The Most Effective Ways to Look for a Job

Having been a Staffing Manager at the largest agency in the world (a Fortune 500 company), I will attest to the fact that very few job positions listed on sites such as Monster are actually filled. It is a little known fact to the general public that the majority of these postings are made simply to draw attention to the company and/or the hiring agency, and that these positions may well have been filled even before they are posted. However, by posting a single job opportunity on such a site, the response from prospective applicants will be huge, thereby supplying the staffing agency (in my case) with many new potential job candidates that can then be "filtered" and considered for placement on other jobs known only to the agency and the hiring company.

So, even though one is quite unlikely to be considered for the specific job advertised, the likelihood is that the applicant's resume and credentials will in fact be looked at by someone with hiring "connections," and that if the application/resume is strong there is a real possibility that the applicant will be contacted by someone in my position who will then work to place said applicant in another available position.

I recommend that anyone applying for these posted positions might do themselves a greater service by going directly to a staffing company, which in turn has the resources and contacts to find a job "match" for the applicant. By accepting ANY position in a given company, the odds of one eventually being considered for that "ultimate" job are greatly enhanced. Get on board with an established company in any capacity, and one will make the contacts necessary to reach his or her dream position...

Charles Robertson of CA 1:03PM June 28, 2011