Pathrise Job Report: How Long Does it Take to Find a Job in 2024?
Though the US still faces a labor shortage with more jobs than job seekers, many job seekers still report facing a more difficult job search. The labor market technically favors job seekers. So why do 70% of job seekers say the job search is more difficult, according to recent surveys?
New barriers in the job search like “ghost jobs”, more extensive interview rounds, “ghosting” by employers, and increased automation in screening resumes via the ATS could make the job search feel even more difficult. This could also be contributing to a proposed mismatch between the labor market’s “perceived difficulty” and “real difficulty” as seen in the official Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Is the increasing difficulty of the labor market only “perceived”? Or could it have more to do with candidate job search experience that is less easily measured than the market?
We’ve helped 2,700+ job seekers land jobs over 6+ years. Every job seeker in our program tracks their job applications, interviews, and duration in our program, as well as other key metrics like demographic data. We analyzed all our data to find out if the job search is getting harder.
Pathrise analyzed its 2024 job seeker data compared to past years to find out if the job search is getting harder.
Key findings:
- It’s harder to find a good job in 2024 than 2023
- Job seekers took 247 days to land a job
- Job seekers sent 221 applications before landing a job
- Citizens were 2x more likely to get interviews than non-citizens
- The best time to apply to jobs is Tues-Thurs, 6am-3pm PST
- LinkedIn did not get job seekers hired most, despite its popularity
- Job seekers who applied to 20+ jobs weekly got more interviews and landed jobs faster
It Takes 247 Days to Land a Job
Pathrise Job Market data shows that from 2018 to 2024 job seekers took 241 days to land a job, on average from 2018-2024, or about 8 months, which lines up with recent US Bureau of Labor Data showing it takes about 20.6 weeks. However, our fellows tended to be pickier, targeting more competitive roles, companies, and industries.
While 2024 is not over yet, recent Pathrise data shows that it could take job seekers as long as 247 days on average to land a job in 2024.
It Takes 221 Applications to Land a Job
From 2018-2024, several studies that Pathrise conducted determined the average job seeker had to send an average of 221 applications to land a job.
From 2023 to 2024, the number of job applications required to land a job increased significantly.
While slightly higher than similar reports that show it takes 100-200+ job applications to get a single offer, our data reflects a more competitive market and job seekers targeting roles at or above their previous job’s income level. It could take significantly less time to quickly land any job during unemployment. But most job seekers are interested in progressing their career, not taking a step down.
It’s Harder to Get a Job in 2024
In 2023, job seekers only had to send an average of 254 applications to land a job. This is closer to the number of job applications professionals unfamiliar with the current market might expect. It also aligns closely with older data sets. However, the job market has since changed dramatically.
In 2024, job seekers needed to send 294 job applications to land a job, on average. This reflects a cooled-off labor market with more competition, especially in tech.
The Average Job Seeker May Have to Send Over 300 Applications to Get a Good Job in 2024.
And that’s optimistic. Job seekers in our community were generally highly qualified job seekers actively applying with best practices. They are not representative of the average job seeker, who is not using job search best practices. Compared to our fellows, the average job seeker likely needs to send even more applications to receive an offer for a role the same or better than their last.
On average, our surveyed job seekers held a bachelor’s degree or higher from a top university, often in an in-demand major like computer science. Their resumes, portfolios, and job search materials were professionally optimized. In addition to studying proven interview techniques, fellows practiced 1-on-1 with expert mentors to prepare for interviews, further increasing their chance of landing an offer. Our fellows had 2-4x higher application responses in our program, with 1.5-3x interviews.
It’s possible that the subjects of our survey were pickier, prioritizing high paying jobs at top companies with higher competition, which would somewhat offset their advantage over the average job seekers. The average job seeker may be targeting roles and industries that hire much faster than tech with fewer barriers to entry. But for the tech market, our fellows’ optimized applications and backgrounds almost certainly made it easier for them to land a job faster. The average 2024 job seeker will likely have to apply to far more jobs to receive a single offer. Especially an offer that is at least marginally better than at their previous job.
