The hiring outlook for fall is looking cool and stormy, but that doesn’t mean you can’t locate work.
With the U.S. debt’s downgrade and worries about another recession taking root, hurricane damage and consumer skittishness, companies are not likely to hire in huge numbers. Job postings may be scarce in parts of the country, and service employers especially cut their hiring in August, according to the Society of Human Resource Executives Leading Indicators of National Employment. The monthly stats from the Bureau of Labor Statistics also have shown anemic job growth.
Yet you, like millions of unemployed individuals, are eager to start back to work. So don’t look just on Monster or at your local university career center – though don’t skip those either. Instead take “the road less traveled” as Robert Frost famously wrote, and find jobs before they’re posted. Here’s five ideas to get you going on the hidden job market:
1. Look for a new CEO or other senior leader. This goes way beyond Steve Jobs at Apple Computer. More than 100 CEOs a month have left their jobs recently, Challenger Gray Christmas reports, with CEO turnover especially high in the health care and technology sectors. Each new CEO brings in new people, new projects and new priorities. They may want their own team - fresh faces around headquarters. Or they may need some independent contractors to help change the culture or inject some engagement and innovative thinking.
2. Search for earnings stars. Companies that are exceeding Wall Street’s expectations and growing in the United States, not just internationally, could be better bets for hiring, now or in coming months. This means companies such as Cisco, Dollar Tree and Nordstrom, which reported stronger than expected quarterly results. I watch for these at MarketWatch and in the New York Times; choose your own sites – including some local and regional ones. Watch for healthy private companies, those adding offices or new equipment or advertising in the founder’s alma mater football stadium. They may not reveal their financial fortunes directly, but you can see clues on their success in business weeklies, magazines or on some economic development blogs and sites.
3. Develop an opportunities antennae. Or find someone else who has one, and follow their tweets, their blog and their suggestions. These antennae are out there in front, sensing, locating new prospects and possibilities. Some of them work as journalists and some work in business development or sales. Cultivate this by looking three or four steps beyond today’s headlines and seeing the future changes, shortages and opportunities.
4. Walk around. Head to a business park or office building. Spend an hour or two going in and asking questions about expansion plans, potential job openings and more. Bring along a small notebook to jot down notes and some business cards or your pocket resume. Sometimes one business owner will send you to another that has recently said they want to add to her staff. Sometimes you will arrive just as they’re discussing the need for new crew. This approach, recommended by Richard Bolles in What Color Is Your Parachute, works – and it may develop your opportunities antennae too.
5.Befriend the connectors. You know the ones – the people who know everyone in the organization or whose Facebook friends number in the thousands. Some o them work as recruiters or in sales, others just used to be their sorority’s president or their hometown’s football star. Choose those who are gracious and generous with their contacts and by all means, start by identifying projects and problems where you could help them.
When your search includes face time and a variety of methods, not just one or two, your chances of success improve considerably. So go where there’s possibilities and don’t slow down even if the economy does. Good luck!
