- I had a request to share my thoughts around the length of time needed to complete a job search. In my mind, there are really two categories for job searches. The first type is a job search staying within your chosen field or career path. The second type of job search category is under the condition that you want to make a change in direction – break off from the career path you were on and strike out in a new direction. To keep length reasonable I, want to address just the first type of job search, that is, a search staying within your chosen career. For current purposes, let’s also assume that you are starting the job search with no previous foundation, such as a current resume. There are certain elements that will help to successfully land that next job, but it is not science. There are just too many variables such as health of the economy, demand for your particular skill set, and how well you do with interviewing. So, to provide an estimate of time that is needed for a successful job search is challenging. But I think I can provide a reasonable window of time to successfully complete a job search as being somewhere from 2 months, to 4 months. Although in unusual cases it can take less than and month, and on the other end of the spectrum may take longer than 6 months. If you have been looking for longer than 4 months, or even 6 months, don’t be discouraged. Good things may yet be coming your way. To understand why I estimated a window of 2 to 4 months, let’s take a look at the components that are normally part of a job search, and how long it usually takes to produce them.
Resume: The resume is a foundational component of the job search. My suggestion is to have a polished resume before you even start informal conversations with recruiters. Recruiters will ask for a resume, and they will want one that is concise and up-to-date. I am assuming you may have some type of rough, or very old resume, and a lot of work needs to happen here. Before you start creating, or revamping your own resume, seek out good examples of resumes. To get started with some examples see…https://www.livecareer.com/resume-examples , and…http://www.financialsamurai.com/examples-of-good-resumes/ .Most people can type up a rough draft of a resume in a day or two. But this is not the one you want to send out for jobs. Start with a draft, then spend a few days going back to it, and tweaking it. A resume is not something you want to rush to complete. You want to live with it for a while. You also want to get feedback from some friends, colleagues, and professionals you trust. As you can see this process of producing a perfect, well-reviewed resume can take time. Plan on about a month to reach your final, perfect personal resume.
Engage Career Professional: I strongly recommend talking with a career professional before you start speaking with recruiters. A good career professional, such as a certified career coach, will help you in defining what makes you happy, and fulfilled in a job, and will help you focus your search so that you will be seen as a candidate that understands who they are, what they want, and what they have to offer. Remember a recruiter does not work for you – they (directly or indirectly) work for the hiring company.
Setting Job Criteria: This is where working with a career professional, like a certified career coach, or career consultant can help enormously. One big key in being happy in your next job is a decide on your job criteria, that is, what things are most important to you in your next job, documenting this, and weighting the criteria. This is a whole topic by itself. Suffice it to say this is an area where most people, even professionals need help. You will probably need to locate, and setup a couple meetings with a career professional to work this part through. You can do this part more or less in parallel with creating a final resume, but if you work through this part with a professional, which is what I suggest, this part will take 2 to 3 weeks. It could take longer if you have never worked through job criteria before, or if you are an open-ended person that takes more time to make career decisions.
Reach out to Recruiters: Prior to this step you really need to have your resume in a polished, perfect version. I really suggest having your job criteria matrix created as well, as recruiters most certainly will ask you questions around salary expectations, job location, size of the organization you want to work for, and other questions that helps them map you to a hiring company.
Applying: This is the process of seeking out open positions, and submitting an application. Almost all professional job applications are filled out and submitted online. They almost always ask for a resume – so you want to have perfect one ready to upload. They will often ask for 3 or more personal references, so have a conversation with 3 to 5 people you trust, and get their OK to be used as a job reference in advance. Most organizations send you an email that your application was received, so have a valid email address available. I suggest supplying a personal email account, not a company email address, as company emails may not be private and secure within your organization.
Networking: You can network with two kinds of people – ones that you have known for a while, and ones that you have recently met. This first group you people will be friends, relatives, and perhaps peers, and coworkers from previous jobs. The second group are recent acquaintances. An example of this second group might be members of professional organizations you have joined. They may also be members or visitors of career, or job seeking clubs. For a list in your area see meetup.com, or check your state job networking site.
Interview: There are some cases where necessary interviews can be completed in a week or two. This is usually when the hiring company is under pressure to make a hire. This can be a good thing for you. On the other extreme, I have seen multiple interview with various teams, including the hiring department team members, drag out over a couple months. You are almost guaranteed to have at least two interviews. In most cases with the company recruiter, and then a second with the hiring manager, and often the manager’s boss. The number, and formality of the interviews can be a product of the organization’s culture, and also the pressure they might be feeling to hire.
Accept Offer: Sometime after the last interview, if all goes well, the hiring organization will contact you with an offer. If you have done your homework in advance, you will have a pretty good idea if the offer, and position will work for you. Most companies allow time to discuss the offer with your significant other, and family. So normally you have a couple days to provide a final answer.
Set Start Date: Most companies expect you will need to give two weeks’ notice to your current management. Do allow at least two weeks before you start the new job. You may want to allow more time so you can have a mini vacation before starting work again.
Give notice: Standard notice to resign from a position is 2 weeks. If you have a management role, you may want to provide a longer notice.
In looking at creation of a perfect resume, and the process that normally takes place to be hired in a new position, you can see that this can take a number of weeks, even months. Once you have a polished resume, I suggest you meet with a career professional to help focus your needs, and your job search. Minimum engagement with a career professional I see as 2 to 3 weeks. Your job search needs to be refined before you reach out to recruiters, and start applying for jobs. Even if you get an offer from your first application, you most likely will have 2 or possibly more interviews to have. Plan for about 2 to 3 weeks for the interview process to complete. Once you have agreed to take the offer, you need to give at least 2 weeks’ notice of resignation to your current employer. In broad strokes if you add up the work that you need to do, including engaging with a career professional, and then add in 2 to three weeks for the interview process, and lastly add in 2 weeks’ notice to the time frame, I think you can see where the magic number of 2 to 4 months comes from. As with most generalities, there are exceptions. But if you need to estimate the time to complete a job search, one that stays within your chosen field, 2 to 4 months is a reasonable window of expectation.
Author: Brian Kail, MBA, CPC is a professional Career Coach, and Business Consultant. For me information see AscendProCoach.com
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