Build and work a target list of roles and organisations

Replace passive job board browsing with active research into specific organisations you want to understand.

Why it works

Passive job searching — waiting for the right posting to appear — puts you in competition with every other applicant and limits you to officially open roles. Active research into target organisations means you understand roles before they’re posted, build relationships with insiders, and are often referred before the job is public — none of which is possible by applying cold.

How to do it

1. List 15–20 specific organisations (not industries) that represent your best guess at environments where you’d do great work.
2. For each, identify 2–3 specific roles you’d want to learn more about.
3. Use informational interviews to get inside information on what those roles are actually like.
4. Revisit the list quarterly and drop organisations that don’t fit after research; add new ones.

Evidence

Bolles’s research found that the most effective job-finding strategies involve direct contact with specific organisations rather than passive job-board scanning. Labour market research consistently shows that many roles are filled through referral before or instead of public posting. (observational)

The "hidden job market" framing is sometimes overstated; many roles are filled through public postings. The value of the target list is in the quality of relationships built, not in bypassing postings.

Sources

• Bolles (2023), What Color Is Your Parachute?

Common mistake

Making the list and never working it — it must be a live document tied to active outreach, not a wishlist.