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Stuart Gentle Publisher at Onrec

New Year, new job? January is the worst time for applications, while Christmas gives applicants a good chance of success

Joblift calculates the best month to submit a job application

The lure and excitement of New Year resolutions has traditionally meant that January sees a spike in new job applications, while it is widely considered that December and the busy holiday season translates into a lull in the job market. To put this to the test, job search platform Joblift has calculated the difference between demand and supply for jobs each month in 2017. Interestingly, Joblift’s research shows that the festive month is the second best time to apply for a position, while January to April should be avoided in terms of application success.

JUNE IS THE BEST TIME TO APPLY BUT THE FESTIVE SEASON SHOULD NOT BE OVERLOOKED

According to Joblift, the best month to apply for a new role is June. The summer month saw the number of vacancies posted online (10.47%) outnumbering the number of users searching for vacancies (8.90%) by 1.57 percentage points, meaning less competition in the application process. Additionally, despite the assumption that December sees very little action on the job market, it was actually the second best month to submit an application in 2017. While it’s true that the Christmas month saw the lowest number of vacancies advertised (6.12%), the open positions outnumbered online searches for vacancies (5.07%) by 1.05 percentage points. Similarly, November ranked as the third best month to apply, as lower searches (7.35%) again meant that supply was 0.86 percentage points higher than demand on the UK job market (8.21%).

THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR SEES THE MOST COMPETITION FOR APPLICANTS

Joblift’s studies show that the beginning of the year is the worst time to submit an application with demand for positions far outnumbering the quantity of job postings. With 8.23% in the number of vacancies and 9.73% in the number of online vacancy searches, January saw the greatest negative difference of minus 1.5 percentage points, meaning the highest amount of competition for applicants. February didn’t fare much better, with open positions (7.79%) lagging behind the number of online searches (9.22%) by minus 1.43 percentage points. As the third worst month to submit an application, April saw a difference of minus 0.57 percentage points, with 7.61% in the number of vacancies, compared to a demand of 8.18%. March was slightly better with a difference of minus 0.07 percentage points between supply and demand; however, the month still saw job searches

outnumbering number of vacancies. Noting this, it is possible to conclude that springtime is the least favourable time for job application success.


About Joblift

Joblift is a job search platform providing candidates with the most intuitive and frictionless experience during the recruiting process. Joblift applies latest machine learning techniques and big data-based algorithms to offer the optimal match between employer and job seeker. Currently active in the US, the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands, Joblift cooperates with over 4,000 partners to incorporate over 10 million vacancies on our platform. Joblift is a highly energetic and entrepreneurial team led by the experienced founders Lukas Erlebach (CEO), Alexander Rausch (COO) and Malte Widenka (CTO), who most recently held C-Level positions at companies such as Zalando, Amorelie and Frontlineshop. 

www.joblift.co.uk