have stated that they are receiving 100’s of applications for each role.

This is when the game of telephone tag with the recruiter begins before you are finally told that the role was filled internally. This is not only frustrating for you the candidate, but also for the good recruiters that are out there. A good recruiter is worth their weight in gold, they will talk to you honestly about the position and keep you informed of progress. Ensure you are presenting yourself as the candidate of choice; never expect a recruiter or potential employer to read between the lines you have to sell yourself.

Increase your chances of success and change the game, access the other 80% of positions, known as the unadvertised market. The industry has created smoke and mirrors around the unadvertised market. Job seekers have asked me where they can find this elusive list.

The unadvertised market is simply common sense; when people are looking to recruit they first look within their circle of influence. Do we know anyone who can do the job? If we do that’s our starting point, if not we ask those we know who they know and so on. Not only do we then employ someone from a recommendation, we save on the fees involved in the recruitment process. Everyone wins? You only win if you are exploiting you network effectively. Networking is not about asking for a position it is about getting on decision makers radars.

There is a fairly small window of opportunity between September and December to progress your job search if you want to start a new position in the New Year. September will also see the market flooded with passive job seekers who are putting a tentative toe in the water. Keep your job search strategy within the rules spend 20% of your time on the advertised market and 80% of your time creating your own opportunity through networking.

Q. I have been looking for a new position for months and I’m getting nowhere, I feel like giving up what should I do?

A. People are securing roles, starting businesses, beginning contracts so the first thing I will say is don’t give up. Ask yourself what have you been doing? Have you focussed on the advertised market? Who do you know who might be able to help you? If your strategy has not been working then you know something needs to change. Take a step back and re assess what has been working and what hasn’t. There is help out there if you need further support.

Q. I have run a major organisation, why would I need career advice?

A. Career Advice and coaching is like anything else, in the same way as you would not try and fix your own car, or central heating boiler, how can you fix your career if you don’t know which tools to use? Our business leaders benefit from advice and coaching in areas they are not experienced in. The job search is a lonely journey and the most successful people are those who bounce ideas of those who know the job market.

Q.I think my age is against me in the market; will I ever get another job?

A. Huge steps have been taken to reduce ageism in the job market but experts doubt it will ever be eradicated completely. You have to position yourself in terms of seniority and not age. There are people securing positions well in to their 60’s. These do tend to come from networking rather than the advertised market. Re-evaluate your strategy and think about who you know that will recognise the positive impact you have had on organisations through-out your career.

Q. I want a new position for the New Year when should I start looking?

A. The simple answer is that one should never stop job seeking, you always need to keep an eye on the market and talk to those who might be influential in the future. Realistically to start a position in the New Year you need to start job hunting now. The recruitment cycle can take several weeks to get through the interview stage and then you have to consider notice periods and the Christmas break. Firstly think about who might be interested in your skills and start having conversations with them, don’t simply spray your CV across the market.

Social Media in the job search - is it good or a bad thing?

The most common response I receive from those who feel that they are networking is “I’m on Linkedin, one of the most popular professional networking sites. They have a profile, have connected with a few people they may have worked with and see this as networking. Is this effective networking are people securing interviews? Karen stated, “I hate to say this, using social media insofar as making a job search hasn’t really helped. While sometimes it’s comforting to know that I am not t alone in feeling discouraged and even lots of times despairing, at other times hearing about other people’s discouragement makes me even more anxious and despairing about the jobs situation.” Social media can have the same effect as the news it can paint a gloomy picture especially when the comments are from depressed jobseekers that are likely to be trawling the internet with little or no return. So can sites like these be useful?

Social Media pays out exactly what you put in, when using sites such as Linkedin adding a profile and waiting for things to happen is not going to work. With social media you have to be as proactive as you should be in the rest of your job search campaign.

Another comment that was made by Karen was “Everyone is carefully editing and “politically correcting” their input so we don’t offend, we don’t want to be misunderstood because we’re not having a face-to-face conversation.” This means we are reading what people want us to think rather than getting their true thoughts. This self- editing is no bad thing when you are a job searching. You must remember that a high percentage of employers will check you out on-line before they interview you.

Karen made a good point about losing the face to face contact; this is here social media sites make us feel like we are making progress even though the return is unquantifiable. The biggest lesson to learn is not to keep your networking on line. A Linkedin group, The Yorkshire Mafia, recently organised a face to face networking event, mixing the online activity with a chance to truly network.

Over 200 people attended the event and it received incredible feedback. If we take a lesson from this it’s that we need to identify the people we need to speak to and meet them face to face. If you are targeting decision makers an email or a connection is not enough you have to have a real network meeting. Social Media can help with the job search if we don’t rely on it but simply use it as a tool to raise your profile in your industry.

Q. Should I have a Social Media profile when I am job searching?

A. It’s great to have an online presence when you are job searching as long as it is one you can control. Check your privacy settings so you know who can view last weekend’s pictures. These might not put you in a good light with your potential employer. It is ok to have different sites you use for different things.

Q. I spend hours each day on Social Media sites with little return, what am I doing wrong?

A. The trick with using these sites is to limit the amount of time you spend on each one, in the same way we should limit the time we trawl the job boards. Identify the people you want to speak to and get out there and speak to them.

Q. Do people find jobs through facebook and Twitter?

A. How these different sites assist your job search will depend on where you are in your career. The ore senior you are the less likely that is to happen; however they can be utilised as part of an overall job search strategy if you are tweeting things of interest. Keep all status updates, tweets and so on positive at all times.

Louise Lapish runs the northern operation of The Career Practice in Leeds. She has been in the Career Management and Recruitment Industry for more than 10 years. If you would like to ask her a question for answer in a future column, please post a comment under this article, or email [email protected].