Applying for a job isn’t all about hunting for advertised vacancies and going to pre-organised presentations and recruitment fairs – there are other ways of approaching the search that utilise enterprising thinking. The majority of people will wait for a position to be advertised, however many vacancies never reach the public domain. If you go off the job hunting radar and start digging for the role you want you are much more likely to find what you are looking for.

Cold calling
Cold calling, the phoning of companies looking for work, can be a very successful way of getting a job, but it takes patience and persistence before yielding results.

First you need to identify which companies you would like to work for and how your skills match a job they might have. Next, do your homework to try to find out who you need to speak to: websites, news stories and even a few initial calls might give you some indicators. Next, think through what you want to say and how to say it, remembering to sell yourself in every appropriate way as possible as you will have caught your potential employer off guard when they may have no vacancies to offer anyway. If you do manage to speak to the right person, do your best to make a good impression. Even if there are no jobs available at the time, they may ask for your name and number to call you if anything suitable arises; if they don’t, offer to send them a CV.

Don’t be offended if they are not interested or even rude, just politely end the conversation and move onto elsewhere. You cannot expect progress every time you pick up the phone, but each time you do it is another great opportunity to find the right job.

Speculative letters
Not a fan of speaking to people you’ve never met and can’t see? Then try writing a letter to possible employers. Many managers will have a pile of cover letters accompanied by CVs to turn to when they have to recruit so it is a good idea to try to be one of the lucky ones already on their desk.

As with cold calling, you will need to research the companies you would like to work for and decide on the strengths you want to highlight before sending out any letters. Always write a cover letter to introduce yourself, summarising your experience and being specific about the type of role you are looking for at each company. You should also tailor your CV to the company to maximise its impact. Although you cannot trace the progress of a speculative letter it is always worth making a phone call to each company soon after sending it as it may jog their memories and put you to the front of a potential candidate queue then or in the future. It may be some time before you get any kind of genuine interest from a speculative letter, but the more you write, the more likely you are of winning over recruiters.

There are plenty of other ways to find out about the job market – from speaking to family and friends to networking at events. Always keep your ears close to the ground for any hints of new positions or employers moaning about vacancies to fill as these can be your ticket in. They say it pays to be proactive - it may just lead to a regular pay cheque.