It is estimated that no more than twenty percent of available positions ever get advertised. If anything, that estimate is high, and fifteen percent might be closer to reality. The other eighty or eighty-five percent of positions are filled by other means, by other techniques. When you read want ads in newspapers, they only represent a very small percentage of all jobs available at any given time. The most productive way for you, the job hunter, to get in touch with that eighty-plus percent of non-advertised openings is through Networking.
Some years ago, I was hired to run a subsidiary of a New York Stock Exchange conglomerate. The day I joined the company there were 1200 employees, 300 of whom fell into the categories of executives, managers, supervisors or professionals. As the newest arrival, I was low man on the managers' seniority list. In other words, in these higher paid categories there were 299 people with more seniority than I had. Eight years later, there were still 300 management employees, but by then only 58 had greater seniority. There were 241 management employees who had joined the company after I did, and several jobs had turned over more than once. So during those eight years more than 300 of these senior jobs had been filled.
During that eight year period we advertised no more than five or six jobs a year, or a total of about forty or fifty jobs. How did the other 250/260 jobs get filled? Through word-of-mouth, personal recommendations from suppliers and other business contacts and through the efforts of those better informed and more aggressive job seekers who brought themselves to our attention before "we" got to around advertise Thompsons.
In order "for "you to understand the Networking process, we should start out by discussing the genesis of a typical management opening. How does a job originate? You see an ad in the paper, but what events preceded the ad leading up to its placement? The decision to run an ad is never a spontaneous impulse on the part of a manager. Often the ad is the result of weeks, or even months of thinking, planning, discussing, and arguing.
One common way for a job to be created is company growth. A company is successful. It is expanding, and with expansion comes the need for more people. At some point, a manager says to himself, or to an associate, "One of these days we must get another person in there." What does he do next? Does he pick up the phone and start calling people? Does he start writing an ad? No, most likely he does nothing. That thought was just the seed of what eventually might grow into a job.
Time goes by. Then, sometime later, maybe a week, maybe a month, maybe several months later, something happens to reinforce that earlier thought. Perhaps a big sale is lost or some shipments are delayed, or a financial statement doesn't get to the bank on time. This time the manager bangs his fist on his desk and says more emphatically, "Damn, we need to get another person in here!"
Does he do something now? Probably not. Managers are invariably lethargic when it comes to adding staff. One of the biggest dangers in the practice of management is moving too fast. Managers want to be absolutely sure before they add to overhead. So, more time passes.
Eventually, something very bad happens. A large order is lost. The manufacturing line grinds to a halt because essential raw materials haven't arrived on time, or perhaps an important subordinate comes into the manager's office and complains, "I am tired of working twelve hours a day. I don't have enough time to spend with my family. If I don't get some help, I'm quitting."
One of these events might be the catalyst that makes something happen. Finally, a notice goes up on the bulletin board, or arrangements may start for the running of an ad. At last the time has come when all the prior thinking and procrastinating becomes a published job. A position that slowly evolved over the past few months finally goes up for grabs to all of the job seekers who pore over the want ads every day.
Another kind of job genesis is the recognition that a present employee is not performing well and needs to be replaced. For example, an employee is given an assignment and does not do the job as well as the boss would have liked. Does the employee get fired? Probably not. Most managers resist taking the drastic step of firing an employee. Three months later that same employee is given another task and again messes up the assignment. Does the employee get fired? Again, probably not. But, as failures pile up, the employee becomes labeled as marginal and may be passed over for promotion or penalized by minimal salary increases.
A high percentage of marginal employees manage to perform well enough to hang onto their jobs for surprisingly long periods of time. They never move into higher leadership positions. Instead, they are shunted into dead-end jobs or into positions where they can do little or no damage. Eventually, many of these marginal employees make one mistake too many and the decision is reached to terminate them. In any event, keep in mind that most managers are nearly always aware of the low level producers and never cease wishing they had better people in those positions. Weakness among existing staff in any organization is a major reason for you to Network.
Jobs become available for numerous other reasons. People leave the work force to raise a family. People retire or leave their jobs because of health reasons. Employees quit their jobs because of dissatisfaction with their situation or because of the lure of an attractive opportunity with another firm, or in another field.
The point is that more than eighty percent of all available openings at any one time have not yet, or may never be announced formally to the job hunting public. When you give a decision maker a chance to look you over and be impressed with your attitude and your accomplishments, there could develop a strong temptation to try to fit you into the organization.
There you are, ready to go to work. If the company has an opening, how much easier to hire you than to have to go through the hassle of running an ad, screening several hundred replies, conducting numerous interviews, and then possibly not finding anyone as good as you. At that point you are the bird in the hand, and your Networking interview might evolve into a job opportunity.
Networking is a path to your next job. Repeat: Net-working is a path to your next job. You should not expect to line up a networking interview and walk out with a job offer. Networking is meeting people and eventually making presentations before potential employers who have the need for the problem solving talents you display.
