A conservative estimate is that 50 to 70 percent of roles — particularly at mid to senior levels in trades, technical, engineering, and operational leadership — are filled without ever being publicly advertised. They're filled through direct approaches, existing relationships, referrals, and recruiters who maintain active pipelines of known candidates.
If your entire job search strategy involves applying for advertised roles, you are competing in the most visible, most crowded part of the market — and you're invisible to the majority of opportunities that exist.
Here's how to change that.
Understand why roles don't get advertised
Employers don't advertise for the same reason they might not announce a problem publicly: it creates noise, attracts unsuitable applications, signals internal instability, and takes time to manage. For senior roles especially, advertising publicly often does more harm than good. It tips off competitors, unsettles existing staff, and produces a shortlist that's dominated by whoever happens to be unemployed or actively looking right now — not necessarily the best person for the role.
The alternative is a direct, confidential approach to someone who is known, trusted, and already assessed as credible. That's why these roles go to people who are already in the right conversations — not to people applying through a portal.
The best roles I've ever placed were never advertised. They came from a phone call to someone I'd been in contact with for years. Being in that conversation is a long game — but it's the one worth playing.
Build visibility before you need it
The single biggest mistake candidates make is only engaging with recruiters and networks when they're actively looking for work. By that point, you're already behind. The professionals who consistently access unadvertised opportunities are the ones who stay visible and engaged when they're settled and employed.
This doesn't mean constantly networking or signalling dissatisfaction to your employer. It means having an updated profile, staying in contact with one or two recruiters who know your field well, and being known as someone who is good at what they do. That's enough.
Register with the right recruiter — properly
Not all recruiter registrations are equal. Sending a CV to an email address and never hearing back is not registering — it's disappearing into a database. A genuine registration involves a conversation: about your background, your goals, what you'd move for and what you wouldn't, your preferred locations and work arrangements, and your realistic remuneration expectations.
That conversation is what allows a recruiter to keep you genuinely front of mind. When a role comes in that fits your profile, the first call goes to the people the recruiter knows well — not to whoever happens to be at the top of a search result.
Be specific about what you'd move for
The most placeable candidates I know are not the ones who are "open to anything." They're the ones who can tell me clearly: "I'd consider a move for a supervisory role in maintenance, within 45 minutes of Melbourne, at $X or above, in an organisation that runs structured maintenance — not reactive firefighting." That specificity means I can match them accurately and introduce them with confidence.
Vague availability produces vague results. The clearer you are about what the right role looks like, the better I can represent you when it comes up.
Stay patient and stay ready
Accessing the unadvertised market is a long game. It requires being known before a role exists, not scrambling once it does. The professionals who do this well tend to move less often — but when they do move, it's into roles that genuinely represent a step forward, often negotiated before the position was ever formally defined.
If you'd like to register with ChapterSix and have a proper conversation about where you are and what might be possible, I'd welcome it. There's no obligation, no pressure, and no cost to you — ever. Just a confidential conversation with someone who knows the market.