All jobs are temporary. Your networking connections are lifetime career insurance.Over 80% of new hires got their jobs via a referral. Contacts are necessary. Keep the ones you have and promote new relationships.

1. HIDDEN JOB MARKET SECRETS
Turn Contacts into Career Insurance
Network Purposefully™: Find a New Job Faster Now and Get on the Inside Track for
Future Career Opportunities Even When You Are Not An Active Candidate
By Debra Feldman, JobWhiz, Executive Talent Agent
Your Executive Ascent...Personally Delivered. Swift, Discreet, Guaranteed.
Landing a new job today takes more than impeccable qualifications, a compellingly
crafted resume, timely applications and getting on recruiterss’ radar. Don’t be fooled into
thinking that more resume tweaking or just knowing the right recruiters will rectify a
deadlocked job search camapign. Job market dynamics are radically different from a few
years ago. Anyone who has not recently been in the job market may find it unexpectedly
difficult to navigate their transition. Leaner organizations have reduced vacancies which
means fewer posted jobs and still fewer assignments to external recruiters.
There is a way around these challenges and it’s possible to avoid them in the future by
focusing job search on the unadvertised or hidden job market. Historically, close to 80%
of new hires are in positions that were never offically announced as openings. The trend
is growing for “pulling” or attracting prospective new career challenges via networking
rather than depending on “pushing” or submitting applications for openings.
The unadvertised job market is comprised of positions that are filled before they actually
“open” and includes positions created for a particular individual that did not exist until
there was a potential candidate. By its very nature, the hidden job market, by far the
largest portion of the entire job market, is less competitive. Those with connections have
an obvious edge by virtue of being early applicants. Often, the unadvertised market is
where outlier candidates, those who do not readily meet employer requirements, have the
best chance of landing. A well connected network comprised of contacts who appreciate
you and understand your potential value contribution puts you on the inside track and is
your career insurance. The way to find out about unadvertised jobs is through
networking. Connections provide access to unadvertised job leads in the hidden job
market.
It’s not just what you know or who, but connecting purposefully with individuals who are
able to appreciate your potential value and have hiring authority.
Expanding your network has multiple benefits, both immediate and long term.
Networking purposefully, that is initiating contacts and cultivating relationships, will
not only help you identify a desirable position now, but if you continually nurture these
connections and strive to expand your network over time, you can count on contacts to
periodically volunteer interesting job leads that you can choose to pursue or let pass. This
technique applies equally to internal company relationships and contacts outside your
employer’s walls of a professional or social nature. Being connected and sharing ideas

2. and information with your contacts means that you, and everyone in your network, are
plugged into the hidden job market. Therefore, your network is your career insurance.
Once you have connected, it is foolish to let your investment evaporate from lack of
follow up. Why give up your career insurance? It’s far easier to maintain relationships
than to establish new ones. Since it’s highly probably that sometime again you are going
to be looking for or receptive to a new challenge, the search process will be much
smoother if you already have a vibrant, vital network.
Network Purposefully™ is a proven, superior job searching technique and effective
investment that provides long term career insurance by facilitating your ability to make a
career move via the best method, personal referrals. In addition to facilitating offers, the
contacts established also provide ongoing support and future career insurance.
Individuals who clearly and compelling communicate a differentiating value contribution,
keep enlarging their connections, follow up consistently with polite persistent pings, and
build a positive reputation, identify new career opportunities more efficiently.
Developing and sustaining a strategically constructed network is an investment. It’s
career insurance. Networking is the source for current leads and ongoing referrals to
future new challenges.
Don’t drop connections after landing a new job because employment is rarely
permanent. Once you’ve developed a relationship it is easier to keep it than replace it.
Here’s how to create your own career insurance.
Develop the right strategy. Connect with hiring decision makers.
Executives who sustain a successful career are usually strategic. They chose challenges
and made contacts intentionally to achieve their goals for career growth and progress.
They position themselves to acquire skills and knowledge as well as establish
connections designed to promote their success. They may understand that an executive
job search is a marketing project. They are the product. Employers are customers. A
mutual contact is the ideal way to bring these parties together and start a meaningful
dialogue that will connect the prospect with a hiring manager They network
purposefully.
ACTION Identify what differentiates you from your peers, where you want to be and
then connect with those who will appreciate your talent and can hire you. To gain a
competitive edge, focus beyond advertised positions, corporate websites, and recruiters to
source leads through insider connections including current and former employees,
vendors, consultants, clients, advisors of target companies plus access via social
networking, alumni and professional associations and other relationships.
Implement an effective plan. Network with company insiders.
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Debra Feldman, JobWhiz Page 2

