It’s a bit of an odd topic, however if you’re keen to get invited for interviews, then choosing the day you apply for jobs could give you a 15% better chance if you pick the right day. In this article, we let you know when jobs adverts are posted, when people apply and how you can maximise your chances of being invited for an interview.
When do Hiring Managers post jobs?
Hiring Managers typically work the usual 9 to 5 on weekdays, so most vacancies will be posted then. Various studies look at the best time for recruiters to post job vacancies. They suggest avoiding Fridays at all cost as candidates don’t tend to apply for roles on their days off, so by Monday, the vacancy would have been active for 3 days and will be forced down the latest vacancies. Hence, you’ll often see companies publish their latest vacancies on Mondays through to Thursdays.
Monday Blues
You might think people tend to apply for jobs at the weekend during their time off, however hiring managers receive the most CVs on Monday and Tuesday evenings. This is the result of the Monday Blues. People have just had the weekend off and now they’ve got 5 days of the office ahead, so after Monday, people who are unhappy in their role or had a bad start to the week will look around for new vacancies.
Once you get to Wednesday, or hump day, people turn their attention to the upcoming weekend and become less focused on applying for jobs.
Avoid Weekends
If you go against the trend and apply for roles in your spare time at the weekend, it’s likely your CV will be included with a larger number of applications the hiring manager has received. While fewer people apply for roles at the weekend, applications aren’t reviewed until Monday, so the hiring manager has over two days worth of applications to catch up on. No point burying your CV in the middle of them.
Best day to apply
There are studies into the best days to apply for jobs and researchers have compiled a ranking based on the likelihood of getting invited for an interview.
So what day do they recommend applying for a job? Firstly, we’d say applying as soon as you see the vacancy, the earlier to apply, the more your eagerness will show. However, if you worry your application will be buried among lots of others, then we would recommend applying on a Monday morning. While it’s a popular day to apply, you’ll immediately appear above all the weekend applications, but before the Monday Blues effect comes in. One study found 30% of Monday applicants were invited for an interview, compared to 14% of Saturday applications.
If Monday morning is too far away, then we’d recommend applying on Wednesday or Thursday to maximise your chances. You’ll miss the wave of applications at the start of the week and the hiring manager may be more open to different careers and experiences later in the week – depending on how relevant the earlier applications have been.