Asher - Cracking the hidden job market: how to find opportunity in any economy

Copyright 2011 by Donald Asher
All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
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Ten Speed Press and the Ten Speed Press colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Asher, Donald.
Cracking the hidden job market : how to find opportunity in any economy / Donald Asher. 1st ed.
p. cm.
1. Job hunting. 2. Success in business. 3. Career development. I. Title.
HF5382.7.A836 2010
650.14dc22

2010010857

eISBN: 978-1-58008-639-4

v3.1

This book is dedicated to my mother, Dr. Ruby Faye Asher Ausbrooks, who has battled four cancers and is still with us. Mom, you have been an inspiration every day of my life.

This book is based on twenty years of working with job seekers, from CEOs to college students. The handouts and instructional aids that support those lectures and workshops are one source for the material in this guide. They are used with permission of Asher Associates, 415-543-7130, www.donaldasher.com. All rights reserved.

Some sections of this book appeared in other forms in my earlier books, including How to Get Any Job, The Foolproof Job-Search Workbook, and The Overnight Resume. They are used here with permission of Ten Speed Press. All rights reserved.

I am indebted to Gerry Crispin, SPHR, and Mark Mehler of CareerXroads for permission to release selected data from their study, Sources of Hire (2008): Why You Should Care About This Now: Current Data, Trends, Opportunities and Challenges for 2009. For more information about their annual study, contact CareerXroads at www.CareerXroads.com or 732-821-6652. Sections used here with permission of CareerXroads. All rights reserved.

All names have been changed in this book. All examples are based on real people and real events, but no example mentioned in this book should be assumed to be a particular person and any such assumption would be unwarranted.

I wrote this book with a particular reader in mind. If you are smart, hard working, a real contributor, and someone who is open to new things, great! Were on the same page. My goal is to help good people find the employment that will advance their personal and professional objectives. I like to write for and advise intelligent people. Since most people dont read books, and youre reading this one, Im just going to assume youre one of the good people: a high performer who wants to be of value to others and make the world a better place for all.

Most job seekers look for work this way: they try things out, see what seems to work and what doesnt, then revise their approach and go at the project again. In this book, important steps to the search are presented in the order in which you would normally begin doing them. But heres the problem: youve probably already started your job search. You dont have time to read this book from cover to cover before you get out there and try some of these approaches. So, recognizing that youre already in the thick of things, I have crafted an organizational structure that supplies information in more than one spot, often introduced in one place and then more fully explicated in a later chapter. So, be aware that information is in more than one section. Use the table of contents and a little common sense to get the most out of this guide. Skip any parts that dont apply to you, or that you find boring. Feel free to skip ahead. You can always return to these sections later if they become more relevant. In the real world, you learn as you go. Youre going to do some things right and some things wrong. You may eventually decide to go back and do some things over from scratch. You will definitely decide to do many things systematically that you had been doing haphazardly.

I will put my disclaimer right here: this book is not for everybody. I will ask you to do things that most people dont like to do, such as contact strangers and ask for something. However, not liking something is relative. Do you dislike foreclosure? Do you dislike the idea of being unemployed for a long time? Do you disdain the idea of begging your parents and members of your family for just enough money to get through another month while you wait for a career miracle? If you can say to yourself, Yes, some of the techniques make me feel uncomfortable, and feel a bit risky, but they definitely look like theyre going to work, then this book is for you. If you look at some of the suggested approaches and say to yourself, Id rather beg on a street corner for my next meal, then pursue that option. There is logic to the hidden job market, and it is presented in this book. If this logic makes sense to you, so will the book. One thing is certain, however: continuing to do the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome is the definition of insanity.

This may not be the only job book you need. Youll probably need a resume book and an interview guide. You may need some reference works peculiar to your field. You should read a new career book about once a week during your job search. Check them out from the library or borrow them if you dont want to buy them. This book should be, however, your central guide to getting a great new job.

The labor market is like a cruel and heartless game of musical chairs. When the music stops, youd better get your butt on a seat. The clever, the nimble, and the quick may find a chair. This book is about how to be clever, nimble, and quick.

In a good economy, about half of all jobs go to someone who did not respond to an advertisement of any kind. They had friends on the inside, or they walked up at the right time. In a bad economy, even more jobs go to insiders. Employers can have their choice of candidatestoo much choice, in fact. I could post an ad for a redheaded, five-foot-tall, Australian trick pony rider, and get stacks of applicants. Almost all of them would be willing to ride a pony, and more than some of them would be redheaded, five feet tall, and Australian. Once a job is posted, you have to be perfect, you have to have friends on the inside, or you have to be the first in line. This book is about getting friends on the inside, or being at the head of the line.

I recently spoke with a Fortune 1000 HR manager who still gets a stack of paper resumes every day. He grabs a two-inch slice out of the pile every morning and throws away the rest. I dont want to hire anyone who is unlucky, he says, and there are only so many hours in the day. This book is about how to create your own luck.

What most people believe about a job search is wrong. By using the wrong techniques, you could look for work forever without finding employment. Or you could decide to learn something new, something radically different.

Thats what this book is about. Something new and radically different. Its about understanding the invisible part of the job market, and learning how to get into that invisible world and play it to your advantage. The