This Is Why You’re Probably Hiring All Wrong, According to Research

This article was originally published on Inc Southeast Asia. Read more here.

On any given day, there are 5.5 million job openings out there, making it necessary for hiring managers to do their best to ensure that their job posts get seen by the right candidates.

Post a job when fewer people are looking online, and you will get a less desirable pool of applicants. The modern job seeker uses many different methods to find work, and their habits of gathering information about jobs are changing. So you need to change your habits, too.

At Workpop, we have looked at over 10,000 job postings from employers who’ve used our hiring and recruitment platform, and analyzed the applications received over a one-week period.

We found that many applicants like to apply to jobs right after the weekend is over. We’ve seen that the most popular day of the week for submitting applications is Monday, and the most popular time for submitting applications on any day is in the morning.

Even still, Workpop’s research doesn’t conclude that Monday mornings are the best time to post a job. Surprisingly, we’ve seen that jobs posted on a Saturday or Sunday receive 50 percent more applications than those posted any other day of the week. And those posted after 6 pm receive 50 percent more applicants than jobs posted before noon.

Get Maximum Exposure

There’s a reason that so many candidates submit job applications on Mondays; they spent their time off job searching, then tweaking their resumes and cover letters preparing to send them off Monday morning. Yet too many businesses assume that they should post jobs early in the week. But by the time the weekend rolls around and candidates have downtime to job search, last Monday’s job posts are far down the page, replaced by newer job opportunities and they don’t get noticed.

Leverage Smartphone Usage

Modern applicants are likely to first encounter your posting on a mobile platform, either via a job search app or via mobile web. To maximize exposure, hiring managers should make an effort to post jobs at the times when candidates are more likely to be on their smartphones or tablets. The majority of those times are in the evenings and weekends. Since many use their phones first thing in the morning, the job posts that were placed after 6 pm will still be recent enough to be near the top of the list, and won’t be missed.

Consider Reposting Your Job

Nearly 60 percent of all submitted job applications occur within one week of the date the job was posted, so if a company is still looking for applicants after that point, it might be advisable to repost. By reposting, hiring managers keep the job at the top of search results and job boards, enticing more respondents.

Use Social Media

Places like Facebook and LinkedIn are becoming more vital in connecting with the right employees at the right time, with 79 percent of candidates claiming social media plays a role in their job search. When it comes to millennial employees, it’s even more important, with 86 percent using social networking sites in job searches. With three out of four employees saying that their employers don’t use social media effectively, this is an easy way for companies to stand out in an area where their competition isn’t.

In sum: think of your job posting like a piece of shareable content. Timing really matters, as does channel and audience.

Written by Workpop, a jobs platform based in Los Angeles, California for local businesses and everyday job seekers.