5 Tips to Calculate Job Search Time

I was recently talking to a partner who mentioned one of her clients who received severance when he was let go from his executive position at a media company. My partner commented that if Sue knew how long it would take to find a job, she would probably take some time off.

Time off to think about what she really wanted to do. Time off to unwind – she is the type of person that rarely takes vacation, never takes sick time, and is on the go constantly. She would love time to re-set her career and life.
But the problem is there is no guarantee or even prediction of how long a job search will take.

The conventional wisdom is to plan for 1 month per $10,000 of compensation. So if you were making $30,000 a year, on average your job search will take 3 months. If you were making $100,000 you should plan on 10 months of searching.
Ok, tell that to the financial services people who have seen their entire industry crash. Tell it to the people who are fresh out of college or in an industry with low growth.

In short, everyone is different. But here are some things to start thinking about as you plan your job search campaign:

1. If you have no safety net (few savings or no severance, even if you have a good network and job prospects): Take massive action immediately, and build your contingency plans as you go. I know people who found work quickly, in as little as two weeks, even as unemployment was spiking. But for each one of them I know many people who have more time than normal.
   
2. The clearer you are about your job objectives, the faster your search will go. This is true no matter what. With clear vision, you avoid pursuing opportunities that are not what you want, and you will present more forcefully. But see #3 below.
   
3. Fighting economics will slow your search. If you are pursuing a job opening in a field that is contracting, or one where the number of candidates far exceeds the number of openings, your job search will be slow. This is one place where I believe that you should carefully look at your job goals against the wider reality and decide how best to move forward. Careers that everyone wants are not necessarily a bad idea, but to be successful you need to be one of the best. All else being equal, if you’re competing against a lot of other candidates for a few slots, your job search will take longer.
   
4. How easy is it to describe and evaluate candidates for your target job. Some jobs, for instance some computer programming jobs, are relatively easy to describe and it is relatively easy to judge the candidate’s capabilities. Job searches that target these types of job go more quickly – each individual job opening get processed more quickly and the market moves faster. If you are seeking a job that is harder to quantify, describe, and evaluate, the job search will typically take longer.
   
5. Size of target companies. In general, smaller companies make decisions more quickly. The only real exception to this rule comes when big companies are hiring lots of people for a similar role. In these cases, often the process is streamlined and completed more quickly.

Job search time can vary dramatically from person to person, and even for the same person from one search to another. The best way to get a sense of the job search landscape is to network with people who are pursuing a job search similar to yours. Use what you learn to guide your own expectations.