Online job ads appear round-the-clock these days, unlike times gone by when ads normally hit in Sunday newspaper classified sections (remember those)?

So how quickly do you need to respond to an ad that interests you? A recent article I read on TheLadders.com suggests 72 hours is the window for applying.

See a job you want? Apply for it within 72 hours of the posting going live to get noticed.

TheLadders.com in June looked at ads it had run and what happened to applicants. Its findings include “half of the applicants rated a fit for the job had applied to that same job within 72 hours of the jobs being published on our site. The median time for candidates rated “not a fit” was 50% higher and for the non-rated candidates, the median time was 400% higher,” it reported June 10.

So don’t waste time agonizing about whether you would be a good fit, apply first, think about strategies to secure the job later. Being near the top of the digital application pile apparently does matter.
John N. Frank