In order to get a good job in less time, you must employ the two most effective job search methods, networking and referral building, and direct contact with potential employers. I know you’ve heard this before, and I’m going to emphasize it again because most people consume valuable time and energy with the least effective method, searching internet job boards.

(This post is the 3rd in a series of 7 fundamental steps every job seeker must take in order to prepare for a successful job search. This series is based on the works of the late Michael Farr, arguably the founder of the self-directed job search movement, and my work with literally thousands of career-oriented job seekers over the past 25+ years.)

Let’s take a look at how jobs actually open up. (I’m a firm believer in not reinventing the wheel. I’m also a firm believer in giving credit where credit is do, so I’m going to quote directly from one of my favorite texts on job search effective, J. Michael Farr’s Getting the Job You Really Want.)

“The Four Stages of a Job Opening

If you look just for advertised jobs, you will never know about the good jobs that are not advertised. Someone else will get them. but how do you find these openings if they’re not advertised? You have to learn to find employers before they advertise the job you want.

Most jobs don’t simply pop open. They are created over time. All jobs open up in stages, creating opportunities for those who contact employers before a job is advertised. Let’s look at the four stages in more detail.

Stage 1: There Is No Opening Now

If you contact an employer at this stage and ask if the company has any opening, the employer will say no. If you go about your job search in the traditional way, you would not even talk to this employer. Yet, should an opening come up in the future, this employer will first consider people he or she already knows.

About 20% of all people get their jobs by becoming known to employers during this stage, before an opening exists.

Stage 2: No Formal Opening Exists, But Insiders Know a Job May Soon Be Available

As time goes on, someone inside an organization knows that a need exists for a new employee in the future. Perhaps business is picking up. Or a new product or marketing plan is in the works, Maybe someone is getting ready to leave or will be fired. If you ask the employer if a job opening exists at this stage, you will probably to told no once again; unless you happen to ask the right person in that organization. And most job seekers will keep looking elsewhere, not seeing the job that was about to open up right before them.

About 40% of all jobs are filled by people who come to know an employer before the end of this stage, when no job is formally open but someone in the organization knows that a job is likely to become available soon.

Stage 3: A Formal Opening Exists, But It Has Not Been Advertised

At some point, the employer says that, yes, there is a job opening. Maybe someone suddenly resigned or that big order just arrived. People who work for the company know about the opening, but it is often days or weeks before it is advertised. If you happen to ask if there is a job opening now, you will finally be told that, yes, there is. If you are fortunate to be at this place at this time (and with the right credentials), you will probably get an interview.

But the problem is that, for those who see the job search as a search for advertised openings, most jobs get filled before or at this stage. In fact, more than 65% of all jobs are filled by or at this stage. Those jobs never need to be advertised!

Stage 4: The Position Is Finally Advertised

If a job does not get filled by insider referrals, by someone the employer knows, or by other informal means, it will be made known to the public finally. An employer might post the opening on the Internet or run an ad in the newspaper [although this happens less and less]. A sign may be hung in the window, and the employment service may be notified. Since anyone looking for a job can now find out about it, dozens or hundreds of people apply for it [even thousands]. That is why the competition for these relatively few advertised jobs is so fierce.”

To succeed in your job search, you need get to employers at all stages of an opening. This means contacting employer in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd phases, before the position is publicly available.

Of course, you should also go after advertised openings; those in the 4th stage. But you must realize that most jobs will not be advertised.

The principle behind all of this is: “Don’t wait until a job is “open” before you contact the employer.”

The “how to” about networking and referral building, and contacting potential employers directly will be the subject of another article in this series. But for right now, please understand that the “hidden job market” is real. You just need to learn how to tape its huge resources!