TWELVE JOB HUNTING SECRETS:Into the Hidden Job MarketByKenneth L. MeyerSECRET NUMBER ONE:Employers hire people they already know. It has always been Who you know!Employers rarely, if ever, advertise for people when they first, can hire someone they already know and trust. Secondly, they hire someone referred by a known and/or trusted friend/associate/acquaintance. It's only when employers cannot hire a ?known? individual that they ?go outside? to newspapers, the internet, employment agencies, head-hunters, college recruitment, job fairs, etc., anything that is public.SECRET NUMBER TWO:Number One means, the GOOD jobs go to the good (or at least ?known?) people before the general public ever knows about these openings'if, indeed, they ever know about them.SECRET NUMBER THREE:Once the job is ?out? and advertised to the public, through newspapers, the web, all the public methods, and the like, your chances of getting that job are ABSOLUTELY MINIMAL!! At best!! Why? Because competition is intense and even overwhelming at times for openings that hundreds of job-hunters up to even thousands of job-hunters can become aware of simultaneously through public announcement sources. SECRET NUMBER FOUR:No matter how good your resume is (and most resumes are NOT good at all!!), and no matter how many applications you fill out'or interviews you may have?this whole process is necessarily CONFRONTATIONAL! It's ?the good guys? vs. ?the bad guys.? Realize this: most job applicants ARE bad; they get what they deserve to get: REJECTED! Look at it from the employer's point of view: their job is to GET RID of those BAD applicants because most of them are UNQUALIFIED, and to REDUCE the great number of applications to a manageable few. Horrible? Yes?but true.Think about it; people really DO NOT DESIRE TO READ RESUMES all day long!!COROLLARY: Employers are seldom if ever waiting for your resume or application. WORSE COROLLARY: they usually don't even want to read or to see it. It represents more WORK for them; they tire of work quickly, just as you do!SECRET NUMBER FIVE:People hire friends and personal acquaintances first! As we said in #1, they are ?safe? hires and can ostensibly be trusted. They're not unknown quantities. Would YOU hire and ?unknown quantity?? Of course not! YOU, like most people, would not hire an unknown baby sitter or have coffee or lunch with someone you do not know. Are employers any different?SECRET NUMBER SIX:People hire people who are interested in the same things they are?especially those who are enthused in things of mutual interest connected with the job they need done.SECRET NUMBER SEVEN:Just because you may have been out of work for a while or even fired does not mean that you will not be hired. If that were true, there would be a steadily increasing pyramid of the unemployed?and, eventually, no one would be working at all: Most of the top executives in this country have been laid off or fired at some time.SECRET NUMBER EIGHT:You will be hired for your skills, for your experiences on the jobs you have held and in your life-in-general?and for the results you have had in using those skills. Remember: your skills are the key to your employability. You must understand what skills you have, what skills you most enjoy using (you are usually BEST at doing the things you enjoy doing most!) and decide which kinds of jobs use people with those very skills. These are your best job targets and the places on which you should concentrate your efforts! SECRET NUMBER NINE:Before you go job-hunting, you need to know:1.WHAT you want to do, specifically and exactly.2.WHERE you want to do it, both geographically and organizationally'i.e., the kinds of places that need and use people with the skills you have and want to use?and which closely match your own personal goals and values/lifestyle/cultural background; and3.HOW to get the job you've decided you want in a non-confrontational, constructive way. The confrontational process leads to rejections; these lead to depression and a deflated idea of your own self-worth. This HURTS: both you and the potential success of your job hunt.COROLLARY: If you go on your job hunt without knowing the answers to these three questions, you may well be job-hunting forever. FOREVER!SECRET NUMBER TEN:Most of the time spent in job-hunting, perhaps 90%, should be spent BEFORE you ?go out? to look for openings. It can be done at home, without outside communication. It is, basically, MAKING DECISIONS about what you want to do with the rest of your life and career and how your next job relates to that life plan.SECRET NUMBER ELEVEN:Making decisions about your career?and the actual process of job-hunting?has NOTHING to do with ?finding out what's available.? To start out in this way is DOING IT BACKWARDS! The answer to the ?what's available? question is: EVERYTHING IS AVAILABLE! Now: what do you want? What do you want to do? Where do you want to do it? How do you find the job that's right for you? If you do not target your job-search to the answers to these questions, your efforts will parallel the saying: ?If you do not know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else.? SECRET NUMBER TWELVE:Once you've made your decisions, your contacts are the key to helping you reach the people who are doing the kinds of things you want to do. Start now to expand your contacts by enlarging your scope of living, joining, enjoying and being with the people who share your common and enthused interests. Then, when you are ready, you can learn about the fields, which interest you through those contacts in a non-confrontational way?even in a non-job-hunting way. Information seeking is perhaps the best way of tapping into ?the hidden job market? of unadvertised jobs. Don't make the fatal mistake of using your contact network before you have your career decisions MADE: if you do, you're turning over your job search to others, i.e., your contacts and expecting them to do your work for you.In closing, don't rely on FATE or LUCK in you job search. Organize your luck by answering the questions posed above and in applying these twelve secrets.Best efforts.