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Unlock the Hidden Job Market 6 Steps to a Successful Job Search When Times Are Tough

“Over 70% of all jobs are never published. This book will help you discover and land these jobs!” –John Challenger, CEO, Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. Your perfect job will never be advertised. But you can find it–or create it. Even now. Especially now! TOP CAREER EXPERTS SHOW HOW TO: Uncover hidden opportunities Help companies design the perfect job for you Network without sounding phony, lame, or desperate Reinvigorate a dead-end job search Break free from the frustration and tyranny of online job boards Get the interviews that count and run them like a pro Leap-frog salary levels or change professions Turn your experience into hot new skills Negotiate compensation from a position of strength Fix a broken career Get the great job nobody else knows about!

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Helpful resource to get your next job
Unlock the Hidden Job Market is a resource with a lot of hope and lots of practical help for a discouraging job market where the rules have drastically changed. The authors have coached and worked with people for many years and have written this concise guide to help people have a successful job search. Very helpful tips to give you hope, confidence, control, and goals to aim for as you interview, network, and GET YOUR NEXT JOB.

HJM, the hidden job market, is unveiled in detail by Mathison and Finney. This is not just a cheerleader book, but “meaty” and full of substance to help you find a new job without floundering or wasting time. Unlock will show you that you don’t have to become someone you’re not; just be the best you and get yourself out in the front lines in a bold new way. This will feel like your personal coach talking to you face to face, and will show you how to present yourself to others, especially to those who have the power to hire you. I recommend this book! Another great book about networking I also suggest is The 29% Solution: 52 Weekly Networking Success Strategies.

4 Stars Good Book, Recommended
I liked this book. It is easy reading and has all sorts of ideas some big and great and some small. It is thought provoking and provides insights not often thought of when looking for a job. It gives you some definite ideas on how to approach and look for jobs in jobs in way in an honest direct approach that are overlooked. Some great ideas that will help find the job for you. It is sometimes making you think “outside the box” and that is a key.

4 Stars Good information
This is an excellent source of information for learning effective job searching techniques. The author explains why the typical approaches that most of us have used over the years, and continue to use, are not effective. Instead, you learn how to see the process in a whole new way.

I have read several books on this topic over the last few months, so many of the ideas presented were not new to me. They were just explained using different terminology. However, the information is definitely consistent with what I have read in other recently published books. And I still took away some great ideas and suggestions. It is really important to understand how employers hire and this book really gives great insight into this process. It goes further by giving you techniques and suggestions. The approach can also be very helpful for people who may be switching careers. Overall, it is a good read for anyone in the market for a new job.

4 Stars A Solid Plan
The sad truth is who you know is frequently more important than what you know. The authors present a plan for cracking the hidden job market the unemployed, underemployed and just plain hopeless.

The book has lots of sound advice and provides practical steps and exercises for implementing their suggestions. Much of what is presented is not new, ie, find your passion, think like the employer, network. However, the approach is somewhat novel. Essentially, you work at marketing yourself. You identify what it is that makes your heart sing,appraise and evaluate your strengths and liabilities, You treat your job search as a business. Your networking is goal oriented as opposed to social–no more expensive lunches and lattes. You target potential employers and arrange informational meetings that will ideally lead to interviews and ultimately employment.

I thought that the approach was generally sound and presented in an empathetic matter. The authors understand the challenges of networking and are not condescending towards those who are reluctant to do so for fear of rejection. They provide the outline of what to do and how to evaluate your progress. The book is empowering and encouraging and provides people an opportunity to regain control.

4 Stars Not What You Want To Hear, But…
At the time of writing this review, it looks like reviewer Techie Evan has the most accurate description of the book. I want to reiterate a few things he/she has written, as well as add a couple other points.

