Developing a job search strategy

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• The job market

  You should be aware that the majority of vacant jobs are not advertised. In fact, 80 per cent of all positions are available for a brief period before being placed on the open job market, or advertised (if ever). Penetrating this ‘hidden’ job market becomes an ‘art-form’, and we encourage you to locate such openings, so that you can approach employers without having to compete with scores, or even hundreds, of other job seekers. Most of these positions are filled through a combination of:

  • word of mouth
  • networking
  • direct approaches
  • headhunting
     

  Briefly, most jobs are found by well-focused approaches to people who may wish to help. The organisation may be restructuring, putting in a new product line, entering new markets or whatever and will not as yet have publicised their particular needs. If your approach ‘hits the desk’ at this crucial stage, you may just be in there with a chance.
   
  Recognising the ‘iceberg’ factor (i.e. that only 20 per cent of the jobs available are ‘visible’, while 80 per cent remain ‘hidden’) in your job search campaign is extremely important. Although a balanced approach is recommended, we would suggest that you concentrate most of your efforts in exploring the ‘hidden market’ and the remaining time on applying for advertised posts.

• The hidden market

  Pursuing this market is a very proactive process. You need to be able to maintain control, ‘drive’ events and make things happen. In the process you get to meet a lot of people – at least if you are organising yourself properly – as well as learning a good deal about other organisations, the people who work for them, and indeed about yourself!

   

• Market research

  Whether you are going for a job like your last one, or down a completely different track, there are many sources of information that you can exploit to help you progress your job search. These include:

  • reading the daily, weekend and local press
  • reading professional and trade journals and other relevant publications
  • using your own local library, which may provide you with information on companies, careers and general marketing intelligence
  • obtaining company brochures and annual reports
  • using online company information, e.g. Reuters and Companies House
  • joining social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn to network.
  • investigating Internet job sites

• Networking

  Everyone has a network of personal and business contacts, which, when listed out, will be very much larger and more useful than first imagined. Your ability to locate good jobs in the ‘hidden’ job market will be dependent upon your developing this network of people who can introduce you to other contacts. Ultimately, this might lead to people or employers who are recruiting and possibly looking for someone with your type of experience.
   
  Networking can be the most effective way of identifying job opportunities, as evidenced by previous clients who have found their jobs this way. It is important not to be shy or reluctant to use this route for job hunting. The main technique is to base your approach as one of ‘seeking advice’ from a friend, acquaintance, contact or business colleague.
   
  Be ‘upfront’ and straightforward about your present situation, as it is quite possible that the contact has been through a similar situation themselves and is therefore more likely to listen sympathetically and, importantly, respond with some helpful and constructive advice, guidance, ideas, information, suggestion and names.
   
  The important thing to remember, when networking, is that you are not asking for a job. This could place a strain on the relationship and turn something positive into a negative one. You will be contacting people who are known to you and others to whom you have merely been referred. Whatever the nature of the relationship, care must be taken not to ‘overwork’ or exploit the contact. This is likely antagonise them and have an adverse affect on the original motive for establishing the link in the first place, so care must be exercised in all your dealings with any network contact.

• Contact development

  Have you thought about contacting the following people you know, from the past as well as the present: friends, neighbours, relatives, work colleagues (past and present), customers, suppliers, school/university/college friends, etc. 
   
  The idea is that you will be contacting people to seek advice and help with the next stage of your career. Initially, be selective about the number you intend to approach as your aim is to elicit at least two or three referrals from each person contacted, and you need to be able to handle the number of meetings that you hope will materialise. When establishing contact, ensure that you indicate clearly that you are merely seeking advice and help – that you do not expect them to have a job for you.
   
  Remember, though: the best contacts are those who control the job that you could do or want to do, i.e. they are and should be your primary focus.

• Potential network contacts

  Business

  • Customers (and former customers)
  • Your manager (and their contacts!)
  • Your colleagues at work: your department and other departments
  • Suppliers (and former suppliers)
  • Recruitment agencies: (local and national)
  • Professional associations and societies
  • Former employers/employees
  • Former colleagues (where are they and what are they doing?)
  • Online social recruiting sites such as LinkedIn

  Personal

  • Your relatives
  • Your friends, past and present
  • Neighbours
  • Professional people you deal with in your personal life
  • Social media contacts, e.g. Facebook or LinkedIn
  • Your local bank/building society staff
  • Names from your Christmas card list
  • Sports contacts, social clubs
  • Charity connections
  • School/college/university contacts
  • Evening course contacts
  • Societies, Rotary Club

• The direct approach

  To be successful in making a direct or speculative approach you must have carried out careful and detailed research about the organisation. In addition to the data available from online facilities, it may be that an article in the national or local press will prompt you to try a particular company. Consider how your skills and experience might match their needs. Make a polite request for a meeting to explain why you are interested in them and the possibility of them using your skills, either now or in the future. Ensure that you are realistic with the employers in your approach and that you have the correct name and job title of the target manager.
   
