Unlock the Hidden Job Market: 6 Steps to a Successful Job Search When Times Are Tough,   ISBN:9780137032495

Customer Rating: 

If you've read or learned anything about the job search process you already know that most jobs are not found through published ads or website announcements, they're found through personal contact (networking) or are discovered through other creative means before they reach the point of being publicly announced. This discovery should lead you, a smart job seeker, to learn how to uncover these "hidden" jobs. Well, wonder no more because this book is a helpful guide to doing just that.
This book leads you through six logical steps that will guide you from a starting point of changing your mindset about the job search to the sixth step of negotiating the terms of employment with plenty of advice in between. You'll find advice on strategies like effective networking, getting past gatekeepers, organizing your job search, taking control of your job search, and more.
I've been involved with career development for over 15 years and I am adding this book to my list of recommended reading for job seekers.

Customer Rating: 

Easy-to-read, straight-forward, superbly written guide on how to figure out what you want in a job, with a step-by-step "HJM" (hidden job market) process for finding and landing that dream job. The book is largely about networking, but it's not just another networking book -- the authors discourage coffee, lunch, and social chitchat meetings and suggest focused, directed meetings with a specific agenda. The authors regard resumes as limiting documents, and discourage their use except where necessary.

The HJM process involves identifying contacts, target companies, your own strengths and passions, and moving forward from there. The authors are realistic about the frustrations of job-hunting, the financial challenges of unemployment, and the devastating self-esteem blow that losing one's job can have. Yet the guidance in the book is so direct and positive, uplifting and energizing, it may well get the reader excited about the prospect of discovering the perfect job.

I devoured this book in a single setting. It's highly readable, realistic and entertaining -- a refreshing variation from typical job-hunt fare.

Customer Rating: 

This book as a few good tips hidden away in it. I mean, hidden deeply away. I was thirty five pages in to "Unlock the Hidden Job Market" before I stumbled onto the first one. It was a good tip (though not a new one - I'd read it in "What Color is Your Parachute" many, many years ago!) but it took thirty five pages to reveal itself. The rest of the book is just the same - small, decent tidbits of information sandwiched between pages and pages of unentertaining doubletalk. The true content of this book could have been condensed into a ten page pamphlet. In such a format, it would be useful too. In this format, I'd leave it on the shelf.

Customer Rating: 

I have been unemployed for 18 months now and have become a little desperate in finding a job (before I move overseas or go work for the postal service). So I read this book. The basic message here is simple: most real job opportunities are never advertised (true), you have to work hard to find such opportunities (true), and this book can help you succeed in finding a job (hmm...).

The authors, a recruiter and a consultant, break the process involved in their proposed approach into six steps. In discussing these six steps, they do not shy away from sharing with you what they have seen as the mistakes almost every job seeks commits. I think this is the most valuable feature of the book. Some of their statements can be startling at first; for example, chap. 17 tells you that "your resume is not your friend." When you actually read the chapter, however, you realize that the authors are not saying you should not have a resume, but rather how you should have a powerful resume and, more importantly, when and how you should present it to a potential employer. Pretty useful tips! And there are many other eye-opening tips in the rest of the book.

One thing I wish the authors had done a better job at is organize the materials better, especially for an unemployed looking for essential information on the hidden job market. The book is actually fun to read, but you really need to read through the whole book carefully, with a highlighter in hand, in order to understand what you should do. Printed in small fonts, this book is not friendly to a desperate and ageing job seeker like myself!

Customer Rating: 

Although I'm not really looking, I thought it would be useful to see how the job market has changed the past few years. Unlike others, I've had decent results responding to employment advertisements. Out of ten job offers, six were from newspaper ads, three were from referrals, and my current position is from Monster. But there has been a sharp drop in classified ads and job boards are not always sufficient.

The authors present some solid ideas. The separation from lunch or coffee is sound; it is much better to network in the person's office. Their sample dialogues and responses appear workable as do the ways to get around gatekeepers. I also think this approach would work particularly well when incorporated with social networking websites such as LinkedIn.

Some negatives about the book are: too many TLAs (Three-Letter Abbreviations), too much emphasis on selling this approach, and too much emphasis on the unemployed. I think they could condense the first few chapters and maybe expand the sections on setting up and conducting the meetings or adding a section on working with social networking websites. I also question whether scheduling a full hour meeting is necessary; 30-45 minutes seems much more manageable for both parties.