Introduction
Looking for a new job can be an exciting but also a stressful experience. One question that often comes up is, “How long does it take to find a job?”
Unfortunately, the answer is not straightforward and can vary significantly depending on various factors.
In this post, we’ll discuss the factors that can influence how long it takes to find a job and provide tips for speeding up the process.
But first, let’s answer the question: how long does it take to find a job?
How long does it take to get a job?
To give you the short answer, it usually takes entry-level tech job seekers between 4-6 months to find a job.
However, this time frame is just a guestimate as there’s no data to backup this claim.
And the reason for this guestimate is there are many factors that can influence job hunt time such as:
- Age (Young, Middle Aged, or Old)
- Experience (Do you have some or no experience?)
- Types of companies you’re applying to (Are you applying to a fortune 500 or Series A Startup that’s not known yet?)
- The competitiveness of the roles you’re applying to (How many applicants know about the role?)
- Role Desirability (does the position pay well, or is it at a company everyone wants to work at?)
- Method for applying for jobs (Easy applying through LinkedIn or going direct to the hiring manager)
- How often you’re applying for jobs (1 job app per day vs. 10 makes a huge difference)
And many other factors that could also influence the job hunt time. So the true answer is, it depends as the length of the job hunt differs for everybody.
Let’s take a closer look at these factors and see how they influence the amount of time it takes to land a job.
Influencing Factors that Affect Job Hunt Length
Age
The first factor influencing the time it takes to find and land an entry-level tech job is your age.
Now you may wonder what does my age have to do with anything?
I hate to say it but in the tech industry, ageism does exist.
Most employers in the tech industry favor younger job candidates over older candidates as millennials (Aged 20-33) are being hired 50% more than their workforce counterparts.
Within that same study, Generation X-ers (Aged 34 – 51) are being hired 33% less, according to research conducted by Visier a Cloud Analytics Platform for HR Professionals.
This data shows that ageism exists. And since Ageism is relevant this can either increase or decrease the time it takes to find a job. Depending on which side of the spectrum you fall on.
But don’t let that get to you, as you still have a shot at landing jobs faster. Especially if you have experience.
Experience
If ageism gets to you, fear not, as your experience may decrease the time it takes to land a job.
If you’re an experienced individual, meaning you have years of domain experience for the role you’re applying for, employers may look to you first to give you the job.
Most entry-level jobs at tech companies require zero years of experience. However, there are times when they do prefer candidates to come in with some relevant knowledge.
Especially if you’re applying to hyper-growth tech startups that don’t have the resources to ramp up newbies.
Which can also have a big influence on the time it takes to land a job.
Types of companies you’re applying to
The next factor that influences the job hunt length is the type of company you’re applying to.
If you’re applying to a MAANG (Meta, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, & Google Alphabet) or any well known tech company, most likely it’ll take you more time to land a job.
However, if you’re going with a small, unknown Series A, B, or C tech company that is growing rapidly, they may not have the time to waste trying to find that perfect candidate, so those types of companies tend to hire faster.
And I would know, as for my current job it only took me 2 days to get an offer and accept it.
Now that won’t happen with the majority of tech companies that you apply to as each of them are different.
However, if you need a job fast, usually smaller tech companies hire faster than bigger tech companies.
Competitiveness of roles
Looking at the type of company you’re applying to, role competitiveness can also influence job hunting time.
Take those MAANG companies for example.
If you apply to them, most likely those roles will have hundreds of candidates. Which slows you down from getting a job sooner.
Look at this sample job from Salesforce; within the first week, they already have 21 applicants that applied.
And this doesn’t even include referrals, internal candidates or those that applied within their website!
However, if you’re applying to a much smaller tech company chances are the roles will be a lot less competitive.
And that is due to the advertising and brand recognition that small tech companies have.
Which also influences the time it takes to land a job and the desirability of a role.
Role Desirability
As we said above, company prestige, role competitiveness, and now desirability also influences job hunting time.
And what we mean by desirability is, does the role offer excellent working conditions? You know things like:
- Remote Work
- Great Pay
- Great Health Benefits
And many other perks that job seekers are interested in.
So if you’re applying to roles that have perks like these you can expect that it’ll take longer to find a job.
On the flip side though, if you’re looking to get started you could work for a company that has less perks that may not have as much competition for their roles.
But beware, if the role is not highly desirable, you may be missing some essential perks that other positions offer.
Method for applying for jobs
After considering everything above, some controllables that also impact job search time could come down to your methods for applying for jobs.
