According to data from Indeed, the world’s no. 1 job site, there is a spike in the number of Job Postings soon after the close of the annual appraisal season, in the months of July and August. During this period, job postings are seen to increase by around 10%.

Interestingly, Indeed’s data from January 2016 – January 2018 reveals that Job Seekers are most active in searching for work opportunities immediately after their appraisals, in the months of May and June, when search activity sees a spike of close to 10%. Job postings, however, see a lull during the months of April and May when appraisals are underway.

Sashi Kumar, Managing Director, Indeed India, says, “Performance appraisals allow employees to reflect on their current career progression, which is often a trigger for them to decide to change jobs in search of better growth prospects. Searching for new opportunities immediately after appraisals might not yield very fruitful results for job seekers, as recruiters usually wait for a couple of months before putting out available openings.”

The months of February and October see the least activity in terms of job searches, which is perhaps indicative of the fact that job seekers would not like to take any financial risks just before paying their taxes and during the festival season that entails a lot of expenditure. Additionally, the latter is also a time of the year that sees companies offering employee bonuses, which most job seekers would prefer not to forgo.

The best day of the week

While job searches are seen to peak on Mondays, with 16% of all searches occurring on this day of the week, this may not be the best day of the week to look out for new opportunities as job postings see the lowest amount of activity on Sundays preceding. Data from Indeed indicates that job postings typically peak on Wednesdays, which makes Thursdays the best day to search and apply for new jobs.

The best time of the day

Indeed data indicates that the highest number of job postings appear around 11.30 am and 2.30 pm on average. Coincidentally, the most search activity by job seekers also occurs between 1.30 and 2.30 pm, increasing a job seeker’s chances of coming across a newly opened vacancy.

“This is also a particularly effective time slot in which to apply for a job as it is within the working hours of most organizations, and an application sent during this time slot is most likely to be seen by a recruiter the first thing after the initial morning rush”, adds Kumar.

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