If you or someone you care about is looking for a job, I have some very annoying advice to share:
Apply early.
At least, I find that advice annoying. During times when I’ve been between jobs, or looking for a better job, I hated checking job listings and updating feeds, having to be Johnny-on-the-spot on the theory that he or she who applies first has the best shot.
But it’s true—even though a new study I came across recently suggests it shouldn’t be, at least from the point of view of the people doing the hiring.
Researchers at George Mason University, Vanderbilt University, Cornell University, and the University of California, San Diego analyzed 11.66 million exchanges between clients and freelancers on Fiverr.
Before you say, “But I’m not applying for gigs on Fiverr,” fair enough.
But anticipating that somebody would later write a newsletter and that his readers might say exactly that, the researchers also ran eight follow-up experiments involving more than 8,600 people, using scenarios involving caterers, doctors, photographers, and other professionals.
Results:
Applicants who replied quickly were almost always more likely to be hired.
Delaying a response by just five or ten minutes hurt their chances.
Waiting more than a day reduced the odds of being chosen by roughly 90 percent.
This was true regardless of the applicant’s ratings or previous record.
Interestingly, the people making hiring decisions did not realize they were doing it.
In one early experiment, participants told the researchers that replying anytime during the same day would be perfectly acceptable. But then, when they were asked to choose between candidates, they picked the faster responder every time.
“Speed is a signal. People see a quick response as a sign that you’ll be attentive to their needs in the future, not just right now,” said study co-author Einav Hart of George Mason University.
That might not be fair or rational, but it appears to be real.
So last week we ran a survey here at Understandably, and it was so fantastic, and I am finishing going through it all.
One thing I heard from a few people was: I like the idea of Life Story Magic, but please stop bringing it up in every single newsletter. (Slight exaggeration, but a nonzero number of you said something like this.)
That’s fine—but Life Story Magic is a big part of why I even noticed this study, so we have to mention it.
This is the first time in a while that I’ve been in a position to recruit people to work for me, or at least with me. And sure enough, I found myself responding in three apparently predictable stages:
Stage 1: These were the applicants who applied almost immediately and who got responses almost immediately. There were some great people in this group, but I think they benefited from (a) not having later applicants to be compared to, and (b) my anxiety that maybe I wouldn’t get ANY good applicants, which led me to reply fast.
Stage 2: These were the later group, who, let’s say, applied during the next week or so. Again, there were some fantastic applicants—frankly, this is when I started to get people who speak other languages natively, which opened my eyes to a whole other market and product. But it was harder for anyone to stand out, just because there were more people in the mix.
Stage 3: And finally, we get to the last group, some of whom were certainly as impressive as the top people from the first group—but, simple math, it’s easier to stand out as the best of five than it is to stand out as the best of 150.
My sense, having been on the other side of the hire/get-hired relationship more often, is that it’s best to both be best and be first.
And while that sort of seems obvious, the way to get there probably isn’t quite as obvious—which basically has to do with triage and prioritization:
Apply for jobs where you’re a great candidate and it’s early in the process.
Think twice about jobs where you’re not-so-great, or it’s not so early.
Don’t apply where neither of these applies. (Sorry, just a little English major punning in that last sentence.)
My family and I are going to Cape Cod for a week in August, and out of nowhere I had a flashback to a similar vacation long ago—similar in that it was Cape Cod, but my wife and I weren’t together yet and my daughter was many years from being born.
That was a fun trip, but it was somewhat overshadowed by the fact that I was job-hunting at the time, and I recall spending half the time in an unair-conditioned attic of a rental house honing job applications and portfolios.
Did it pay off? Come to think of it, I did land one of those jobs.
But, then I quit after a single day, told nobody about it for a decade, then wrote about it, went viral, and wound up being featured on CBS Sunday Morning.
Unusual resolution to that kind of story, I grant you.
Anyway, the point is: Apply early, and only for jobs you actually want, and also not while you’re on vacation.
And if you’re the one doing the hiring, just be aware of the apparent bias toward those who come in first.
Oh man, I feel another pun coming on.
Sorry: Because being first doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll last.
Other things worth knowing …
NYT: Iran War Enters 6th Month and a Period of Greater Uncertainty: a rundown of the major events of the war, as both sides consider their next moves.
CNN: More than 300,000 people have been displaced by wildfires in France and Spain, with officials warning of “difficult days ahead” as firefighters battle blazes around Bordeaux and west of Madrid.
CBS News: Three people were killed and four others wounded — including a 2-year-old boy — when two gunmen opened fire on each other at the Bite of Seattle food festival near the Space Needle on Sunday evening. A 15-year-old is in custody; a second suspect remains at large.
Just Security: The Trump administration is reviewing its vetting process for ICE officers after reports that the agent involved in the fatal shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán in Maine on July 13 had a history of violent outbursts, White House Border Czar Tom Homan said.
NPR: Rage-giving, innovation and cuts: How public media has survived without federal funds.
The Guardian: A California man was rescued alive drifting in his sailboat off Hawaii after 30 days stranded at sea. Kai Sato, 39, had set sail from Catalina Island on June 7 hoping to complete his first solo Pacific crossing, but his mast snapped and his navigation phone died. He drifted into a shipping lane where a passing containership spotted him.
AP: A man using a wheelchair was struggling to cross six lanes of traffic in Arkansas when Christopher Hellenthal — still in his Spider-Man costume from a trampoline park event — ran out to help. “I had a bunch of adrenaline pumping through me,” said Hellenthal, 20. “I was just kind of thinking, ‘I’m wearing this suit; it’s gonna be pretty funny.’”
Thanks for reading. I wrote about some of this at Inc.com. See you in the comments.