What Factors Help Job Seekers Land a Job Faster?
Sending 10-20+ Applications Per Week Gets Job Seekers Hired
Sending more job applications per week correlated with landing a job faster. But applicants see diminishing returns when applying to 30+ applications weekly, as the quality of the applications goes down. It could also imply a less targeted approach or simply less care being put into the job search in general.
Non-Citizens Face a Tougher Job Search
Requiring a sponsorship is thought to scare companies and make the job search harder. Our data shows a slightly, but not significant, longer job search time for h1b visa holders compared to citizens. This may be surprising, but keep in mind that non-citizens who require sponsorship may be targeting companies they already know will be open to sponsorship. Job seekers requiring sponsorship may also have been more motivated in their job search, especially recent grads from US universities living in the US.
However, non-citizens requiring sponsorship did have to apply to significantly more jobs to get an offer.
More In-demand Roles May Be Easier to Land
Similar reports show that in-demand skills and relevant experience can reduce time spent searching for a job. So can the rank of university and total educational attainment. However, our data shows that it’s not quite so simple.
Job Search Time By Role
While roles like software engineers are in high demand, hiring standards are still high and competition is steep. Especially after recent layoffs that have flooded the market with talent. Examining job placement time by role, the data does show that in-demand STEM roles were placed slightly faster. But the difference wasn’t big. Marketing and product management roles could have lower barriers to entry, which might offset the lower demand. Marketing professionals may also have more experience sourcing leads and cold emailing, which could offset the difference as well.
It’s Harder to Get an Interview in 2024.
Interview conversion rate, or the percentage of job applications that turn into interviews, has been falling steadily since 2023. If job seekers get fewer interviews per job application, that means they have to apply to more jobs. This increases job search time as well as the total number of applications required to land a job. This makes interview conversion rate perhaps the single most important factor in assessing the state of the job search.
The Job Market is More Competitive: Why?
While interview conversion rates declined, our fellow’s qualifications and the effort they put into the job search (# of applications per week, interview prep schedules, etc) remained the same.
Beyond our data, a significant decline in interview conversion rates has been noted in similar reports, like the 2024 internal Jobvite report, which recorded a decline in the interview conversion rate from 12% to 8.4%. Other recent studies, like this 2024 CareerPlug report, have put the 2024 interview conversion rate as low as 2%. Below we propose possible causes of the lowered interview conversion rate.
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Cooled Labor Market
The job market cooled off in early 2024, in part due to inflation and rising interest rates. Job postings fell 15% at the end of 2023. In 2022, there were about 1 job for every 1 job seeker on LinkedIn. In 2023, there were 1 job for every 2 job seekers on LinkedIn.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, from February 2023 to July 2024, the number of unemployed persons per job opening job seekers has increased from 0.5 to 0.9–a significant increase in competition for roles that appears to still be trending up. While the market is still technically favorable, this fall in job postings would make finding a job significantly harder.
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Tech Layoffs
After extensive layoffs in 2022 and 2023, the 2024 tech job market is flooded with recently laid-off tech professionals competing for a limited number of jobs. Anecdotally, many of our most qualified job seekers joined our program after a tech layoff.
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Ghost jobs
Job boards like LinkedIn have recently been flooded with “ghost jobs”: job postings that companies never intend to fill or that have already been filled. Anecdotally, job seekers have also reported seeing more “stale” job listings reposted for many months as well as never hearing back after sending an application. We recommend that our job seekers apply to jobs posted recently, ideally newer than 1-2 weeks old.
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Recruiter automation
New AI recruiting tools have changed hiring. While these tools can streamline the recruiting process, they also reduce the number of recruiters necessary to parse candidate resumes or even reach out directly. This can make the recruiting process feel less personal as automatic form rejections increase. Application tracking systems (ATS) can also be more strict about identifying skills, filtering candidates who may have otherwise been appealing. Without the correct resume format, you could be filtered out without the attention your application deserves.
