Why back door is right door to get a job

Back door — The toughest concept I work on with my clients is the “back door” concept. All too often, the assumption is that the only way to get a job today is through the online job boards, which is the front door. The problem is that everyone goes in through that front door.

Think about this in terms of your own house. For many people, the front door is the one that we reserve for special occasions and for guests. The back door or for many people, the garage door, on the other hand, is the one we use for every day use. People who get to come in the back door are our friends, our family, and those people who know us best.

Where is the back door in a job search?

The back door is finding that connection to potential openings through other means than job boards or even the company website. As useful as online job search can be to find positions in your field, everyone else is looking there too. To get a job, it often takes who you know to find that connection that knows about jobs that will be opening but are not mass-advertised at this point. Even for jobs that are on job boards, you can still use the back door. I have business people call me periodically wondering if I have a good fit for a specific position in my client base. Sometimes, I can make a connection that leads to a position and other times, there is no one I know who is on the market right now.

You don’t know who will be an asset until you do some digging. Look at it this way, if you read about a company expanding or launching a new product, there is a chance there will be jobs that could go with that growth. You have to get ahead of the need. Look for the connection in your network to someone who knows someone within the company.

Conduct a proactive job search

This is a proactive job search and it is so much more work than the point and click strategy of online applications. It can yield the “no” answer but so can your point and click strategy of applying to every job you are even remotely qualified to land. Proactive job search takes looking at your industry and finding out where there is movement. It means connecting with people to make yourself visible. It assumes you have invested time in creating job search materials that market you correctly for the positions you want to have. It is using that back door to find a way into the company.

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