As we have discussed in previous articles, finding a job is a delicate balance between many things; applying online, networking, online presence, networking again, etc… What I would like to talk to you about now is applying online and more specifically When You Should Apply To Jobs. First, I want to point out that majority of jobs are not filled by online candidates, however, that does not mean you should disregard applying online.
A recent article in BusinessWeek says, “According to Simplyhired.com, U.S. searches peak on Mondays around 11 a.m. Weekly Web searches on Indeed.com also peak on Mondays around 11 a.m., and the daily peak on other weekdays tends to be around that time as well. Based on IP addresses, there’s plenty of traffic from office computers, says Chris Hyams, vice president of product at Indeed.
‘This does dispel the idea that people try to hide this from their employers by using a mobile device,’ says Hyams. ‘We definitely see people searching from places of employment. There’s no question that this is not just people sitting at home.’ In fact, in a recent survey by career management firm Right Management, 74 percent of workers said they explore job sites during the workday.
Another bump occurs in the evening. The average peak time for searches on Glassdoor.com is Tuesdays at 9 p.m. in each time zone. Searches on Indeed.com from mobile devices—which represents about one-third of total traffic—peaks on Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. local time.”
What Does This Mean For You, The Job Seeker?
Reading the above blurb, we can gather that you must do all of your applying before everyone else; this would mean Sunday. In another article, I discuss the importance of pinging your resume. The same principle applies here when applying to jobs.
When everyone applies to a job, applications are shown to the recruiter in the order in which the applicants applied. Meaning if you applied 4 weeks after the job has been posted, your application will be on the bottom. While it is unfortunate, but true, recruiters will only go through the amount of resumes they need too until they find a few good ones. This means that once they find 3, 5 or 10 really good resumes, they will stop looking through the rest.
What does this mean for you?
If you don’t beat everyone else to the punch, you might possibly lose out on the opportunity. Now that we are starting to have a better understanding of the hiring landscape, we know now that we need to put in a major effort in on Sunday. While you may not be the first to apply to the job, you will be before the majority of people who apply, which means your resume has a better chance of being seen by a person.
So why Sunday is a day of rest, church, temple, sports, tv, outside activities and so much more, it’s now time to turn your Sunday in “applying online day”.
Good luck!
