We all want enjoyable, lucrative and progressive work, right? So how should we go about finding that kind of work?
You know, I admire people who take a job and then leave shortly afterwards because the job turns out to be way different from the one they applied for. It’s a huge risk, but if a job is going to make one miserable, or to a disadvantage, why continue with it? Journeymen can pay a huge penalty for this behaviour – if they repeatedly move from job to job until they find a sweet-spot then they ultimately find getting any job difficult. What’s needed is a tried and tested method of finding a great job before one even enters the workplace, without wasting the time and cost of enduring long recruitment processes. Both employees and employers welcome such a thing, right?
It’s the advent of Web2.0 tools that now makes such a thing possible.
Have you heard of the ‘hidden job market’? It’s exactly as it sounds – jobs that aren’t advertised. This is because they don’t exist yet, or are in the formative stages of being defined. It’s the people who can search this market who are in the position to influence the shape of jobs to their own needs and desires. In other words, they help create their dream jobs, rather than walk into a job that has been defined by someone else.
Web2.0 tools enable us to search this hidden job market by building relationships with potential employers and identifying job opportunities as they emerge. It’s a matter of getting yourself on their radar and building trust and credibility upfront. Business networking sites such as LinkedIn provides us all with the facilities to connect, engage and nurture a relationship with people within organizations that we want to work in, and it’s scalable and repeatable. Never before was such a thing possible at this magnitude.
Once relationships have been initiated, it’s now possible to provide demonstrable evidence of your potential by building authority in your subject area, using the Web2.0 tools. For example, LinkedIn Answers is a great platform for showing others your dominance of your subject, and be recognized for it.
The Hidden Job Market is there – if you look for it!
