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how many applications should someone be filling out per day? how many resumes forwarded and how many hours per day should be spent on one's job search?
i personally limit myself to 3-5 applications per day because i can't sit at my PC long enough to do much more than that, depending on length. I can email my resume all over all day, but to actually sit and complete applications....i can't do more than two hours, three if i'm bogged down in an app and see more i'd like to complete.
so for that person, what does that number look like?
i feel like someone could lose morale/steam by filling out, say, 10-12 applications a day for weeks or months on end. i was that person two years ago and i felt like a useless human being.
that reminds me of when i was renovating my apartment and had to look at dozens of paint swatches a day for over a month. the process grew to be infuriating. i finished....but hated the process, which is the opposite of what i wanted to feel.
If you have no job, getting one is your job. Spend all day if you have to if it gets you a job. If you can sit still longer than 3-4 resumes, what makes you think you can sit long enough to work through an entire work day?
You can do other things to find work without sitting and applying all day. People still take walk in applications, go meet some managers, etc
One thing I never had to worry about til I moved to a place with only a mildly bad job market, is watch who you fill apps at for, because you just might get the interview! I know that sounds weird, but the culture at my job is horrific enough that I am constantly looking to move on, so in a few fits of rage, I fill out apps for anything that pops up even remotely close to my field. So a week goes by, and I have gotten interview requests for jobs I really, rationally, would never go for, so I politely decline. I know that sounds bad, and I have since refocused, but it is something to be considered if you engage in random app-bombing.
I am pretty sure that I am applying to jobs that I already applied to at this point. I get a ton of job posts in email everyday and spend the morning filling out and forwarding resumes.
Then I start again early afternoon. I have now expanded the search area and applying for jobs that I would not have considered due to distance. Now I don't care, I will move or take long drive.
so for that person, what does that number look like?
i feel like someone could lose morale/steam by filling out, say, 10-12 applications a day for weeks or months on end. i was that person two years ago and i felt like a useless human being.
that reminds me of when i was renovating my apartment and had to look at dozens of paint swatches a day for over a month. the process grew to be infuriating. i finished....but hated the process, which is the opposite of what i wanted to feel.
The goal here is to find a job. So the answer isn't going to be a specific number. It's essentially "how ever many you feel is adequate to get said job". But keeping in mind that quantity ≠ quality. When I was looking - I pretty much applied to everything that met my criteria. But even that, I couldn't find more than one to apply to every few days. So there was no way I could do more than that.
And yea, it's frustrating. But so is not having a job.
I send out 3-4 applications a month. It has worked well, but I am picky about my jobs. When I was less selective, it could be 7-10 applications a week.
When I get into the 50+ resumes in the past, there were a number of cons.
One, I didn't spend as much time customizing each resumes to match the job description. It was easy to spam, but there was little to no reward. After 2 weeks, I had exhausted already applied for the jobs that fit my experience. There would only be 1-2 new jobs a week.
With fewer submissions, my response rate is about 50%. If I submit 8 resumes in a month, I get 4 call backs for interviews.
How long can you sit at a desk and work at a job? 8 hours per day? Maybe that's what you should put into your job search. Right now, your job search is your job, and you should treat it that way.
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