How Many Jobs to Apply To Before One Clicks?

[KreacherKeeper]

Ok, so I do not get the glamourous package that would allow me not to work. I am considering 2 options

1. Reapply next year and work this year

2. Go to the school with tuition remission and realize I need to work and go part-time (also an option)

So I have started to apply for jobs. How many do folks usually apply to before they start to get some bites? I have spent 2 weekends of overzealous job applications and no bites yet.

Any advice on strategies? Should I apply for lots, apply in waves, or what?

[mlle]

Ok, so I do not get the glamourous package that would allow me not to work. I am considering 2 options

1. Reapply next year and work this year

2. Go to the school with tuition remission and realize I need to work and go part-time (also an option)

So I have started to apply for jobs. How many do folks usually apply to before they start to get some bites? I have spent 2 weekends of overzealous job applications and no bites yet.

Any advice on strategies? Should I apply for lots, apply in waves, or what?

I think it depends on your "qualifications" and how good you can make your cover letter/resume look, IMO. I just finished grad school (masters #2, I'm sure everyone is sick of me whining about my story by now) and I've been getting several bites since I've started searching aggressively back in the fall/winter. I have some work experience and a smattering of internships/assistantships in addition to my degrees. But still more edu qualifications than hard core "work experience." Been on a dozen interviews (most of them phone screens, which I rarely screen through) over the last few months. No offers, mostly because I suck at interviewing.

I typically apply to several jobs a week (that is, when I'm not in the midst of preparing for/fretting over/crying under the covers in bed in anticipation of another doomed interview). If an organization decides to pursue my application, they typically reply a few weeks to a month later (one place contacted me about 2 months later; I was screened out of the job that I applied for but they apparently kept my resume and called me in for a different position there--which, of course, I didn't get). A couple of places responded within a week and went through the whole interviewing (and rejection) process very quickly. For those places, the first thing they asked me is, "Can you start IMMEDIATElY? No, IMMEDIATELY????"

I've spent the last couple of weeks not sending out as many of the standard online applications, just because I thought it might be time to restrategize after so many rejections (i.e. network or whatever more) and also simply because I've reached a sort of burnout and don't know what to do with myself.

The bites tend to occur in waves, a lulling week followed by 2 or 3 call backs for interviews another week (which I consider a decent amount). The people I do know from my program who have already landed job are either good at interviewing and not the buffoon that I am, or they have aggressively "networked" and tapped into the hidden job market, not relied on applying to jobs online, sought referrals, etc.

So, my advice, as a job seeker who is getting callbacks but not offers due to the whole intnerviewing thing is, 1) write beautiful, wooing, well-tailored cover letters to the hiring manager/recruiter. 2) Perfect the presentation and content of your resume as much as you can. And, possibly more, or as importantly, "network." It'll give you an edge, as they say, and as I've witnessed in people who actually know how to network with skill and grace.

This is just my experience in my own particular field, don't know if I answered your question. Oh, and wish me luck for my doomed interview tomorrow....

[starmaker]

This is very, very, field-dependent. My friend in biotech (with a PhD from a top-10 program) did all the right things in his job search, and it took him 9 months of regular application to get a job (though when he got one, it was a very good one). My friend who's a software engineer (with a BS from a top-10 program) with a preference for web development at small startups, had a new job lined up within a week or two after he decided to leave his old one - I think it was the first place he looked at. I'm in research-oriented EECS, and it took me three months. My husband's a tech writer, and when he looked for jobs a few years ago, I think it took him seven months.

In my own case, for my recent job search, I applied to about 60 jobs across about 30 companies over the course of three months (most within the first month - after that, a lot of what I was doing was interviewing and such). Of those 30 companies, about half got back to me expressing some interest, and maybe 10 of those actually gave me an interview.

Make sure that you're applying intelligently, and not just working hard. Don't just send a bunch of apps to places and hope for the best. Write cover letters. Talk to headhunters, if you're in a field that uses them. Go to local career fairs and industry networking events. Use your school's career center. Use any restricted job boards that you have access to (e.g. one run by your alumni association). Get on jobs-related email lists - your school/alma mater's alumni association may have such a list. Ask your friends if their companies are hiring and if they will refer you. Ask your friends if they will introduce you to their friends who work at companies that are hiring - sites like LinkedIn and Facebook will tell you who's a friend of a friend.

My own job search worked out quite well this time - I got my dream job, pretty much. I found out about the job from a friend who works in the relevant group at the relevant company. I wrote a cover letter, and got him to refer me, which allowed me to bypass the resume-filtering and phone-screen parts of the hiring process. Then I had to prove myself through all-day in-person interviewing, a research talk, and a difficult programming/algorithms test. The process took about a month longer than it should have because holidays and inclement weather kept interfering with interview scheduling.

[Joshua07]

Find a Job that needs your qualifications because if you want just a job try in fastfood restaurants. You better wait when you applying because the more you become naughty the more job will be elusive. PATIENCE.