Recently I heard an interesting statistic: 80% of jobs are filled by someone known to the company that is hiring. The person hired is often a friend or acquaintance of an employee, staff from a supply channel partner, or a customer. This fits well with the standard belief that 80% of people find employment using their network. I also read somewhere that 50% of jobs are never publicly listed.
Why then do so many companies put open positions on their website and job boards? Why do so many people search Monster, Craigslist, or other sites? Why do newspapers, that are shrinking by the day, print such a large section that is not very useful to people looking for a job? It would seem to be more useful for each of us to be aware of the job opportunities around us, and know our friends, supply chain partners, and customers well enough to know when they are a fit. Maybe that is what LinkedIn is supposed to do. It is the purpose of the Helping Friends Business and Career Network. Maybe this is an idea for a Facebook application - Jobs I know about - or it may already exist. Someone should tell the people at Truemors to create a Truejobs list; one that has jobs that are actually hiring not just collecting resumes to look busy. (Guy, consider that I crafted that name, if it gets used, I am going to want something for it. 
Not just another copy of your book, either!)
There is one use that many people access these lists for that is very important...
When I want to discover what a company is looking to get in to, I check their careers section. With big companies, this is not as useful as it is with small outfits. For example, if you see a company begin to hire sales...excuse me...Business Development people with a focus in a new area, then you can be certain they are about ready to move into that market. If a company begins to hire Oracle or SAP trained IT folks you can count on a major delay in new products and bad customer service for a few months. If a company advertises for new marketing leadership, then you can probably count on a delay in advertising.
Corporate espionage is an interesting game. It is not something to spend a great deal of time on, but if someone is going to hand you the information, then you should use it. Being aware of an opportunity or threat before it happens is a gift not to be questioned. The job descriptions can often tell you more than you would find out in any other way. I am surprised by how few people realize the security hole there.
I hope this does not stifle the publication of help wanted ads. There are plenty of people who are still looking for work and they need some leads. Perhaps the compromise is to work with your people to keep those positions that are revealing from becoming public. Beside, you were probably going to hire someone they know anyway.
What other ways do companies tip their hand without realizing it? (I can think of a few others off the top of my head. If you can't then perhaps we should talk.)