3. The better the plan, the superior the outcome. Don’t expect a swift landing if you
approach job search like a conglomeration of musical chairs, hide and seek and tag-
you’re-it. Effective campaigns are not haphazard; they are organized and purposeful.
Specify target employers, address their needs and concerns, tailor your value proposition
so the employer will appreciate your interest in them, identify the appropriate hiring
decision maker, obtain a third-party introduction and then follow-up.
ACTION Assemble a list of target companies, research the industry and each employer,
determine which specific challenges you can address and show how your experience can
benefit this organization. Then contact the decision makers most apt to appreciate the
solutions that you can deliver. Seek an introduction/referral initiated by a mutual
connection. Be sure to follow up and deepen the relationship. Don’t expect a single
transaction to produce an offer. Promote meaningful conversations focused on the
employer’s needs. Show your willingness to share generously and fit into their corporate
culture. If things go well, the hiring authority may create a new role just to hire you.
Recognize and eliminate roadblocks. Turn corporate gatekeepers into greeters.
The most obvious barriers are corporate gatekeepers, both human and automated systems.
As if adminstrative assistants and HR personnel are not enough, most companies have
installed automated applicant screens, computerized telephone answering systems and
email screening protocols to filter outsiders. In today’s economy, demanding travel
schedules, stretch assignments, reduced workforces and communications overload
interfere with candidates and decision makers getting in touch. Your contacts arelike
golden keys. They can remove obstacles and introduce you to hiring authorities carving a
straight path into the hidden job market.
ACTION If you can’t eliminate roadblocks, then try to mitigate their negative impact.
Research within and use social networks to identify and connect with insiders. Blog,
Tweet, post a profile online and make presentations, lead an activitiy, volunteer to be an
event planner at industry conferences. These recommended activities increase the
probability of attracting an employer’s (or recruiter’s or collegues’s) attention. Promote
yourself as an industry expert to increase your credibility. Once you have a contact, ask
for their assistance connecting with the appropriate company insider, not HR.
Create future career insurance. Keep in touch with your network. Be generous to
them.
Networking purposefully makes connections inside target employers to learn about
unadvertised jobs.. The contacts you add to your network during an active job search are
“career insurance;” insiders who may refer and recommend you to other new career
opportunities in the future. Keep relationships vibrant by being generous with your time
and talents and also making referrals to them.
ACTION: Once you make a new contact, seek out interactions to strenghten the bond.
Networking is about relationships, not one time only transactions. Whenever possible get
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Debra Feldman, JobWhiz Page 3

4. together in person or by phone. On a regular basis, maintain the connection by sharing
ideas and information, making introductions and developing mutual connections that
benefit everyone who is part of the network. The more people who understand your
potential value contribution, the more likely you will be recommended and become aware
of potential job leads. The explosion of social networking has created opportunities for
everyone to market themselves through blogging, commenting, discussion groups, etc.
Never stop connecting. Networking is not just for when you need to find a new job. Your
contacts are your career insurance.
©2010 Debra Feldman
Debra Feldman is the JobWhiz™, a nationally-recognized expert who designs and personally implements swift,
strategic, and customized senior level executive job search campaigns, banishing barriers that prevent immediate
success. Her gift for Networking Purposefully™ and expediting stalled job searches --- executed with high energy and
savvy panache -- connects candidates directly to decision makers, not HR. Learn more about her groundbreaking
techniques that compress job searches from months into weeks. Contact Debra now at www.JobWhiz.com to expedite
your executive ascent!
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Debra Feldman, JobWhiz Page 4