It’s the end of the workweek. Some people in the office leave a little early to get a jumpstart on their weekend plans; some people didn’t even come in because of their flex schedules. Friday for the average professional is a godsend. For job postings on the other hand, the end of the week doesn’t ring the same bell as it should. Fridays were once the ideal time for job postings. Before the days of widely publicized internet accessibility, newspaper classifieds were the go-to resource for job seekers. Newspaper sales would rise over the weekend, so recruiters would post job advertisements for the Friday and weekend issues. The 50% sales dip for newspapers in the last 5 years alone should be an indicator that Fridays are not the archetype for job postings anymore. Technology is the driving force behind the influx of candidates in today’s tech-savvy recruitment world.
So, when is the best day?
Don’t wait to post your openings until the end of the week. Even better, don’t advertise the openings after the workday. Why? Because job seekers are most active during the morning hours before work and on their commute to the office. Between 6-10 a.m. job search activity is 34% higher, says Shankar Mishra ( @shankarmishra ), Vice President of Data Science and Analytics at TheLadders. Mishra goes on to say Wednesday is the time of week recruiters’ inboxes crest with resumes and applications.
As the 9-5 work week progresses, the number of applications wanes. Friday sees a significantly smaller amount of candidates sending in their resumes than Wednesday. Long hours make for long days. By the time mid-week rolls around stress levels peak, leaving professionals wondering if they’d be happier in another position. It stands to reason then, Wednesday would be a good time to remind candidates and job seekers of available positions with an email nudge or a post to a social media outlet if they have shown previous interest.
Why is Wednesday the best day?
The internet provides immediate access to any job board, career page, or career site for job seekers. Mobile device usage is only continuing to rise and that means the internet is even more widely available to candidates than ever. With that expeditious availability, it’s crucial to ensure your career page is mobile friendly. It seems like good judgment to assume candidates would spend more time on the weekends looking for jobs with their mobile devices; however the opposite is true. Candidates are 23% more likely to view job postings on Wednesdays than on Sundays.
After one week, a job posting’s viability plummets to 4x fewer viewers. This is why recruiters should advertise the job openings again if they are not filled or taken down within that first week. This gives recruiters another opportunity to attract the ideal candidate. Reposting job advertisements for positions that take a little more time to fill than others takes the same attention to detail. Like the original postings, they should be re-advertised on Wednesdays. Posting available positions on Wednesday gets much more candidate attention compared to posting job openings on Fridays. Job seeker habits have changed; so should recruitment in response to said change.
Although Fridays used to be the height of the recruitment week, technology has had a large part in that change. There is no longer a dependence on the newspaper classifieds because job postings are always available via mobile internet access. Job seekers use their mobile devices before work and on their commute to the office to find new jobs, particularly mid-week in response to peak in-office stress levels.
Using an ATS can take the burden off the middle of the week for recruiters. Using Trakstar Hire can help you create and automatically post job descriptions to accommodate for changes in job seeker habits.
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