  The next section of the manual pays particular attention to the style of letter you should adopt, having identified the target company’s needs rather than your own. Once again, keep careful records of letters sent, contact name and dates for follow-up calls for those who don’t reply – you will, after all, have mentioned in your closing paragraph that you intend to call ‘next week’ or in ‘ten days’ time’.
  

• The visible job market - advertisements

  Scanning the advertisements in the press and trade/professional journals and on the Internet should form part of your routine research. Do not confine your reading to just your own area of interest. Reading through all the appointments sections provides a valuable source of information about what is going on in the world of work. You could find out the following:

  • Which organisations are currently recruiting, and what sort of positions are these?
  • The level of the advertised posts – if the positions are quite senior, could it be that more junior posts are likely to occur in the foreseeable future?
  • Which firms are expanding, restructuring or entering new markets?
  • Which agencies are handling similar jobs or market sections to yours?
  • What salaries are being offered, i.e. how do you perceive your market value?

• Useful websites

  Financial services

  http://www.jobsinfinancialservices.com/

  http://www.reed.co.uk/financialservices/

  http://www.hays.co.uk/ifs/

  http://www.fssc.org.uk/129_13.html?i=0&l1=true

  http://www.fsa.gov.uk/Pages/About/careers/index.shtml

  http://content.finance.monster.co.uk/1087_en-GB_p1.asp

  http://www.efinancialcareers.co.uk/

  http://www.retailfinancialcareers.com/

  http://www.michaelpage.co.uk/jobs/financial-services-banking/browse.html

  http://www.ipsgroup.co.uk/FinancialServicesJobs/

  http://www.exec-appointments.com/

   

• Financial services graduate training schemes

  Santander

  Royal Bank of Scotland Group

  Lloyds Banking Group

  Barclays

  HSBC

• General websites

  www.cv-library.co.uk
  www.fish4.co.uk
  www.gisajob.com
  www.jobsearch.co.uk
  www.jobsite.co.uk
  www.jobstoday.co.uk
  www.monster.co.uk
  www.myjobsearch.com
  www.redgoldfish.co.uk
  www.reed.co.uk
  www.thejobfinder.co.uk
  www.totaljobs.com

  General guidelines are as follows:
   
  Ensure that you answer the advertisement (remember how they used to say ‘answer the question’ for exams!) and pay attention to detail.

  • Match your skills and experience to those asked for.
  • If you feel you have at least 75 per cent of what is being asked for, apply for the position.
  • Be aware that most advertised jobs can attract several hundred responses, which makes the search extremely competitive. It is therefore essential that your covering email/letter ‘catches the eye’ and gets on the ‘to see’ pile.
  • Avoid the issues of salary and the reason for leaving your present company unless you are specifically asked for it.
  • Check if there is a closing date; time your despatch to arrive a few days after the main ‘rush’ of responses following the appearance of the advertisement.

• Recruitment agencies

  These carry a wide range of vacancies and they are paid by results by the recruiting company. Some, such as executive selection consultants, specialise, for example in accountancy, IT, legal, human resources, or secretarial and administrative vacancies.
   
  Be selective about the agencies you use – the quality of the service they provide to both client company and applicant can vary enormously. Choose no more than four or five to minimise the risk of potential employers receiving your CV from various sources as this could give the wrong impression about you.
   
  Remember that it is as important to create a good impression with a recruitment agency as with a potential employer. If you establish a good rapport with one of their consultants you are more likely to be put forward for a shortlist interview, and to be remembered whenever other suitable vacancies arise.
   
  Learn to ‘manage’ the agencies. Keep the initiative in your hands. Ring them regularly to check on progress, particularly if you have been interviewed for a specific position. Also ask them what other openings may have emerged since you last spoke to them. Do not let them forward your details to organisations without your prior permission.
   
  Invariably, agencies will want to modify your CV to their own style, or may even ask you to complete an application form. Ask them for a copy, so that if and when you get an interview with a recruiting company, you know what information they have on you. Their version should have your approval.

• Search consultants

  These fall into two categories: executive selection consultants or executive search consultants. The former are specialist employment organisations that work on an assignment brief basis on behalf of the sponsoring client company. They have their own database of potential candidates and will usually have a portfolio of long-standing sponsoring clients. These firms do advertise frequently, but only on behalf of the client company, which is rarely identified in the advertisement. They are usually commissioned to advertise, receive and sift the advertisement response and to conduct the initial interview selection before submitting a shortlist to the company that is recruiting.
   
  The latter are often known as ‘headhunters’. These organisations rely heavily on their own network of useful contacts and information about people, and especially people who have successful track records, and who have clout and influence. The ‘headhunter’ system generally works by a discreet telephone call to a possible candidate, often as part of their own research to ask if they are able to provide any ideas for sourcing a particular position, having just given a brief outline job specification. In this way they are often able to gauge the level of interest of the initial target candidate. Otherwise the approach, again by discreet telephone call, will be more direct, to discover whether the person would be interested in talking about a particular opportunity.
   
  Neither category of these consultants is usually keen to receive unsolicited CVs.