Suppose you’re clicking the easy apply button or mass applying to jobs with little or no customization.
In that case, your approach will likely take longer than someone tailoring their apps to every job they apply.
Also, suppose you’re not networking and contacting hiring managers directly.
In this case, you could be costing yourself more time in the job-hunting process, as reaching out to hiring managers can speed up the job hunt.
Frequency for applying to jobs
The last factor that influences job search time is how frequently are you applying for jobs.
For example, if you’re someone who only sends out one app a day when others are sending out ten apps per day, who would get the job faster?
The person sending out ten apps per day of course.
But this doesn’t mean spraying and praying is okay, as that’ll hurt your job search. So keep in mind that how often you apply for jobs also influences job hunting time.
By now, you should understand the factors that can influence your job search and the time it takes to land a job.
And I’m sure it seems like all of the above factors will cost you more and more time in the job-hunting process.
But there are ways that you can speed up the job search process, as there are certain variables you can control for better results.
Keep reading below to find out how you can influence your job search.
How to Speed up Your Job Search
When it comes to finding a job, there are many different levers you can pull to speed up the time it takes to land a job.
And what you can do starting today to achieve better results in your job hunt is the following:
- Network with those that have the job you want or that is hiring for the job that you want
- Polish your job-hunting docs
- Put your expectations in check
- Be location independent
- Clean up your online image
Now that you know about the five factors you can control to help you find a job faster, let’s break each of these factors down.
Network, network, network
When looking for a job, the first thing you can do to speed up the search is to network with those that have the job you want or with those hiring for the position you want.
Networking is a proven tactic that can help you land a job. 70% of all jobs are found through networking, according to a report done by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Yale University.
That’s 70% of all jobs!
Imagine if you tap into your network and reach out to people directly, it’ll definitely speed up the time it takes to land that tech job.
Another thing, too, is that most tech companies offer a referral bonus for the people that referred you for a job, so this makes your networking efforts much easier as people are incentivized to help you.
Polish your job applications
The second thing you can do to speed up the job hunting process is to polish your application.
What you’ll need to do here is make sure that you refrain from committing any of the resume or cover letter mistakes that job seekers commonly make and tailor your application for each job you apply to.
If you have tailored and clean job-hunting documents, you’ll be able to capture the attention of hiring managers.
Which will help you land that job much faster than someone who is spraying and praying job apps all over the place.
Put your expectations in check
Not a tactic or hack that can lead you to score more interviews but rather a mindset change to help you discover new opportunities.
Not every job you apply for or get will be your dream job; this will be no exception here.
Sometimes to get that break you were looking for, you’ll need to take a position that may be less desirable than the one you want. And that’s perfectly okay!
The main goal is to land a tech job, so any opportunity will do.
Once we get into the tech industry and prove our value, we can renegotiate or go elsewhere that may offer us exactly what we want (more money, prestige, etc.).
So keep an open mind, as any opportunity will be an excellent start for you.
Be location independent
Another thing tied to the expectations point above is to be location independent.
If you want to land a job fast, consider moving cities or states to open up more opportunities for yourself.
When looking for my first Sales Development job, I looked at Grand Rapids and Detroit, Michigan, for opportunities.
But there were few opportunities as Michigan is not a giant tech hub.
However, when I started looking outside of my state, I found thousands of opportunities.
Which led me to get my first tech job in less than 3 months, as I had a steady pipeline of opportunities to pursue.
Because, as you know, more at-bats equal better results in the long run.
If you need help with your job-hunting strategy, book a call with us here as we can help!
Clean up your online image
And the last thing you can control to speed up the job-hunting process is to clean up your online image.
If you have anything cringeworthy or bad on your social media, take it down and start fresh.
Also, ensure you thoroughly check your profiles as you don’t want them to be bare, as most employers look to social media to see who you are.
I recommend that you delete all the stuff that serves as detractors on your regular socials, like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, so you have professional-looking profiles.
Then, you should create a LinkedIn account as that’s the best place to network with others and show your experience outside of the resume and cover letter.
And there you have it! You now have everything you need to decrease the time it takes to find a job.
Conclusion
To summarize, you have now learned:
- How long it takes to land a job
- Factors that influence the time it takes to find a job
- How you can control and speed up the process.
While it may be impossible to figure out how much time it takes to land a job, you now know that you can influence the job hunting time as you’re armed with everything that you need to know.
So start that job hunt and see how fast you can land a job!
If you need more help you with the job search, read 11 Job Hunting Tips for a Successful Job Search.