Every thought about how long your job seeking journey is going to be, before landing that dream gig? According to a report by TalentWorks, the average American may be in the job seeking bubble for 90 days or longer. With Covid-19 being an added spanner in the works, be prepared for an even extended period of application after application. On this note, it takes on average 150 - 250 applications to be successful depending on the industry you are in, working experience and qualifications of course.
Depressing? Yeah for sure. The trick is to just keep at it.
Credit to Kushal Chakrabarti from TalentWorks, for unpacking these statistics for us.
Apply to 150-250 Jobs
Getting a job is hard. Even if you’re fully qualified, it can take 90+ days to get a job today in America.
Depending on your experience and industry, you’ll probably get an interview 5-15% of the time. Depending on how good you are in those interviews, you’ll probably get a job offer ~10% for any given interview.
If you work out the math, your chances of getting a job offer for any single application work out to, well, basically zero — 1%±0.5%.
And when you work out that math, depending on your experience, industry and interviewing ability, you basically need to apply to 150-250 jobs to be confident of getting a job offer.
3 (Harder) Employment Tips — AKA: When Good Things Go Bad…
(Don’t) Go Back to School [+22% BOOST]
A lot of people think that they have to go back to school to build experience or credibility. Although it does help, it’s usually not worth it.
Having a 2nd degree boosts your chances of getting an interview by +21.9%. Except in rare scenarios, you should not go back to school for a 2nd degree just to improve your job prospects. When you factor in opportunity cost, you usually come out behind — it’s just not worth it.
Keep Working, Somewhere If You’re Trying To Leave [+149% BOOST]
Is your New Year’s resolution to get a new job? Whether you’ve been laid off, can’t stand your current job or just think you need a new challenge, don’t quit just yet. Or, find a (creative) way to show that you’re currently employed on your resume. Trying to get a job from a cold start is hard.
People who showed they were currently employed (even if creatively) saw a +149% hireability boost compared to their previously-fired or laid-off competition.
Tough It Out for 9+ Months If You Can [+85% BOOST]
American hiring managers are suspicious of job applicants who left a job in less than 15-16 months.
More specifically, there was a big difference between leaving after 6 vs. 9 vs. 18 months. People whose shortest job was 9+ months were 85% more hireable than people whose shortest job was 8 months or less.
Objectively speaking, your hireability is still severely affected if you leave after 12 months. Staying 18 months fully protects you from future employer suspicion.
