More than half of your job opportunities never make it to a job board

Did you know that it’s estimated somewhere between 60-80% of job opportunities never make it to a job board?

Originally, I was extra conservative with this and guesstimated this to be closer to 30%. However, recent studies (recent being within the past 12-18 months) show that it’s over double that after adjusting for illegitimate postings (i.e. fake jobs, ghost postings, etc.).

Whether or not the statistic is accurate is relevant, as the principle behind it is unambiguously true: a significant number of legitimate job opportunities you could be pursuing never make it to a job board.

Perhaps a role is filled through psuedo-internal promotions or transfers through company partners.

Or direct referrals provide enough of a candidate pool to work from.

At times, they could be confidential hires (common with things like executive positions and sensitive projects).

Many even come about as a result of networking (hint hint), by which the company meets someone who offers value and reveals a need they were previously unaware of.

The bottom line is if your job search is limited only to browsing job boards and cold applying, you are missing out on a significant amount of opportunities if you aren’t networking and positioning your value out there for decision makers to see.

Don’t hold yourself back. You have a lot to offer the world and you owe it to yourself to do what you can to get the value you bring to the people that need it most. Keep in touch with past colleagues. Meet new people in and outside of your line of work. Drop in a social mixer or two. The best time to be networking is before you need it, so get out there and say “hello.”