How Early To Apply For Jobs (Out of State and In State) - Career Sidekick

How Early To Apply For Jobs (Out of State and In State) - Career Sidekick How Early To Apply For Jobs (Out of State and In State) Applying for Jobs / https://www.edenscott.com/blog I received the following message from a reader about how far in advance to apply for jobs when moving (personal details changed):I am a Registered Nurse  and plan on moving  from New York  to Austin TX  in June 2015. When should  I start applying for jobs in Texas? My friend  says I should start applying now in January but Im afraid most employers wont be able to predict their  needs for  June right now.How Far In Advance Should You  Apply For Jobs?Okay, heres when to start applying for jobsIn short, Id recommend starting 3-4 months before you plan on needing a job. This can depend a lot on the economy in the city youre moving to, and how in-demand your skill-set is.For the reader  above, I actually recommended 2-3 months maximum because Nurses usually have no trouble finding interested employers.So start with a figure of 3-4 months of lead time, and adjust upward or downward a bit depending on your industry  and the size of company youre looking at  ( large companies often have a longer and more complicated hiring process).Note: For senior level positions or upper management roles, you might need way  more time. Use your judgement depending on your experience level. The rest of the advice below will still be relevant though.What Happens If You Apply For Jobs Too Early Or Too Late?Hopefully the info above helped you figure out how early you should apply for jobs.But its not an exact science as you can probably tell. Itll take some guesswork.So to make the decision easier, lets look at what happens if you time things wrong. This will  give you a better idea of the risks and will help you make your decision.Heres What Happens  If You Apply For Jobs Too EarlyYou wont have intensity or  focus if you start  way sooner than needed. Youll have a sense of comfort and youll just go through the motions without any urgency. Waste of time.Also, if  you start searching for jobs prematurely,  you risk losing the interest of many companies simpl y because they arent willing to wait that long for you.You might have gotten a great response if you waited 2 months to apply, but because you applied in January, your resume gets thrown in a hold pile and you never receive a call back (papers get lost, HR people arent perfect, etc.)If youre applying extremely early, youre running the risk of stopping yourself from finding a job, by eliminating some  employers that would have seriously considered you if you were ready to start  within 2-3 months.The obvious solution, and the reason I made the recommendations above, is just wait until youre 2-3 months away from needing the job.Heres What  Happens If You Apply For Jobs Too LateThis is a bit more obvious. If you start too late, you run the risk of not having a job lined up on the target date. You might have a few interviews in process, or maybe nothing at all lined up depending on how late you started your search.In the end, you need to weigh the risks of both. Do you have a lot of sav ings  and dont mind spending a bit of time with no job? Will you enjoy having a gap to conduct a careful job search without stressing?  Start a bit later.Do you care mostly about having some type of job lined up on your target date, no matter what? Start earlier and apply for a wide variety of jobs.What You Should Do When Its Time To Start Applying For Jobs:Now that you know how far in advance you should apply for a job, these tips will help in your job searchOnce its time to start, you have to attack the job search 100%. Full effort. Apply for jobs every day. Apply via job boards, apply via LinkedIn, go to company websites and submit your resume via their careers page or via email.This is why I dont want somebody to start looking with 5-6 months to spare. Youll half-ass the job search and spend a few minutes per week casually looking around instead of staying focused on the mission. Its human nature.UPDATE:  If  you have interviews coming up and don’t want to leave anything to ch ance, I’ve created a  new guide where you can copy  my exact  step-by-step method for getting job offers. You can  get more details here.Like  this post?  Pin it to save for  next time you need it!