You can't apply for a job that hasn't been posted yet. You can, however, meet the person who's going to hire for it. And September may give you better odds of doing that than you'd think.
Why's that? Seems there's a weird little mismatch in the job market this time of year.
A recent Fortune article* caught our attention because it pointed to an interesting pattern in LinkedIn's hiring data. LinkedIn analyzed several years of job-posting data and found a recurring pattern: postings tend to rise in the spring, fall off over the summer, and then pick up again in September and October.
And here's the part that stood out to us: LinkedIn found that job seekers don't follow the same calendar. Applications typically peak between January and May and then decline through much of the rest of the year. Even when job postings rise again in the fall, applications generally don't rise with them.
Think about that for a minute. Employers start looking again. Job seekers, as a group, don't.
LinkedIn's researchers dug into that, too. They compared the seasonal pattern in applications with both job postings and posts about layoffs and found that applications tracked much more closely with layoffs. Their conclusion: People appear to start looking for jobs more often because something has happened that makes them need one, rather than because the market has suddenly become more inviting.**
And in this job market, there may be even more reason to start early. A seasonal bump doesn't mean finding a job is suddenly easy. Fortune reported this month that hiring remains more than 20% below its pre-pandemic level, while the number of jobs available per applicant is 6% lower than it was a year ago.* Employers are also hiring more slowly and taking longer to extend offers.
And what's out there isn't limited to what's posted today. Some employers recruit months before they expect someone to start. Finance, accounting and other professional-services firms, for example, may recruit in September and October for people who won't actually start until the following summer.
That's a useful thing to remember when you walk into a career fair.
If you ask a recruiter, “What jobs do you have open right now?” you're asking a perfectly reasonable question. But you may also be asking too small a question. Why not show them that you understand the environment? Try asking: What do you expect to be hiring for over the next six months? What kinds of people are hardest for your team to find? If there isn't a role for me today, what would make it worth staying in touch?
The goal of every conversation doesn't have to be an application. You might learn that a company is building a team in an area you hadn't considered. You might discover that your experience fits a role with a title you'd never thought to search for. Or you might meet a recruiter who remembers you when the right job finally does appear.
That's the advantage of looking before you have to. You have time to learn what's coming, not just react to what's here.
Forté's Virtual Career Fair is September 30. Come looking for the jobs that are open. But don't forget to ask about the ones that aren't open yet.
