When you’re looking for your next senior role, the instinct is to go to job boards. Update the CV, set up some alerts, start applying.
And that’s fine. But here’s what nobody tells you.
At senior level, a significant proportion of the best roles are never publicly advertised. They’re filled through conversations, relationships, and referrals.
The data backs this up. Referrals make up just 2% of all applications but lead to 11% of total hires. Roughly ten times the conversion rate of a cold application. And referred candidates are hired in 29 days on average, compared to 55 days for job board applicants.
The higher you go, the more this matters. Smaller candidate pools. Higher stakes. And hiring managers who’d much rather hear “I know someone perfect for this” than wade through a hundred CVs.
If you’re at senior level and relying solely on advertised roles, you’re only seeing part of the picture.
Your network matters more than you think
You don’t need to go to every networking event or message everyone you’ve ever met on LinkedIn. You just need to stay genuinely connected to the right people.
Former colleagues. Old managers. People who know what you’re capable of and would vouch for you without hesitation.
Those are the relationships worth investing in. Not because you want something from them right now, but because when someone asks “do you know anyone who’d be great for this?” you want your name to come up.
It only comes up if you’re still in their world.
And if you’re actively exploring your next move, tell people. Not everyone, but the ones you trust.
“I’m keeping an eye out for the right opportunity, if you hear of anything I’d love to know” is a completely normal thing to say to someone who knows your work. Over half of professionals say personal connections played a direct role in their career progression. That doesn’t happen by accident.
This is also where the right recruiter makes a difference
Here’s something worth saying plainly.
A good specialist recruiter isn’t just someone who sends your CV to companies with live vacancies. At senior level, the value is in the relationships they already have , the hiring managers they speak to regularly, the businesses they know are growing before a role goes live, the conversations that happen long before anything gets advertised.
I’ve spent nearly ten years building those relationships in IT and HR. Almost all of my work comes through referrals, businesses recommending me to other businesses because they’ve seen the results. That means when a senior opportunity comes up, I’m often one of the first calls a hiring manager makes.
Not because I’m constantly pushing CVs at them. But because I’ve taken the time to understand their businesses properly, and they trust me to tell them when I’ve found someone worth talking to.
That’s the difference between a recruiter who reacts to job specs and one who’s already in the room.
A few practical things worth doing this week
Reach out to three people you haven’t spoken to in a while. Not to ask for anything. Just to check in genuinely.
Update your LinkedIn so that when someone looks you up, what they see reflects where you are now and where you want to go next.
Think about who in your network works in the kind of businesses you’re moving towards. Those are the conversations worth having.
And if you’re open to a conversation with someone who already knows that market ,you know where I am.