What is the hidden job market, and how do you find it?

A job portal shows the openings a company paid or chose to list there. Many openings never get that far. A startup founder writes a post saying the team needs a frontend developer. An HR person shares a role in a LinkedIn post with an email address. An engineer tells their own network the team is hiring and offers a referral. A small company puts the role on its careers page and nowhere else.

None of that is secret. It is spread across many places instead of one search box, and the person who posted is usually reading the replies themselves. That is the “hidden” part, and it is also why a short, specific email to that person can stand out.

You will often read that 70 to 80% of jobs are never advertised. That number gets repeated a lot, but no study behind it can be traced, so treat it as a guess. A fair way to put it: a good share of openings, especially at startups and small companies, are announced first or only outside job portals. You don’t need an exact figure to act on that.

• Hiring posts on LinkedIn, written by founders, HR and people on the team, often with “share your resume at” and an address. See how to find hiring posts on LinkedIn.
• Posts on X by founders and engineers, often a single line and a link.
• Company careers pages and the job boards behind them. Many startups list roles only there, on boards hosted by Greenhouse, Lever or Ashby: how to find jobs on Greenhouse, Lever and Ashby.
• Community threads. Hacker News runs a “Who is hiring?” thread every month, mostly for experienced people and remote roles: how to use it.
• Telegram and WhatsApp groups, college groups and alumni groups, where posts get forwarded. Check where a forwarded post came from before you write.
• People at the company. An employee who posted an opening can often refer you: how to ask for a referral.
• Roles nobody has posted yet. A startup you like may take an intern or a junior if you write well: how to cold email a startup for an internship.

1. 1

   Pick what you are looking for

   Two to four kinds of role, the cities or remote work you want, and the kind of company: startups, product companies, agencies. A narrow aim makes every later step faster.
2. 2

   Check the places above, fresh posts first

   A hiring post gets most of its replies in its first day. Look daily if you can, and start with the newest. A post that is weeks old may already be filled.
3. 3

   Find the address the post gives

   Use the address in the post first, then a hiring address on the company’s own site. Never guess one: guessed addresses bounce or land with someone who can’t help. How to find the right email address.
4. 4

   Write a short email with one piece of proof

   Who you are, the one piece of your work that best answers the post, and why this company, in three short paragraphs, with your resume attached. The free cold email builder gives you the shape.
5. 5

   Follow up once

   About a week later, in the same thread, with one new thing to say. How to follow up after no reply.

Ritika saw a LinkedIn post by the founder of a small logistics startup: they need an operations analyst, and the post says to send a resume to the founder’s address. She writes the same day.

It names the post, gives one real piece of work that matches the role, and says why this company, in a few lines a busy founder can read on a phone.

Yes, for some jobs. Large companies, campus and off-campus drives, and government jobs usually run through their own application forms, and that is the route they read. Use portals and company forms for those. Use the hidden job market alongside them, for startups and small companies where the person hiring is reachable.

If a post says to apply only through a form, apply through the form. Write an email only when the post gives an address or invites messages.

• Emailing guessed addresses, or the same email to dozens of people at once.
• “Do you have any openings?” with nothing about you or the company. Answer a real post, or say what you would do for them.
• Paying anyone for a job, an interview or a referral. A real employer doesn’t charge you.
• Writing to the same person on LinkedIn, email and phone in the same week.