From the Author: Secrets of the Hidden Job Markets

Following up on a comment left on our September blog post about the new book, Secrets of the Hidden Job Markets, we responded to the author, Janet White, to invite her to share in a little more detail the idea behind her "contrarian" job-hunting approach, which calls on jobseekers to"Change Your Thinking to Get the Job of Your Dreams."

More specifically, we were interested in how White's "non-traditional" approach could serve the interests of underrepresented minority and women jobseekers in particular. Thanks to Ms. White for taking the time to share her response:

IMDiversity: Why and how is the non-traditional approach outlined in the book relevant specifically to the interests of underrepresented minority and women jobseekers?

Author Janet White responds: The point of my book is that you have within yourself the most powerful job-finding tool that exists – your mind. Your thoughts are so powerful that they can help you get, or hinder you from getting that dream job – regardless of your gender, skin color, age, country of origin, disability or whatever.

This is because of the Universal Law of Attraction, which states that you attract to yourself anything you focus on, feel strongly about or believe to be true. Just as soil turns seeds into plants, so the LOA turns your “seeds” of thoughts, feelings and beliefs into “demonstrations” that will reflect those thoughts, feelings and beliefs right back at you, whether you really want them or not.

The problem is that most people focus on what they don’t want and then they complain when it shows up. When you change your thinking, everything changes – what you do, what you say, how you act, and most importantly, you change the way other people respond to you.

For example, if you believe you’re being discriminated against because you’re a minority woman, you will find yourself in situations in which female diversity candidates receive a cool reception.

But when you believe you are welcomed by businesses because of your unique talents, experience and expertise, and your ability to help them accomplish their goals, then that will be your experience and your diversity status will be irrelevant.

Secrets of the Hidden Job Market: Change Your Thinking to Get the Job of Your Dream was written specifically to get you to realize what you believe to be true about yourself and the process of job hunting, and to help you have the experiences you want.

About Secrets of the Hidden Job Market: Change Your Thinking to Get the Job of Your Dreams: http://www.jobmarketsecrets.com/.

What do you think about this topic? Leave us a comment on this post.

Book: Secrets of the Hidden Job Market

Getting That Dream Job Is Almost As Easy As Changing Your Mind, New Book Says

This forwarded by the Author:

"If you’re job hunting and tired of not getting hired, chances are it’s your
thinking that’s the problem, according to Janet White, author of Secrets of the
Hidden Job Market: Change Your Thinking to Get the Job of Your Dreams. "A primer on using the Law of Attraction, Secrets explains how job seekers’ negative thoughts unintentionally attract the things they don’t want – like a difficult, frustrating job search and its related problems – and how they can intentionally use positive thoughts to attract what they really want – like the job of their dreams."

The book's main argument is that the “Traditional System” of job hunting -- help wanted ads, job fairs, etc. -- can in some cases actually work against jobseekers, making their job searches unnecessarily difficult, complicated and frustrating. White argues instead for following a “Contrarian System,” combining "common sense, sound business judgment and an understanding of basic human psychology".

We're still reviewing the book, and would like to ask the author for more input about her approach. We'll post any follow up here and on the Career Center.

Obviously, we're a little biased: In our company's 35-plus years of publishing and recruitment experience, we have observed that technology or communications systems by themseleves are neither going to win nor lose a job for a jobseeker. These are vehicles for learning about opportunities, and connecting jobseekers to employers who may have a need to hire them and be enticed (or "attracted" in White's view) to contact them. Only the jobseeker can win or lose the battle to convert those opportunities into fulfilling employment.

At the same time, we see first-hand every day illustrations of Secrets' premise that "a job seeker’s feelings, beliefs and assumptions determine how easy or difficult it will be for them to land their dream job, even before they take the first step."

What jobs people look for, what methods they use to look for them, how they prepare to apply for them and then follow up on opportunities to zero in, and how they otherwise approach the whole elaborate dance of the application process likely has a great deal to with their psychological state, determination, clarity of purpose, confidence, diligence and creativity. For those who have been beaten down by a long string of unsatisfactory job searches and application dead-ends, Secrets of the Hidden Job Market may offer some tips to help clarify your goals, and the inspiration to re-start and turbo charge your pursuit of not just a job, but your "Dream Job".

As always, we welcome those who've read and used the book's techniques to let us know what you think.