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High Entry-level Job Requirements Due to Skills over Education Hiring
Companies continue to shift towards valuing skills over academic degrees. In 2024, 79% of hiring managers reported prioritizing practical skills, experience, and past achievements above education. On paper, this sounds like it would mean less gatekeeping and a fairer interview process if you have the most in-demand tech skills hiring managers are looking for. In practice, it seems to mean a much more competitive tech job market, especially for new grads looking for their first job. Prioritizing skills over education means that college degrees may not always hold the same weight, putting recent graduates in a bind. After all, how do recent grads acquire skills and experiences if they need to develop skills and experiences on the job?
…But Job Search Times are down.
In January 2023, job seekers took 268 days to land a job on average. In August 2024, job seekers took an average of 182 days.
In 2023, fellows took about 281 days to find a good job, on average. In 2024, it only took fellows 247 days. While this is still much higher than the 2021 average of 208 days when the labor market was hottest, the recent decline in job search times suggests that it may be taking less time for candidates to find new roles, despite an increasingly competitive market. Part of this reduced job search time could be due to more streamlined hiring processes as recruiters prioritize speed and candidate experience.
Keep in mind that our job seekers applied to more jobs each week than the average searcher, with better tactics and likely more qualifications. While length of job search matters, it’s highly contingent on the number of job applications sent. With modern tools, sending more applications can be easier.
Just because the market is competitive, it doesn’t mean job seekers can’t find jobs in similar timeframes with optimized strategies. While automation can make the market more competitive, it can also work for job seekers. Free AI tools like Career Connect and EarnBetter can empower job seekers to automatically message recruiters and generate resumes, reducing job search time even though the total number of applications is higher.
Where is The Best Place to Find a Job? (It’s not LinkedIn)
Highest Interview Conversion based on Track and Job Board Used
- Data Science: Lever, Company website, Simply Hired
- Engineering: Glassdoor, ZipRecruiter, LinkedIn
- IT and Cybersecurity: SimplyHired, Glassdoor, Indeed, LinkedIn
- Marketing: Glassdoor, Company website, Indeed, SimplyHired
- Product, Strategy, and Operations (PSO): ZipRecruiter, Glassdoor, Company website
- Sales: Glassdoor
- Software Engineering (SWE): Company website, Greenhouse, Lever
What is the Best Day to Apply to Jobs?
Our data shows that fellows got the most responses on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
What is the Best Time to Apply to Jobs?
Applying from 6am PST to 3pm PST on weekdays, or work hours, seems to have the response rate. Applications sent after 4pm PST have lower responses, likely because there’s a pile-up of people who apply during the night and recruiters can’t get to them.
On weekends, the timing doesn’t seem to matter as much. But late nights do have slightly higher conversion rates, suggesting that they may be at the top of the heap when work starts Monday.
What Can Candidates Do to Land a Job Faster?
Send a Networking Email with Every Application
Our data shows that a cold email can increase your odds of hearing back by 3x.
Apply to 20+ Jobs per Week
Job seekers who applied to at least 20 jobs weekly had significantly higher interview conversion rates and were placed in a role faster.
Try to Apply on Weekdays During Work Hours
Your chances of getting an interview are significantly higher when you apply on a weekday between 6am PST and 3pm PST.
Develop Your In-Demand Job Skills
Companies are increasingly prioritizing skills and experience over academic degrees. 79% of hiring managers reported prioritizing practical skills, experience, and past achievements over education in 2024. Developing your most in-demand skills can make you a more attractive candidate.
Skills-based hiring also emphasizes technical interview performance. Developing your in-demand skills with online courses or even practice with Platforms like Leetcode can help improve your interview performance.
Optimize Job Search Materials Before Applying
In a competitive tech job market, it’s more important than ever to make your job search materials. Your resume, portfolio, and interview skills should all be optimized to give you the best chance of landing a job.
For help landing your dream job with data-back strategies and expert guidance, join Pathrise. On average, our fellows get 2-4x more application responses and 1.5-3x higher interview scores after joining the program. Fellows can usually expect a 10-15% salary increase just through negotiation. It’s free until you land a job.
