My job search numbers, then and now (applying, interviews, application)

[Tac-Sea]

Long ago (more than a decade), when I wanted to change jobs, I forced myself to apply for 10 jobs a day, even on the weekends. These were usually on sites like CL, CareerBuilder, etc. It would take me 3 months to find a new job back then. So that came out to about 900 resumes sent. Granted, I was making less back then too though, still high income, but much less than now.

So I recently tallied my recent job search numbers. Although it took me longer, as I did not apply for 10 a day every day, and generally didn't apply on weekends. Some days I would do 20 in a day, others 5, and sometimes I'd go for days or weeks without applying. Although it took me 11 months, it still took approximately 900 applications from my tracking. One key difference is that I did go on more interviews to secure the job. I was also changing role's in the industry a bit. I did about 25-30 interviews, including phone screens for crappy jobs that I immediately withdrew my candidacy from.

So in summary, I essentially applied for roughly the same number of jobs, though I'm making more than I was back then, went on more interviews to get the job, though I was changing roles in the industry I work in. I will also say that the first 400 applications, I was not customizing my resume for each application. Once I did that, I noticed a huge upswing in the number of interviews and responses.

I thought this was rather interesting, and figured I'd post it here for others.

Key things learned:

-It really is a numbers game.
-Customizing your resume for each job makes a huge difference.
-Changing roles in the same industry can result in having to go through far more interviews (I would suspect that was the reason) than you would normally go through for a position you are used to interviewing for.
-In the end, the experience gained from the interviews showed a pattern of almost the exact same questions at nearly every interview. That led me to being prepared with good responses to those questions, after noticing a pattern.