3 Ways to find a job - Advertisements/Recruiters, Direct approach & Personal Connections

‘job hunting is a competitive exercise: you must dare them not to see you’

In my experience people find jobs in 3 ways. 

1.   By responding to an advert – online, in print or via a recruiter.

2.   By directly approaching a company.

3.   Through personal connections.

Each of these approaches to job hunting will depend upon the sector you work in and its recruitment culture. However, as a general rule 20% of people find work through responding to adverts and/or working with a recruiter, 20% of people find work by direct approach to the company they want to work, whilst almost 60% find work through personal connections.

The statistics above have been taken from Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point in which he quotes Mark Granovetter’s book Getting a Job. They shed interesting light on the job hunting process and each scenario is further explored in the sections below.

Regardless of how you choose to find work you need to keep at the forefront of your mind that you are entering a competitive exercise so you need to do everything you can to dare them not to see you! The following should help you do that (coming soon).