Sue Nelson

Founding Director of The Job Search Center

Job seekers complain that there are no jobs. Here’s why it seems like that: Less than 6% of the jobs that will be filled by professionals are found on job sites such as Indeed, CareerBuilder, Job.com, The Ladders, LinkedIn, Glassdoor and more.

There are actually between 15% and 30% of available jobs listed on those sites, but 80% of them will be filled through referrals. If an organization gets enough referral candidates, they may only invite a very select few of online candidates to interview. If a referral is a terrific candidate, the organization can significantly cut their recruitment time by not contacting online applicants at all for interviews.

So what’s a job-seeking professional supposed to do?

Reverse engineer your process

1. The goal of a job search is to be the first choice in a hiring manager’s decision.

2. You want that hiring manager to be in an industry, organization and culture that you’ve identified, with enough resources to provide for your personal and professional needs.

3. You want encouragement to apply and to encourage your contact in the company to “apply” for you, which is to say, advocate for your candidacy.

4. You need experience in line with the job portfolio, additional strengths you bring that you see might help even more, and interviewing skills and talent to help them see your value. This is needed so they can extend an offer, since now they know, like and trust you so much.

5. You have to be where they are and not expect them to get to where you are.

6. You need to show that you are interested in them as people, not as job title providers with deep pockets and not much more.

In the I Got the Job! Success System we focus everything we do on that top goal: being the first choice in an employer’s hiring decision. Won’t you let us help you reach your goal?

Check out the Workshops and Personal Coaching page to learn what your options are.

We’re here to help. Fill out the contact form, or email me, to let me know what you need or to discuss how I can help you achieve your job hiring goal, better, faster and more respectfully of who you are.

There are many sources with stats consistent with the ones I mention. Here is one: At least 70% of jobs are not even listed

Sue Nelson has worked in Career Coaching for over 20 years. More than 3800 clients have improved their job search speed and outcomes with her unusual, whole-system insights about how jobs are obtained, the obstacles job seekers face to obtaining them, and the step-by-step, word-by word practices, tools and templates she creates - sometimes right on the spot - just for you!

“I love the creativity of job search coaching. Every candidate brings a unique personality and package of skills so I’m constantly challenged to find just the right tools and inspiration for them. “