The authors of the book, for the most part, really do seem to have a handle on what is going through the minds of job seekers. They spell out exactly what you’re thinking and demonstrate that they get it before they provide their approach in each chapter. They’re good at anticipating a lot of questions you have, especially when they bring up an issue or approach that you don’t know how to handle. The best thing about this book probably is how they describe the way people react to networking–I really thought I was the only one who reacted the way they describe, i.e. being too scared to even pick up the phone and call people for informational meetings, not just the typical “I hate networking” attitude. The fact that they describe these thoughts and reactions so well, and really seem to validate those thoughts/reactions, tears down any walls of resistance you build up to their advice/approach…because, trust me, you probably will build up walls of resistance while reading this book. If it weren’t for their show of understanding, I would still be trying to tell myself they don’t know what they’re talking about/their approaches won’t work.

The truth of the matter is a lot of what they’ve written is stuff you already know and/or things you just are not going to want to do, assuming you are someone who doesn’t have a job…and that’s a big reason why I wanted to dismiss this book. But if you were comfortable doing some of these things they suggest, then you probably WOULD have a job. I really have to admit that, though not necessarily statistically proven to be effective as Techie Evan points out, their ideas really do seem like good things to try. To me, their book is predominantly centered around networking. But the strategies for it that they offer are not just the standard, everyday strategies you read or hear about elsewhere. And even some of their “unorthodox” ideas are brilliant, such as not handing out your resume/submitting resumes through job boards or career fairs or networking events/forwarding your resume to people who claim they will pass it on for you–they are absolutely right with everything they say about what that does for you (i.e. nothing).

Another thing you’re not going to like about this book is just how time-consuming their approaches are. Networking and meeting up with people for informational interviews takes so much time and energy when, really, you just want a job and you want it now. Making lists about your abilities and desires, and making charts of contact information and such…that’s time-consuming. In short, there are no quick answers here. They want you to take your time, think up people to reach out to and meet face-to-face with these people (and this involves uncomfortable things such as cold-calling managers to ask for informational meetings and/or getting recommendations from friends of friends of friends on who would be good for you to contact…and getting rejected numerous times for these meetings or playing phone tag, etc), research the industry or industries you’re interested in so that you can better understand its needs/how hiring managers think, think up and make a list places of employment for you to target, make more lists and really soul-search regarding your skills and what you want to do, etc. This book is designed for you to spend months looking for a job, not for you to get a job right now. Honestly? As unappealing as this comes off, it’s probably way more effective than what the average job seeker does, and it probably will result in less time wasted unemployed in the long run. It just does not at all seem that way, so it doesn’t make you happy to read these things in the book.

Even after admitting all this, three things I’m still skeptical about:

-They suggest coming up with a list of 200 target employers. This seems impossible, especially considering where you live or your geographical areas of preference to work in or the fields you’re interested in.

-I think they miss the boat in the one chapter where they explain why it’s better to be unemployed when looking for a job. They focus on having the time to conduct a job search properly, i.e. using their approaches. This is true. But they don’t consider how gaps in employment look to employers and everyone else, and I think they give people a little too much credit as far as being sensitive and understanding to the fact that people get laid off or are otherwise unemployed. People seriously take unemployment to say something negative about who you are as a person and/or an employee. I see this on a regular basis, and I even see some job ads in which the employer flat-out states they do not want to receive resumes from people who do not have stable work histories or who have gaps in employment for more than a few months. If your only approach to job-hunting is going to be their suggestion of getting jobs through what is essentially networking, then maybe you can get away with employment gaps a lot easier. Still, I think, no matter the explanation, an employment gap creates a stigma that can be hard to shake.

-One of these reviews refers to how this book would work for different fields. I do get the impression that this book is focused more on getting “elite” jobs or maybe won’t be as helpful to, say, a recent graduate with little-to-no work experience as people who have had jobs/careers but are now out of work. Pretty much all the examples in the book of how the strategies have been applied and worked are for positions like manager, director, CEO and other more corporate/professional positions.

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In short, I think their approaches are solid and they seem to understand almost everything you’re thinking/worried about. But their approach seems to be centered primarily around networking, informational meetings and other time-consuming strategies that would be very unappealing to the average job seeker who wants/needs a job right this instant. This is not a “get hired quick” book at all, so beware of that beforehand.

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