Have you heard of this elusive hidden job market? You know, the one that is hiding right under your nose?
What LinkedIn Groups do you think you should join to find the hidden job market?
When I instruct job seekers on their LinkedIn Group Strategy, I suggest they find Groups that are relevant to them, based on location, profession (think: job title) or industry.
I don’t recommend they find a bunch of Groups for job seekers. In fact, I’m so focused on encouraging them to find relevant Groups that I never talk about joining job search Groups.
I say this even though I have a JibberJobber Career Management Group on LinkedIn. And many of my friends have Groups for job seekers on LinkedIn.
Perhaps you can get some good value out of those Groups, but if time is an issue I encourage you to focus your efforts on Groups that are relevant to you, where you could network with employed (and unemployed) professionals in your area, profession or industry.
You can get that from the job search Groups, of course, and if you have some extra slots open, join them. You’ll notice the conversation is quite different between these two types of Groups, though.
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I’m a fan of LinkedIn groups, esp if they are moderated well to keep a handle on the inevitable spam.
another advantage I find very useful, is the ability to send a message to someone through the group connection, so even when you are not officially ‘linked’ if you belong to the same group, you have a semi-connection.