Job hunting channels, job market & Co.

If your goal is to get a new job as quickly as possible, it’s important that you have an understanding of what the job market looks like and how it works.

You only have a limited number of hours to spend on job hunting each day. The trick is to use your time efficiently by concentrating on things that produce positive results and bring you closer to your goal of finding this new job.

It’s important that you scour the whole of the job market and make your search as wide-ranging as possible. There are more and more effective ways of looking for a job than just reading the ads. The individual job hunting channels are:

• Publicly advertised job ads

• Recruitment and (temporary) employment agencies

• The networking/word-of-mouth method

• Unsolicited applications

Job hunting channels

Let’s take a look at the overall job market, so you have an idea of how everything works. It’s important that you are aware of the following fact: Only 25% of all vacancies are advertised.

Only one in four vacancies is advertised publicly in newspapers or on job portals. The remaining three out of four jobs are filled through other channels such as:

• Ads on job portals, e.g. Jobsite, Monster, Milkround, Graduate Jobs etc.

• Networking (word-of-mouth)

• Unsolicited applications/company databases of prospective employees

• Recruitment and temporary employment agencies

The reason that only 25% of jobs are advertised is that it is an expensive business. The recruitment process can take a very long time as well as a lot of valuable company resources.

It’s often also the case that when a company needs a new employee, it’s a matter of some urgency. It’s therefore a good idea to spend a lot of time working with your network and submitting unsolicited applications. The advantage of using this approach is that you have far fewer competitors.

The visible and invisible job market

The overall job market can be subdivided into two distinct parts – visible and invisible.

The visible job market comprises vacancies advertised publicly, which are therefore available to all potential applicants. The net is fantastic for job ads.

The invisible market consists of jobs that are not advertised, and which are filled without being publicly available to all potential applicants.

It is interesting to note that a large proportion of all vacancies are filled via the invisible market. About 75% of all companies prefer to find the right person from within their own ranks before turning to the last resort: advertising the position.

Recruiting new employees

Usually, the company looks to see if the right person can be found within the organization. If successful, this will in turn create an opening somewhere else in the organization. If there is no suitable candidate within the company, the company might try to find the right person via its network.

If none of the above is successful, HR will be brought in. They can, for example, investigate whether there are potential candidates in their database – either from previous interviews, or from the CVs uploaded by job seekers via the company’s website.

The final option is to initiate a search using consultants and headhunters, or by writing and placing an advertisement.

Your personal job search plan

Once you know how the job market works, it is time for you to start your job search. A good way to get started is to do the following:

• write a list of the companies that probably have the kind of job you’re looking for

• consider jobs within your current industry, but look at alternatives as well

• make a plan for your job search, so you cover as much of the job market as possible

• devote time to each activity, e.g.:
  • searching for jobs in newspapers and online
  • contacting your network
  • identifying options for unsolicited applications
  • contacting the relevant recruitment/employment agencies
  • devising a system for your correspondence so that you always follow up on individual enquiries
  • be prepared to constantly follow up on the various activities. It’s not enough just to initiate an activity – if you want results, you’ll need to follow up as well.

Good luck with your job hunting!

If you want to learn more about job applications, “The fastest way to the job interview” written by EmploymentCare is the right book for you.

Download “The fastest way to the job interview” right here