Harrideo
CARD Sabrina 405 Career Development
Hidden Job Market and Career Services Assignment
It is estimated that only 20% of all jobs are ever advertised, meaning 80% of jobs are
filled by companies who never advertised the position. Instead these positions are filled
by referral, the "who do you know" method of recruitment. If it was not for networking I
would not have had the opportunity to join the corporation where I have been employed
for the last five years and nor would I have received my recent promotion, which is the
beginning of my career, without the benefits of networking. Developing a personal
strategy to find unadvertised opportunities calls for being aggressive, outgoing and doing
some research. After reading the article entitled Tapping the Hidden Job Market, which
presents three strategies called the PUSH, PULL and MAINTAIN for attaining
and finding unadvertised opportunities in the hidden job market.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), education, health services and
professional and business services represent the industry divisions with the strongest
projected employment from now until 2012. These industries are projected to grow twice
as fast as the overall economy. Information technology, leisure and hospitality, and
transportation and warehousing are also projected to grow faster than average.
With the industry and job market continuously evolving based upon the effects of the
economy, it is imperative that individuals seeking employment have the necessary mind
and skill set as well as the aspiration to pursue their destined career. Making informed
career decisions requires reliable information about opportunities in the future. I choose
to major in Human Resources at DeVry because of my passion for helping people and
doing the right thing. I have progressively researched various types of position.
I recently was promoted to a position (Relationship Manager) that I would call the start to
my career. My initial goal is to work in the medical field of working with kids. I have not
only set educational goals for myself, but career goals as well on a quarterly to yearly
basis. At most companies, employees are either classified by their grade level which
determines their salary level or position title and my grade level is currently classified as
a professional and one of my short term career goals is to become a mid-professional
grade level. After much researching career opportunities both at my corporation as well
as other companies and as I result I have determined that there are a lot of companies that
are looking for individuals with certain hot and soft skills. are Companies looking for
people who have soft skills such as strong work ethic, positive attitude, good
communication skills, time management abilities, and problem solving skills.
The PUSH strategy is simply about socially integrating oneself into the job market or
what is called networking, which is the art of building relationships for the purpose of
acquiring and publicizing information with a professional. When you network, your
objective is to learn about the other individual and to seek their advice on your career or
project. I have begun to think how I will use the PULL strategy in my current career
position to attain my destined career and to continuously accomplish my career goals.
One PULL strategy that I will begin to implement will be to join a professional
association and or society that are related to my IT career field that would not only
enhance my knowledge about the field but also to share my wealth of knowledge and
expertise on the particular subject. Another PULL strategy that I will also implement to
support my career goals is to join a committee to increase my contacts for future
networking as well as to meet different colleagues from various corporations to learn
about current and future job opportunities.
As the article indicated, the PUSH strategy will generally generate more opportunities
more quickly than the PULL. The PULL technique is more about presenting and
establishing oneself as a potential employee. Based upon the information and suggestions
provided from the articles about the PULL strategy, as one of our assignments we are
creating a personal e-Portfolio of ourselves which will illustrate all of my
accomplishments, job history and recommendations from previous employers and/or
teachers. I will also ensure that my resume is current and has keywords that employers
search for when reviewing applicants for certain positions. Another strategy from the
PULL technique I am seeking to apply is to give a speech not only to improve my
public speaking but also to inform others about interests that I have, possibly at a non-for
profit organization or at my daughters school for career day.
The MAINTAIN technique is important because people loose sight of maintaining
relationships that have been built once they have accomplished their goal. I personally
network quite often at BCBSIL and I have quite of few contacts that includes
management and upper management that I have cultivated and continuously maintain
whether it is a lunch meeting of my accomplishments and future goals or a simple brief
phone call or e-mail to remind them that I am still actively pursuing my career goals.