Job Search Lesson 1 – focus on both advertised positions and “unadvertised” positions

I recently changed jobs, moving into a different function, within a different industry. This was no small feat and something that business school careers councilors advise against.

Going through this process and working with the careers councilors at my MBA school, I learned a great deal about successful job hunting.

Over the next few posts I will share with you those lessons.

The first lesson you should learn is that a significant number of roles never get advertised and you should split your time between advertised roles and “unadvertised” roles. As a guide, I recommend spending about half of your job search time on “unadvertised” roles.

A question you may well ask is “if roles are never advertised, how do I find out that a role even exists?”… and the short answer is networking.

I've already described the attitude that you should approach networking with, but read my next few posts for specific networking tactics for job seekers.