When to start your job search
The Best Time is Now (When to start your job search)
Common wisdom (wisdom being a term used lightly) states that a job seeker should not start looking for a new role at the end of the year, from November until early January, or at the end of a Financial Year. The rationale being that major decision makers will be taking holidays around Christmas time and organisations are setting strategy (and therefore finalising hiring decisions) at the end of each fiscal year.
To that, I say bollocks.
Let me explain. To the question “When is the best time to search for your next role?” my answer is “You’re kind of missing the point.” The accepted wisdom of not applying for roles at specific times is based on the old model of reactionary job seeking where a professional would be applying in response to an advertisement or other notification that a role exists. Today, that accounts for around 20% of all available roles. You’ll probably already know that the other 80% of roles are not advertised; candidates are found through formal and informal networks, word of mouth or contacts in social media.
Taking this in account, one can see that ‘waiting’ for a specific time of year is not only unnecessary, it’s also extremely limiting; limiting in that you’ll only be exposing yourself to one fifth of available opportunities. The understanding of the nature of job seeking will also have to change. In the old model, a job search consisted of a scan of the weekend papers or online job boards to see if a job description matched with your skills. Each and every role that seemed to provide at least an 80% fit would result in a resume and cover letter being dutifully sent off to the employer; this is known as the shotgun approach. I’ve heard of clients who have sent their resume between 50-100 times without a single response – and it’s as disheartening as it sounds. We’ve all been in the situation of wondering “Why can’t I seem to get any traction in this job market!?”
Basically, the old ways of searching for a role just don’t cut it any more. Employers have more options available to them to find good quality candidates without having to engage recruiters; the Internet and specifically social media have made that possible by offering a ready made and visible talent pool. This also means recruiters are more motivated to shortlist candidates that not only meet but exceed the job specification, so that they have more chance of making their commission. By now, i should be obvious that the question is no longer “When should I apply for a job?” but instead “How do I make myself visible and known to employers?”
A job seeker needs to start by answering a few vital questions, namely “where do I want to work?”, “what does my ideal organisation look like?”, and most importantly “what is my career plan and what do I have to do next?” and “what is my value proposition?”. Only after clearly understanding these attributes of ‘brand you’ will you be in a position to start identifying and communicating with the companies in which you see yourself working.
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