To find jobs before they're advertised, stop relying on job boards and start real conversations with the hiring managers at a short list of target companies, so the role comes to you before it's ever posted. In my experience, most senior roles are filled that way, before an advert ever goes live.

The way people get hired and paid more has fundamentally shifted. Sending CVs and hitting apply on LinkedIn just doesn't work like it used to, especially now that AI has changed how everyone applies.

After 11 years in executive search and more than 250 professionals hired into six-figure roles, this is the step-by-step process I know works in 2026. And when I say it's the easiest way to get hired, I don't mean low effort. I mean easiest because you're bypassing everything that no longer works.

Why aren't job applications working anymore?

Job applications aren't working because anyone can now apply in seconds and every CV reads perfectly, so the pile is huge and nobody stands out. Applying isn't a way in anymore. It's the way to disappear.

Here's the irony. Applying for jobs has never been easier. Five minutes on LinkedIn and you can hit apply on 100 or 200 jobs.

But have you actually looked at what it says under each job? 200 applicants, sometimes 300, 400 or 500.

And it gets worse. People are now feeding the job description into AI and getting their CV rewritten to match the exact skills and experience required, even when it isn't true. The hiring process is being hijacked.

On top of that, nine times out of 10, your application doesn't get reviewed by the person with the actual hiring gap. It gets screened by a system or a junior recruiter looking for reasons to filter it out. So even if you're right for the role, you might never reach the person who would recognise that.

Job boards aren't the opportunity. They're the overflow. They're where roles go when the hiring process didn't work.

What does it mean to get hired before a job is advertised?

It means you're already known to the hiring manager when the need comes up, so you're in a queue of five or six instead of 200. Think of it like the pre-sale for a big show.

By the time general sale opens, the best seats are already gone. They went days earlier, in pre-sale, to the people who were already on the list.

So you sit in the online queue with thousands of others, refreshing the page. And when you finally get through, what's left? A restricted view or a back corner somewhere.

Senior roles work exactly the same way. The job boards are general sale. When you apply there, you're not early. You're buying whatever the pre-sale left behind.

So here's the shift. You don't apply more. You stop applying like everyone else, and you position yourself so the role comes to you.

I've simplified that whole process into a career framework called BUILD, a 90-day plan to land a six-figure role. If you want the full version, get the free BUILD framework here. Below are the three steps that matter most.

How do I get my CV and LinkedIn ready before I reach out?

Fix your CV and LinkedIn first, because a hiring manager will check them the moment you're on their radar, and they unlock everything else. Your CV needs to prove results, not list your history.

Most professionals treat their CV as a career history document: every job, every responsibility, every team they've ever sat on. But a hiring manager isn't reading your CV to learn who you are. They're scanning it to answer one question: is this person safe to hire?

So your CV isn't a history document. It's a risk assessment tool, and it gets judged on four things:

  • Impact: does it prove results?
  • Seniority: does it read at the level you actually want?
  • Clarity: can a stranger understand what you do in one pass?
  • Structure: can they find what matters in 30 seconds?

The single biggest move sits under impact. Stop describing activity and start proving it.

Activity: "Responsible for managing a team."

Impact: "Led a team of eight that delivered the system migration on time, cutting reporting time by 40%."

Same person, same job, completely different signal. Activity says you were there. Impact says you made it happen, and nobody gets approached or hired for just being there.

That's also why proof beats those AI-written CVs. Polished wording can be faked in seconds now, but real numbers can't.

Then do the same on LinkedIn:

  • a headline that says what you do and who you do it for, not just a job title
  • a summary that shows how you think, not just a list of skills
  • some recent activity, so anyone checking can see you're current and engaged with your industry

Because they will check. If your interview is the first impression, your LinkedIn is the first impression before the first impression.

That's exactly what shifted things for Steve, a senior operations leader I worked with. After months of applying with a CV full of responsibilities, he heard nothing. We rebuilt it around impact, with four bullet points full of numbers and data, and he went from zero responses to interviews within weeks. Same experience, completely different signal.

Here's the test for your own CV: read it as an objective stranger and ask yourself, "Would I call this person?" If you're not sure, run it through the free Six Figure CV tool, which scores your CV on impact, seniority, structure and clarity.

How do I find companies that are hiring before they advertise?

Build a Dream 100: a researched list of the companies where your experience is most valuable, then narrow it to your top 10 to 20. You're not looking for any company. You're looking for environments where your specific experience becomes valuable.

Most people treat their job search like a machine gun. They spray applications everywhere, hoping something hits. Six-figure candidates move like a sniper: they pick their targets, study them and position themselves early.

A Dream 100 is Daniel Langley's method for choosing your target employers on purpose: a short, researched list of companies where your experience transfers directly, so you can get on their radar before a role exists.

