Cracking The Hidden Job Market: How to Find Opportunity in Any Economy

by Donald Asher

Can’t find a job? Maybe you’re seeing only half the picture!
Half the job market is invisible
 
Are you spending all your time applying to posted job openings—postings that draw hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of applications? No matter how perfect you are for the job, there is always someone else who’s a little more qualified, more experienced. The key to success in the current job market is breaking through to the hidden job market. Over half of all jobs go to someone who did not apply to a posted opening at all. What are they doing and how are they doing it? They’re finding new jobs before the posting hits the Internet .

Career guru Donald Asher offers proven strategies for finding great opportunities in any industry. With Cracking the Hidden Job Market you’ll stop wasting time and effort and beat the job-search odds by learning how
 
• find jobs that are never posted anywhere
• get complete strangers to help you find a job
•  convince potential employers to give you an interview—even when they’re “not hiring”
• find—and land—the new jobs in this, or any, economy
 
Every page of Cracking the Hidden Job Market is packed with no-frills fundamentals to change the way you look for a job, this time—and forever!

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Business

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Gwen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I still stand by my amazement at the "Sunday Night Scorecard," and to that, I add shock at:

- The expectation to have 100 leads at all times (74)
- Sending tickler emails every 10 days (102)
- Sending holiday cards and newspaper clippings (113) [I think this is nice for keeping in touch, but maybe a bit random for networking.]
- Continuously calling people: "...until you hear ['Hey, stop calling me,'] you are perfectly within the bounds of business etiquette to keep calling them--once in the morning, once in the late afternoon, but only leaving one message, at most, per day." (140)
- Doing epic amounts of unpaid work (aka, the Hercules Offer) just to even get noticed (132)
- Offering to do free work (170)

Such utter madness.

But what I did enjoy:

- Jobseekers' rules: "(1) Stop asking for a job. (2) Ask about a very precise career goal. (3) Avoid 'yes' or 'no' questions. (4) Assume each and every contact has some gem of information for you. (5) Contacting people is about information, not power." (82-83) People WANT to help.
- It's okay to follow up. (98) [...Within reason, ahem.]
- A job search is a marketing campaign. (106) Market yourself!
- Asking for a cold referral can work. (158) The worst they'll do is say 'no'--which is what you're already experiencing.

I still prefer anything written by Ask A Manager for career advice and jobseeking tips, but Asher's book isn't half bad.

[D · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has given me the push I needed to effectively job search again. It definitely emphasizes that applying for jobs online is mostly a huge waste of time. When it works, usually the job is undesirable in some way. It strongly recommends active searching. That is networking in as many ways as possible. This book helped me consider so many options that I did not realize that I had. This book is very helpful for those stuck in their job searches.

[Tram Nguyen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never knew job searching could be so fun, adventurous and full of excitement! Under the witty and clever writing of Donald Asher, a career book turned out to be the most entertaining 'job' scavenger hunt ever. He took the motto "You get the job by talking to people" to another level, offering so many out of the box advice that I was taken from one surprise to the next as the chapter went til the end. Will track down his previous books starting today.

[Dan Stern · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most valuable part is that the book teaches you to play to a recruiter's own interests, approaching your job search in a way that will make their job easier, save them time and effort, and so on. No other job search resource I've seen takes that approach. This is so, so far beyond common sense advice; it really changes the way you approach your search, for the better.

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some jokes in this books are offensive. And the fact that all hypothetical examples of people in authority are male. Sexist. Offensive. Somewhat helpful advice. That is, if you are someone who is looking for a high brow position in some big corporation.

[Shelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clever

I am not looking for a job and was not planning to actually read the whole book, just reading enough to decide whether to recommend it to my son, but it’s a great book — I went and finished the whole thing, and will pass it on to my son.

[Claire Binkley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely inspiring! The main reason I don't have a position at the moment is the weather makes communication difficult.

I may try and get a copy of it, or Asher's other books, for reference.

[CTEP]

For my final month, I read Cracking the Hidden Job Market: How to Find Opportunity in Any Economy by Donald Asher. Asher goes through strategies for finding a job “in any economy” just as the title promises. Strategies include networking which is no surprise, but he defines the buzzword in less intimidating terms. Using one’s network isn’t necessarily using strangers to get jobs, but using what you already have and know to your advantage. He also acknowledges different personalities and provides different strategies such as using online message boards- not everyone has to be an extrovert to network! People like helping people, so don’t feel bad about asking friends from church, the YMCA, or your bowling league if they know of any job leads. It also heavily advocates for informational interviews, since there are many jobs that are available but not listed- and everyone is competing and applying for the jobs listed online, since those are the jobs everyone can see. Though not all of his advice may be new, the real strength of this book was providing easy, comfortable ways to job search. If anything, it took away some of the guilt I felt from the word networking and prompted me to try the job advice I already knew.

I found this book particularly useful for both myself and my participants. Mass applying to jobs online is easy and pretty painless, but also ineffective. For clients, it can also be discouraging when they hear nothing back. This book was a good reminder that I should encourage my clients to play to their strengths, and if they do not have the connections they need at the moment, to go out and get them, such as volunteering in a classroom if they would like to be a teacher or finding a job with a sewing shop if they would like to be a tailor.

I highly recommend this book to any AmeriCorps member. Not only was it helpful for my clients, but it was helpful for myself as well. As the end of our AmeriCorps years are coming to a close, this might be a great book for anyone asking, what next?

[CJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Direct, practical, and succinct. These methods work. The better jobs I've had, I found this way, although my approach was a lot more accidental and haphazard. Looking forward to applying these principles in the systematic way outlined in the book. Would recommend to any job-seeker. If 100 contacts or some of the more aggressive follow-up quotas are intimidating, start out at a lower number, and gradually increase.
Would be nice if in newer additions they address some of the more recent developments in the job market, but everything in the book is still applicable and relevant, so it's far from out of date.
Also enjoy the humor and sarcasm.

[Joel Bass · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of this is common sense, as others have pointed out, but Asher's bluntly encouraging tone was definitely helpful. The book definitely reminds you that answering posted ads will probably not get you a job; you have to actually TALK to people. In fact, Asher is bold enough to boil his entire book down to one sentence on the last page, something most business how-to writers could probably do if they were honest.

[J DeMarco · Rating 3 out of 5]

A blunt but insightful little book. Many of his points are not novel or surprising but sometimes we just need to be told what we already know but don't want to do, to actually do it. A helpful read for job seekers.

[Patty Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

one of the better books on job hunting. a real reality check for sure for those that rely on careerbuilder and monster to do the work.

[Joseph]

This changed my perspective on the job search process, motivating me to reach out to the people that I know.