The Hidden Job Market - transcript

Speaker	Podcast
Marcy	Hi I'm Marcy Markusa and you're listening to Learning English with CBC.  When you hear so much talk about job losses and lay-offs, it’s hard to be optimistic about your chances of finding employment. But Shawn Mahoney of Opportunities for Employment believes there are still lots of good jobs to be found in Manitoba.  In this interview, he tells Terry MacLeod about strategies people can use to find these jobs.
Terry	So so tell us about some of these good jobs.
Shawn	There’s a number of good jobs that are out there today.  Um we’re placing people at an astronomical rate.  We’ve actually had a record year this year in placements, um a record year in twelve years of our existence.  And we’ve placed over 800 people in meaningful employment, in all different kinds of jobs, um be it management, trades, office/clerical, IT support, warehouse, even drivers are making $20 an hour.  There are jobs out there.
Terry	And um the jobs are still there, despite, y’know, when the downturn started October, November?  Things are still, there are still jobs?
Shawn	Absolutely, um like I just said, in our twelve year history, this has been our best year and our best month ever was in November, the month after the stock market crashed.  So there are jobs out there, you just need to know how to look for them.
Terry	So what are the strategies then for looking for them?
Shawn	Well the reality is that in the paper today, only 20 percent of the jobs that are vacant are actually advertised.  So 80 percent of the jobs that are out there to be found in the hidden job market and there are a number of strategies you can use like informational interviews, um cold calling, networking…
Terry	Okay, slow down.  Informational interviews, what are those?
Shawn	You actually call somebody up who is in an industry that you are interested in.  You ask them for a no obligation interview, just to sit down and meet with them and ask them about their work, and what it is all about, and see if there’s a fit for you. And take that opportunity to actually engage with them and sell yourself a little bit.  Because there’s no obligation and no pressure, you develop a great relationship, a great friendship, you leave your resume with the person, you’d be surprised how many people call back.
Terry	Okay, so you mentioned a couple of other strategies?
Shawn	Um cold calling is really unique.  Um we had an interesting…
Terry	Is it as hard as it sounds?
Shawn	No it’s not and we actually had an interesting example in our in our agency.  One of our facilitators had a group of people sitting in front of him, and he used a cell phone and a microphone on the cell phone and he actually called an employer himself and talked with the person and said, “My name is Joe Smith, these are my skills, my gifts, I’m a hard worker, I’m eager to to begin work and I’m wondering if you have any vacancies?”  And lo and behold, the person had three or four vacancies.  He talked about them, said, “Will you be okay if I met with you tomorrow?” and got an interview right off the top.
Terry	This wasn’t fake?
Shawn	This was live, on the phone. And ah the facilitator got a job interview.  And the participants were just stunned at the fact that it was that easy.