Does Your Job Search Strategy Follow the Numbers?

Before starting your job search, or aimlessly sending out resume after resume online, it is imperative that you put together a job search strategy. Any sound approach should be based on playing the statistics – in other words, formulate your plan around aspects that work. I have said it 100 times, and may as well make it 101. The most important element to focus on in any job search is networking. The numbers speak for themselves.

According to the Harvard Business Review, networking is a crucial strategy for developing relationships that can help you gain insight into an industry or a company. In fact, 65 to 85 percent of jobs are found through networking. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that “70 percent of all jobs are found through networking.” And the New York State Department of Labor’s website states that “Eighty percent of available jobs are never advertised, and over half of all employees get their jobs through networking”

These numbers are pretty compelling. It tells me as a job seeker that I should be spending anywhere between 65-85 percent of my time networking. I would actually suggest keeping that number more in the area of 80% or more. In fact a recent survey by the Wall Street Journal reported that 94 percent of successful job hunters claimed that networking had made all the difference for them.

But why are the numbers so in favor of networking? The answer is quite simple actually – the “hidden” job market. These are jobs you would never have any knowledge of without networking because they are not advertised publicly. There is a slight difference in the prevailing opinions of “experts” regarding the number of positions on the “hidden” job market, but the consensus seems to be around 15-20 percent of jobs being advertised publicly, with the other 80-85 percent not. Wendy Kaufman of NPR discloses (A Successful Job Search: It's All About Networking) in a piece she produced on networking that "at least 70 percent, if not 80 percent, of jobs are not published.”

I would say the overwhelming majority of job seekers I encounter are spending 90% or more of their time applying online, and next to none networking. In other words, they are spending 90% of their time on something that produces less than 10% of the overall results. Not a great strategy, and little wonder that the majority of the same are not having much success.

Mark S. Granovetter, a Harvard sociologist, reported to Forbes magazine that "informal contacts" account for almost 75% of all successful job searches. Agencies find 9% of new jobs for professional and technical people, and advertisements yield another 10% or so.

So statistically speaking, the breakdown in the time you spend on your job search should be close in line with the following:

80% networking
10% with agencies/recruiting firms
10% applying to positions posted online, in a newspaper, or other publicly advertised method

In preceding and subsequent posts I have either addressed these subjects, or will be addressing these subjects in more detail. Before I end this post however, let me just mention something about agencies and recruiting firms. It is best to develop a solid relationship with one or two. I have talked about this before, but when five different agencies are asked to search for the same position, and you have submitted your resume to all five, it will do you more harm than good. (Article here, 3rd paragraph).

And one last caution: the pitfalls of posting your resume online.

Happy searching!