If you're currently in the job market, here's the little known secret to tapping into the most lucrative, yet hidden jobs available.

Even in this economy, there are still millions of great jobs out there. It's just that many of the best ones never make their way to the classifieds. Instead, they're taken by people who know about them before they're ever advertised. Imagine how great it would be if you had thousands of friends who'd always tell you about unadvertised jobs that you're perfect for.

As they say, it's not what you know it's who you know. The secret to getting the unadvertised jobs is to make friends out of really good recruiters. And not just a few, but LOTS of them. Here's why, and how you do it:

Recruiters, otherwise known as headhunters or search consultants, are hired by companies to find candidates to fill open positions. These jobs are often never advertised. But the secret of how to best use recruiters is to first realize that contrary to popular belief they don't work for you. This is an important fact that most job seekers don't understand. The key to maximizing recruiters is to understand the following: Recruiters don't find jobs for people -- they find people for jobs. It's an important distinction to understand if you want to get a job through a recruiter.

In other words, recruiters service the people who will pay them today. And unless you're paying a recruiter out of your pocket today, don't expect them to canvas the world to find you a job. You'll only be disappointed. Recruiters will be interested in you if you meet the criteria of a job one of their client companies has asked them to fill, or they believe they'll soon be asked to fill.

So to get the hidden jobs, you have to realize it's a numbers game and you must play it well by getting your resume to as many recruiters as you can, that specialize in people with your skills, in your field and in your geographic area.

You can search the internet and find various lists of executive recruiters. However, they're not well organized, complete or easy to find. It might take you a great deal of time.

While some recruiters may not have something for you today, if their clients regularly look for people with your skills, they will add you to their database. That's a good thing. The first place a recruiter looks when a client comes to them with a job to fill, is their own personal candidate database. It's never too late or too early to start networking with recruiters in your area who specialize in people like you.

Give yourself the competitive edge and get the inside track on unadvertised jobs. Just get your resume to as many recruiters as possible that specialize in your skills, industry and location. They say there's strength in numbers. Why not give a number of recruiters the opportunity to fill their open positions with you?

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