Most job vacancies go unpublished. Some employers feel they don’t need to advertise because they get a lot of applications anyway; others think about a vacancy for a while before they decide to act. A creative job search gets you a step ahead of the competition by seeking out these hidden vacancies.

The Yellow Pages, the Moscow Business Telephone Guide and the Internet are your best friends when job searching creatively. As ever, write cover letters and resumes that are targeted to the company and the post that you are interested in, and address letters personally. If a couple of weeks go by without a reply, don’t be afraid to contact the people you wrote to and check they received your resume. This tactic has the benefit of fixing you in their memory. They will also have a better idea as to what kind of a person you are by your phone manner and the way that you present yourself orally.

Kraft HR manager Irina Davidova says it doesn’t bother her when people send unsolicited applications or when they call her to check their resumes have been received, and that in fact assertive, motivated people are exactly what she is looking for.