Sources of Information
Help-wanted ads
Experts estimate that between 50 and 80 percent of all employment opportunities never make their way into published notices. What's more, many of the openings that do get published are phantom opportunities. Organizations advertise openings for many reasons, only one of which is to actually fill positions. Some advertise openings to meet affirmative action requirements or organizational hiring policies when the position is already tagged for an insider. Some advertise as a means of gathering information about the labor market-to see who is out there looking for employment and how much they cost; in turn, this information is used to create a job description and establish a salary range consistent with the market, which is then used to fill positions internally.
Private placement firms
Placement agencies and executive search firms (headhunters) also represent sources of information about job opportunities. Like help-wanted ads, however, their usefulness is limited. Remember: placement agencies and headhunters work for organizations seeking employees, not for individuals seeking employment.
They serve primarily as screening and information-gathering mechanisms; ultimately, the hiring organization itself must make the final selection. In a sense, therefore, agencies and search firms can only say "no" to a job seeker; they can never say "yes" because they do not have hiring authority. You have little to lose, however, by using placement agencies or search firms-as long as you use them intelligently.
Using placement agencies and search firms intelligently means first and foremost not using them to the exclusion of other sources of information and not expecting them to generate interviews for you while you sit back waiting for the phone to ring. Once you have gotten your name and credentials registered with a firm, you need to follow up regularly, calling or dropping by fairly frequently to remind them of your existence and your value. Second, register with several. Third, select those with whom you register carefully. Make sure they handle a reasonable volume of positions like those you are seeking; otherwise you may find yourself being sent out to interview for jobs that bear little resemblance to what you have in mind-jobs for which you are well qualified, but in which you have no interest. Many placement and search firms get paid only when a position is filled by someone they have sent for an interview, so they have a strong incentive to send you out for any job that you could do, which is very different from sending you out for jobs that you want to do.
For help in locating placement and search firms, consult: Career Guide Handbook-Membership Directory. This annual publication is prepared by the National Association of Personnel Consultants and lists personnel agencies throughout the United States. It is widely available in libraries.
Directory of Executive Recruiters
Put together by Consultants News and published annually, this directory lists firms alphabetically and indicates each firm's area of specialization. Also, are widely available in libraries.
State employment agencies
There's no harm in consulting the postings in your local office. Many offices also provide free workshops in job-search skills. For the most part, however, their postings tend to be for lower-level positions and to be heavily concentrated in the public sector.
Job banks
Most states and some private firms now maintain computerized job banks. In theory, they keep on file the names and credentials of people seeking jobs and match them with job openings sent to them by organizations (including government agencies) seeking to fill positions. Getting yourself into such systems can't hurt, although some of the private ones charge for keeping your file active. However, I have never known personally anyone who got a job this way. I have, on the other hand, heard some amusing (in retrospect, at least) stories of people receiving rejection letters from jobs for which they didn't even know they were being considered!
