Does this happen still? I’m currently unemployed and am sniffing at the edges of working with a career counsellor who spouts the usual “hidden job market” stuff. But when I think back, every role I’ve ever had exposure to in the organisations in which I have worked (private sector and government) have always been associated with a “fair and open” recruitment process.
Is being given a job without at least the appearance of a competitive process a thing of the past, or is it still a reasonable possibility today?
Still happens, even in ginormous-as-shit companies.
When I used to work for Stupidly Large Bank X (earlier this year, so we’re not talking about the stone ages), we were regulated into the ground, and for good reason, so they would loophole their way around job posting requirements by doing loud-out-loud funny crap like posting a job Friday at 6pm then filling it by Monday morning. We’d often crack wise about that kind of thing when we’d see back-to-back e-mails listing an opening and then its fulfillment. “Wow, that Saturday afternoon interview must have been impressive as fuck!” We all knew they’d already handpicked someone, then posted the listing as a formality/requirement, and while it was annoying as balls, everyone just shrugged it off because them’s the breaks.
I was actually hand-picked that way once, and already had an “interview” scheduled before the job was even posted. It’s bullshit beyond bullshit, no questions asked, but that’s the way it crumbles, cookie-wise.
Happens all the time with internal promotions, but I’m guessing you’re asking about new positions that need to be filled.
I remember one instance where a company listed a job in exactly one place – a minority-oriented job board that focused on Washington, DC-area jobs. That was a full 800 miles away from where the job was actually located. Not only that, but the company refused to accept any application that didn’t come in through that job board.
Most private companies are under no special restrictions on their hiring practices. They may find advertising positions brings a flood of responses with a low percentage of potential applicants, so they will use more direct means of recruiting.
What’s setting off alarms is the term ‘career counselor’. There’s nothing wrong with using intermediaries in the job search, unless you have to pay anything out of pocket, and are exclusively bound to one agency. Someone with legitimate contacts has no need for your money, and no legitimate concerns about your seeking employment through other means.
I think 5 of the last 6 hires I’ve made, I never even posted the position. I knew who I wanted already. Four of those cases, they were people already that had already been freelancing for me at one time or another, and the fifth was someone I poached from another department.
Thanks for the feedback so far - all very interesting.
TriPolar the deal with the counsellor is that I have had a range of senior management and project roles across a range of industries and I’m having a lot of difficulty figuring out what my value proposition is to prospective employers - this compounded by my desire to continue pursuing senior management positions. I’m looking at having a couple of sessions with an outplacement/career strategy person just to get an external perspective on how the employment market would view me, and where I am likely to be most at home and make the most valuable contribution.
My area of uncertainty, as per the original question is that the discussions seem likely to go down the path of me selecting favoured industries then targeting the hidden jobs market. All well and good but as stated I’ve never seen a senior position filled (sorry - there’s one I can think of) in an ad-hoc manner. But what I’m learning is that its actually quite common…
I’ve gotten half my jobs through word of mouth.
Became manager of a city park complex that way.
Was casually told by my friend who worked there that their manager quit abruptly.
She didn’t want to apply, being part-time, so I asked who was in charge and got an interview by mentioning my friend. They hadn’t even thought through what the posting would list as requirements, but because I was basically qualified with good references I got hired on the spot.
This is a little different than the asked question, but where I work, openings have to be posted internally first, then go external if no suitable candidate is found. So from the outside, at least, it might seem like a lot of desirable jobs never get posted.
I have gotten about half of my professional positions that way including my current one. It isn’t uncommon for people to quit/get fired from positions that are business critical and have to be filled quickly. There isn’t enough time to do the standard dicking around by the company around in other words. I didn’t even apply for my current position. They found me because the person that had it before me got fired under bad circumstances and my consulting company was about to be in breach of contract with a mega-corp if they didn’t have the position filled satisfactorily in 2 business days all inclusive. That type of thing happens all the time.
Is your experience really that people post senior management jobs and wait for the resumes to come in? It hasn’t been mine. The number of potential applicants for such jobs is usually pretty small, and often companies would prefer to poach from another company than hire someone out of work. That is true for first level jobs also these days, but really true for higher level ones.
I can see a company looking for somebody hiring a headhunter. If you know of any in your field, you might want to drop them a line to put yourself on their radar, just in case.
How does this career counselor propose to get you into the hidden job market? Does he or she have good contacts? I have a hard time imagining any company telling such a person their business.
As you should know, posted reqs get old, and often managers have openings in the near future which haven’t been posted yet - this is in addition to all the other games mentioned above. Since you are experienced, don’t you have contacts in some of the companies you would want to work for, either people you used to work with or people you met at meetings? Those people are your entry to the hidden job market, and it won’t cost a dime (maybe a lunch.)
Example. A guy I worked on a committee with called me up looking for a job, and sent his resume. It so happened that a manager had just asked me to define a job req for him. The guy who called turned out to be a perfect match. The opening was filled, he got the job, and I’m not sure it ever got posted. Rare, but it does happen.
Some places, especially ones that have been burned by people who interview well, but then crash and burn, will hire temps and then offer jobs to the ones who work out well. Others will say that they do that to string temps along. shrug
I got hired for my current job basically because a headhunter was looking for candidates on LinkedIn for a slot she was trying to fill. Both jobs I had before that were not advertised anywhere - one I got because I knew the hiring manager from her prior job, and the one before that, I got by sending a bunch of blind resumes to firms I wanted to work for and then following up by phone. (For that last one, it probably helps that we were talking about smallish law firms, not megacorps with huge HR departments.)