New York City and some states may now have pay transparency laws in effect, but some companies continue to work around them by utilizing a so-called unlisted job market, the Wall Street Journal reported.

While this market has existed for a long time, it is not intended to avoid the various laws’ requirements to disclose pay ranges—but it has that effect, providing advantages to those who know how to work it.

That effort requires something that experienced job seekers have long known: Beyond searching sites such as LinkedIn or Indeed, particularly for executive positions, it helps to rely on professional networks and headhunters to find unadvertised roles.

For businesses that don't want competitors to know what positions are open, or don't  want their current employees to know what is being offered to prospective ones, private recruiting is the only option. And it is not illegal.

A common loophole in pay transparency laws is that companies don’t have to post every job and don’t have to reveal the projected compensation for those unposted positions, Stephanie Merabet, a labor attorney at Holland & Knight, told the Journal.

Matt Massucci, chief executive of the recruiting firm Hirewell, suggests that jobseekers devote at least 30 minutes a week to networking and that they be targeted in their approach.

“You want to be on the call list of somebody who’s working to fill a job that would fit you,” he told the Journal. “The only way you do that is to stay top of mind.”

Shawn Cole, president of executive search firm Cowen Partners, advises jobseekers to build a rapport with a recruiter and to be direct about their objectives.

“Send an updated resume and say what you’re interested in,” he said. “Talk about compensation, location and specific career goals. Lunch and things like that? Sad to say, but no one has time for that stuff.”

Hiring managers and recruiters told the Journal that companies sometimes list closed positions as open to comply with internal policies or collective bargaining agreements that require public postings.