Here's how to build it. Start broad, then narrow:

  1. Your industry: companies where your experience transfers directly.
  2. Adjacent industries: sectors where your skills still apply, even though the sector is different.
  3. Geography: places where joining would actually be realistic.
  4. Size and stage: a startup, a scale-up, an established business or a large corporate. The environment matters as much as the role for your future success.
  5. Your personal edge: companies facing a problem you've already solved, or whose mission genuinely matches yours.

Let me show you what that looks like. If you've led software implementations in banking, you're not just targeting banks. You might look at fintech companies, any business investing in digital transformation for banking, IT businesses and consultancies that supply finance, or software companies that deploy into other regulated banking environments. Then you filter by the stage of company you actually want to join.

A simple way to picture it: put yourself at the centre of a Venn diagram with overlapping circles for industry, adjacent sectors, geography, company stage and personal edge. Where the circles overlap most, that's your highest-value target zone.

This is where AI becomes genuinely useful. Instead of spending days researching, you can prompt it to generate a targeted list of companies ranked by where your background fits best, then filter by relevance and spot the gaps in their leadership teams you could fill. Most people use AI to write their applications. The real advantage is using it to think better and target smarter.

Want the full method? Get the free Dream 100 framework here.

I know what some of you are thinking. "Dan, I'm working 50 hours a week. I've got a family. I can't afford to be this selective."

But being selective isn't slower. In 2026, it's smarter. The professionals landing six-figure roles aren't the ones applying to the most jobs. They're the ones turning up at the right companies, at the right moment, with the right context.

Who should I contact about unadvertised jobs?

Contact the person one level above the role you're targeting, not HR or talent acquisition. That's the person who owns the outcomes your role affects, feels the pain of the gap in their team, and will fight to hire someone who makes their life easier.

  • In manufacturing operations, that might be the VP of operations or the director of manufacturing.
  • In digital or IT, it might be the head of product or the VP of technology.
  • In finance, it might be the CFO or the head of FP&A.

You can find them easily on LinkedIn. Go to the company page, click the People tab, filter by department or seniority, and look for the people who carry real decision-making weight.

How do I message a hiring manager without sounding desperate?

Don't pitch and don't ask for a job. Build micro-familiarity in three steps: connect, give a signal that you understand their world, then make a simple, low-pressure ask.

Some of you will push back here: "Won't this come across as pushy? Won't they think I'm desperate?" It depends entirely on how you do it. Pitching and pleading reads as desperate. Showing up with real context and starting a real conversation signals the exact confidence and initiative they're hiring for.

Step 1: Connect. Keep it short, light and clean, with no pitch and no ask. You're not trying to impress at this stage. You're getting on their radar.

Step 2: Give a signal. This next part is where most people drop the ball. They say, "I saw your job post on LinkedIn and wanted to reach out," and the moment they do, they've put themselves straight back in the applications queue.

Instead, say something that shows you understand their world: a pattern you've noticed in the industry, or a relevant observation about something they've posted. You're a real human, not a number in an application funnel.

Step 3: Make a low-pressure ask. Something like this:

"I'm exploring what's next and I'm actively looking at opportunities at companies like [their company] for [your target job title]. Is that something you typically hire for?"

That's it. No CV attached and no plea for a job.

And don't give up if they don't reply straight away. I once worked with a senior engineer who reached out to a VP about a digital transformation initiative. The VP didn't reply, but instead of going quiet, the engineer kept showing up: commenting on their posts with real observations and sharing a relevant article with a short note.

Three months later, that same VP messaged him: "We're opening a role. Would you be open to a conversation?"

That's not luck. That's what happens when you play the long game with the right 10 targets, instead of the short game of firing off 50 random applications.

What are the biggest mistakes when looking for unadvertised jobs?

  1. Jumping straight back into applications. Fix: once your Dream 100 is built, start conversations with your top 10 to 20 companies rather than waiting for adverts.
  2. Messaging HR instead of the hiring manager. Fix: go one level above the role you want.
  3. Opening with "I saw your job post". Fix: lead with an observation about their world, so you're a person, not an applicant.
  4. Reaching out before your CV is ready. Fix: rebuild your CV and LinkedIn around impact first, because they will check.
  5. Giving up after one message. Fix: keep showing up with useful comments and context. Familiarity takes a few light touches.

The bottom line

Your CV needs to reduce risk and prove results, your Dream 100 needs to be strategic and researched, and your outreach needs to open conversations, not beg for interviews.

At this level, you're not trying to win a competition. You're trying to be the obvious choice before the competition even starts.

What's your next step?

If you want to see how your CV holds up before your next interview, try the free Six Figure CV tool. Upload your CV and get an instant score with specific fixes.

And if you want to work on this with me directly, here's where to start.