[wplug-jobs] Tips on conducting a stealth job search

[Pat Barron]

The best way I've found to handle this is by personal networking - 
contacting people you think might have connections in the specific area 
you want to work in, and making discreet inquiries.  Just be sure to 
make it clear that you don't want the candidate's identity made widely 
known.  This is a common kind of situation, and people understand it.

It's crucial to build connections for this type of search in advance, 
before such a need arises - that way, you already have people to talk to 
when the need presents itself, and you don't need to scramble around 
searching in a situation where time may be a factor.  If you don't 
already have the appropriate connections before you even start the 
search, it may already be too late.

My own experience is that most of the best jobs are found in exactly 
this way - by personal networking.  The usefulness of searching via 
things like job postings is often limited.  Frequently, either a job 
posting (particularly one that's been posted for a long time) is looking 
for the mythical "pink squirrel" that they're probably never going to 
find (and the current wisdom seems to be that it's better to leave a job 
unfilled until you find the absolutely "perfect candidate", rather than 
hiring someone who's smart and could pick up the necessary skills 
quickly, but doesn't have the exact "pink squirrel" laundry list that's 
being sought), or else by the time a posting goes up the employer 
already knows exactly who they're going to hire and there's only a job 
posting in the first place because the employer has company policy or 
legal requirements to post the job, but they don't intend to hire (or 
even interview) anyone who "applies" for it, because it's effectively 
already filled....

--Pat.

On 1/7/2015 1:25 PM, John Lewis wrote:
> Do you have any tips on conducting a successful stealth job search?
>
> One of the WPLUG board members may want to work closer to a certain
> hacker space.
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> wplug-jobs mailing list
> wplug-jobs at wplug.org
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