by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS
The VET Recruiter®
Not all of the open Animal Health jobs and Veterinary jobs in the employment marketplace are posted online. For those of you who grew up during the Internet age, this might seem implausible. I assure you, however, that it is not.
This fact could spawn a litany of questions in your mind:
- What percentage of these jobs are not posted online?
- Why aren’t all of these jobs posted online?
- What does this mean for my career?
- What should I do, in light of this information?
Animal Health jobs and Veterinary jobs aplenty
The best way to answer all of these questions, of course, is one at a time, and I’ve done so below.
What percentage of these jobs are not posted online?
It depends upon who you ask, but the overall answer appears to be “a lot of them.” Here’s what I mean by that:
- According to ExecuNet, 80% of executive-level jobs are not posted online. For the purposes of ExecuNet, an executive-level job is one that involves a starting salary of $150K or more.
- According to Business Insider, at least 70% of jobs are not listed online.
- According to Forbes.com, approximately 80% of jobs are not listed or posted online.
Yes, these statistics are not addressing Animal Health jobs and Veterinary jobs specifically, but the statistics are not different for jobs in these two areas. I’ve been an executive search consultant and recruiter for close to 23 years, and I can tell you that these numbers are in line with what I’ve seen in the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession. They are NOT the exception to the rule, they are the rule.
Why aren’t all of these jobs posted online?
There are various reasons, but one of the main ones is that they’re part of what is called the “hidden job market.” This job market exists because there are employers that want to fill open positions within their organization on a confidential basis. As a result, they do not advertise these positions through traditional means, such as online job posting.
And why might these employers conduct a confidential search for suitable job candidates? For one thing, they may want to conduct their search without their competition knowing what they’re doing. I’ve seen this happen countless times during my career. For another thing, they might want to replace an underperforming employee without that employee knowing that they’re doing so. I’ve also seen this happen with regularity.
Regardless of the reason, just know that for every position you see posted online, there are anywhere from two to three other Animal Health jobs or Veterinary jobs that exist that are not online.
What does this mean for my career?
Part of the answer to this particular question depends upon YOU. Specifically, it depends upon how you view your career and how important it is to you. (And thinking that your career is important is not the same as taking action to prove that your career is important.) From a purely numbers perspective, though, this means there are many more opportunities for you to grow your career than you realize. For the vast majority of you, this should be exciting news!
What should I do, in light of this information?
Once again, part of the answer to this question depends upon you and what you value in your professional life and career. However, I have a multi-pronged strategy for how you can take advantage of it, and consequently, make the most of it:
- Be open to opportunity, including hearing about a new employment opportunity if one is presented to you.
- Be proactive and not reactive, which means don’t wait for good things to just “come to you,” because you’ll find out the hard way that they won’ as much as you would like.
- Network as much as you possibly can, because every one of the sources I listed above also indicated that networking is a prime way to find out about opportunities available in the “hidden job market.”
- Don’t let fear and/or uncertainty to rule your decisions.
- Don’t allow yourself to become too comfortable.
- Don’t become enamored with maintaining the status quo.
If you want to know about the Animal Health jobs or Veterinary jobs that exist in the marketplace, then you should want to know about ALL of the jobs that exist . . . not just the ones that are posted online.
The advantages of building a relationship with an experienced recruiter
One more thing that you could do is align yourself with an experienced Animal Health recruiter or Veterinary recruiter who has a history of helping professionals just like you. First and foremost, you should do so because executive recruiters and search consultants have access to the “hidden job market.” When employers choose not to advertise their jobs online, they instead hand those jobs directly to an experienced recruiter and say to them, “Find the best candidates for us!”
Second, recruiters have inside knowledge about these employers. They know about the company culture, they know about the management and leadership, and they know about the history and vision of the organization, among other things. A recruiter who has a relationship with you, will share this information with you, and they can give you an advantage over other job candidates who are being considered for the position.
Third, recruiters know what it takes to find and then land the job of your dreams, so that you can grow your career the way that you want to. We at The VET Recruiter can help you do all of these things, starting with the Animal Health jobs and Veterinary jobs that our clients have asked us to fill with high-quality candidates.
I encourage you to create a profile and/or submit your resume so that you will be considered when appropriate job opportunities open up.
We help support careers in one of two ways: 1. By helping professionals to find the right Animal Health jobs or Veterinary jobs, and 2. By helping to recruit top talent for the critical needs of Animal Health and Veterinary organizations. If this is something that you would like to explore further, please send an email to stacy@thevetrecruiter.com.
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