The Hidden Job Market Is it a Myth

The Hidden Job Market â€" Is it a Myth I have never heard this before (that the hidden job market doesnt exist) and wouldnt give it 2 seconds of my attention except that a well-respected recruiter/career person is the one making the claim. Gerry Crispin apparently said (in 2009) some of the following (quoted from Miriam Salpeters Examiner article): that the hidden job market is one of the biggest myths of job-hunting; that, in fact, it doesnt exist: Maybe a few thousand out of 20 million jobs are unpublished, and they are primarily at or near the C-level, I cant agree with that it just doesnt seem to make sense.  I think Gerry came to this conclusion from polling people.  If that is the case Id guess his sample was not the right sample. Heres a comprehensive writeup from Kathy Hansen, founder of QuintCareers.com.  It has a lot more info about this, including quotes and thoughts from industry insiders.  One conclusion is that the word  hidden should be changed to unpublished or something like that. Heres my two cents: regardless of what you call it, there is a segment of open positions out there that you wont find published on a job board, or made known to the general population.  Many of you have seen this happen it goes something like this: The boss knows there is a need for another person on the team. the boss works on putting together a proposal or justification for a while (perhaps months). When the new position is approved, the boss asks some people on the team if they know anyone who might be the right person. The position is known FROM WITHIN for a while (days?  weeks?) before anyone puts the position on the company job board, or monster, or something like that. People who are networked into anyone on that team know about, and can apply to, the job before anyone else hears about it. That is the hidden job market. Its hard to think you have to network with, or be known by, the insiders thats a lot of work!  Is it even humanly possible? But this scenerio is real.  Ive seen it at multiple companies Ive worked at and I know some of my JibberJobber users have gotten jobs because of their mad networking skills What do you think?  Is the hidden job market a myth?  Or is this simply an issue or renaming it? The Hidden Job Market â€" Is it a Myth I have never heard this before (that the hidden job market doesnt exist) and wouldnt give it 2 seconds of my attention except that a well-respected recruiter/career person is the one making the claim. Gerry Crispin apparently said (in 2009) some of the following (quoted from Miriam Salpeters Examiner article): that the hidden job market is one of the biggest myths of job-hunting; that, in fact, it doesnt exist: Maybe a few thousand out of 20 million jobs are unpublished, and they are primarily at or near the C-level, I cant agree with that it just doesnt seem to make sense.  I think Gerry came to this conclusion from polling people.  If that is the case Id guess his sample was not the right sample. Heres a comprehensive writeup from Kathy Hansen, founder of QuintCareers.com.  It has a lot more info about this, including quotes and thoughts from industry insiders.  One conclusion is that the word  hidden should be changed to unpublished or something like that. Heres my two cents: regardless of what you call it, there is a segment of open positions out there that you wont find published on a job board, or made known to the general population.  Many of you have seen this happen it goes something like this: The boss knows there is a need for another person on the team. the boss works on putting together a proposal or justification for a while (perhaps months). When the new position is approved, the boss asks some people on the team if they know anyone who might be the right person. The position is known FROM WITHIN for a while (days?  weeks?) before anyone puts the position on the company job board, or monster, or something like that. People who are networked into anyone on that team know about, and can apply to, the job before anyone else hears about it. That is the hidden job market. Its hard to think you have to network with, or be known by, the insiders thats a lot of work!  Is it even humanly possible? But this scenerio is real.  Ive seen it at multiple companies Ive worked at and I know some of my JibberJobber users have gotten jobs because of their mad networking skills What do you think?  Is the hidden job market a myth?  Or is this simply an issue or renaming it?