When’s the Best Time to Look For a New Job?
You may think that after coming back from the holiday break, that January would instinctively be the best time of year to look for a new job. While it’s certainly reported as the time of year most people think about changing jobs (HR Magazine), despite popular belief February is actually the best time to find a new role.
While it may not sound intuitive, this is mainly due to the sheer amount of people kicking off the New Year by looking for a new role. Ultimately creating a large influx of applicants applying for a very limited number of roles in January.
Adding to the low chance of finding a job in Jan, it’s less common for companies to start hiring as soon as they get back from the break period. With the majority of companies beginning their hiring across most departments from February onwards.
So What Should You Do in Jan?
Data from Smart Recruiters showed that 60% of all applicants who applied for jobs, did so within the first week of the job being posted. This means you’re going to have to be quick to beat the competition to get your resume in front of the hiring manager.
Stay on top of jobs as they’re posted by following and creating alerts for any new jobs on platforms like LinkedIn. Do this in January, that way as soon as jobs are posted in February you’re at the front of the crowd ready to apply.
Knowing more jobs will become available in February means that January is also a prime time to make sure that your resume is up-to-date. So freshen and proofread your CV, update your LinkedIn profile and make sure you’re ready to apply as soon as a new job pops up.
What’s the Best Day of the Week to Look?
Smart Recruiters research has shown that Tuesdays are the most common day for companies to post job ads. Not only this, but it’s also the most common day that people apply for jobs and eventually get hired.
A good way to remember this is to set a reminder in your calendar (make sure it’s your personal one!) to keep an eye on your email alerts, job notice boards and any new roles on each Tuesday in February.
So if you’re in the market for a new job this year, make sure you’ve got everything prepared, your alerts are on and that you’re being vigilant checking job boards on Tuesdays.
Keep all this in mind and we hope that you’ll be ready to apply for all those upcoming jobs and be able to land the one you’re after. Best of luck applying!
Looking for a job now? The good news is we’ve got a few fantastic roles available right now and have more coming up over the next few weeks. Get in touch with the Discovered People team here for a confidential chat.
Written by Ebony McCabe for Discovered People