When and how to contact him when looking for a job

Dusseldorf If a vacancy is not officially advertised, there can be various reasons. Sometimes the company wants a change, but the job holder is still in office. Sometimes you want to avoid internal turmoil, for example when a long-time top performer leaves the company. Sometimes an employer simply fears a flood of unsuitable applicants.

Tim Oldiges experienced each of these scenarios. Oldiges, 42, is head of the Headgate recruitment agency. He is looking for top executives for family businesses with more than 1000 employees. “The hidden job market in Germany is huge,” he says.

The statistics prove Oldiges right: Studies by the Institute for Labor Market Research show that around 65 percent of all vacancies in this country are not advertised. Many of these “undercover” jobs end up with HR consultants like Oldiges. It may be worth contacting them.