The person who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd.— Oscar Wilde.
Let me tell you a quick story – Its Audit peak season and Jonathan is working till past midnight every night. He’s now Audit Senior and carries a lot of responsibility which sits on the back of his neck.
He’s become so used to the neck and shoulder ache that he doesn’t even notice it anymore. Jonathan is also severely lacking sleep but he plans to catch up on sleep over the weekend. He runs out to grab a coffee so he can keep going.
He returns to the tiny cramped audit room at the clients premises where a thick file of bank statements are eagerly waiting to be perused. Its going to be another long night. He’s frustrated and needs a change.
So like every other auditor, Jonathan spares 15 minutes, logs onto LinkedIn and starts applying for jobs randomly. He also reaches out to a few recruitment agents to see if they can assist.
Jonathan is making a big mistake by limiting his exit opportunities to roles available on LinkedIn and trusting his career in the hands of Recruitment agents. Recruiters are paid a commission so they will throw any roles at you and see what sticks. Some will even misinform you by saying things like, “if you take this internal audit role at the bank, you can later move into the front office”.
If you want to see how Jonathan’s story ends, you can read it read it here, but make sure to come back to the 3-Step Method.
Like Jonathan, most Auditors search for exit opportunities online or via recruiters. Jonathan is now one of a vast number of qualified accountants with exactly the same experience competing for the same limited pool of mostly dead-end jobs!
Not only is Jonathan competing with other Big 4 auditors but also with people from industry and abroad. How does he stand apart and get noticed? How does he determine which roles are dead-end and which are rewarding?
What most job-seeker don’t know is that over 80% of available jobs in the market are not even advertised – This is the hidden job market.
So how does one access the hidden job market?
Via the Referral Method!
By using the Referral Method, you avoid competing with the masses and significantly increase your chances of landing job interviews. Only 20% of job-seekers are savvy enough to use the Referral Method.
The Referral Method is an age-old method and has been around before job portals and recruitment agents. Referrals work because of basic human psychology, trust and a concept called social proof.
Say you are looking to hire a domestic helper or a nanny. Would you randomly pick someone from the newspaper or are you more likely to trust someone a friend vouches for and recommends to you.
Integrity and ethics are very important to Company Executives when hiring, as such they are more likely to be comfortable hiring you when someone internally that they trust vouches for you and refers you for the job.
While the Referral Method requires more effort, its a better investment of your time and adds more value to your career overall. You will understand why in Step 3.
Before applying the Referral Method, I want to stress the importance of spending time exploring your interests/passions, the kind of work you enjoy doing, what you are really good at and do some soul searching as to what you want to achieve from your career.
So without further ado, here are the 3 Steps:
Step 1 – Identify a Company in the Hidden Job Market (Company XYZ)
Step 2 – Make contact with Company XYZ using my step-by-step Referral Method guide.
Step 3 – Stay top of mind in Company XYZ using my LinkedIn Personal Branding Guide.
There’s only so much I can share in a blog post. So as mentioned, I will be hosting a free online Masterclass, where I will be going into more detail for the 3 steps above and will also share my Secrets to Breaking Out of Audit (without needing to submit an online job application). I will hold nothing back and give you a detailed step-by-step guide that you can put into practice immediately.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Bilal is an internationally renowned coach for aspiring CA’s and CPA’s.
Bilal believes that CA’s are individuals with grit, perseverance and sound business and financial knowledge.
Yet he finds many not achieving their dreams and goals. He created this website to help young CA’s maximise their potential and fast-track their careers.
You might be interested to visit his LinkedIn page https://www.linkedin.com/in/bilalnoorgat/ to learn more about his background.
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