Crafting a job ad is an art that you should master if you expect to maximize your chances of attracting prime talent, but there’s more to this particular art than just thinking of colorful adjectives. As with so many business endeavors, timing is important here—that is, figuring out exactly when to “go live” with the job description you so lovingly wrote with your ATS software.

In the morning or at night? Early in the week or later? Believe it or not, some people have done research into this topic, and they have arrived at conclusions that may surprise you. Let’s take a look.

Applicant tracking softwarePost Early in the Week – A recent study by social network LinkedIn found that candidates were most likely to view and respond to job postings on Monday, with only a slight drop-off in activity on Tuesday and Wednesday. After the middle of the week, however, activity begins to die down dramatically. Saturday and Sunday see the least amount of job searching. It’s not unreasonable to assume that this job hunting trend is valid outside LinkedIn as well.

Post in September & October – Recruiting tends to be a year-round activity, but it’s worth pointing out that the LinkedIn study we cited above also found that September and October were the months that generate the most job applications. This is undoubtedly related to another LinkedIn finding: January is the month with the most hires—by far. Of course, this doesn’t mean you should wait until September to post your job ad—that’s just not a reasonable option, as a general practice—but, as a recruiter, you should be aware of these seasonal trends.

social mediaPost During the DayAnother study, this time from the link shortening service bit.ly, suggests that social media postings—like job ads—get the most attention when they’re posted during the standard workday. Specifically, Twitter links posted between 1-3 p.m. Eastern Time are more popular than those that appear at any other time. With Twitter, proper timing is especially important, as tweets tend to get lost in the shuffle very rapidly.

The same study also found that the best time for Facebook links is between 1-4 p.m. Given the increasing prominence of social media in the recruiting world, these are trends that shouldn’t be ignored.

Sources

  1. https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/blog/trends-and-research/2016/the-best-times-to-post-a-job-on-linkedin
  2. http://mashable.com/2012/05/09/best-time-to-post-on-facebook