Sarah – I’ve been hunting for a 2 months and I’m starting to get discouraged. It’s been hard to keep my enthusiasm level high while working on a seemingly unending stream of cover letters and resumes. I just need to know there’s a light at the end of this tunnel of black ink on obsessed-over .pdfs. My question is: how long does the average job search take? And how close am I to that point? Thanks,

Impatient Applicant.

Hey Impatient,

If anyone understands how frustrating the job search can be, it’s us. I mean, we cared so much about the ways that the job search sucks that we started a whole company just to make it better.

On paper, the wait time doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. We want the hunt to be quick and painless and the folks doing the hiring want talented candidates. You think this would make the hiring process quick, but unfortunately, people are still people and there are only so many hours for applying and reviewing in the day.

But don’t let it get you down. According to stats (our fave!) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average job search takes around 13 weeks. You’re almost there!

And if it doesn’t come in exactly that amount of time, know that it doesn’t mean anything is off about you or your work history. The tight labor market and low unemployment rate means that there are less jobs coming available. And the type of work your looking for can greatly effect the length of your job search. We found that it could take mechanical engineers well over three months to find a spot and the average administrative assistant has to send over 200 job applications before being offered a job.

If you won’t believe me, take it from our CEO Kushal Chakrabarti:

“There isn’t anything wrong with you. There are good, reasonable, scientific explanations for why it’s so hard to get a job right now. And even though people don’t talk about it, it’s hard for everyone. Stay strong, folks.”

Hope this helps!

P.S. If you want to give your search a bit of gas, we can increase your chances of landing the job by 5x for just $10. Give our plans the once-over if you’re ready to let us do the hard work.