How Long Did Your Most Recent Job Search in Higher Ed Last?

In a recent Zoom meeting, I was having a conversation with a job seeker who was visibly and openly stressed out by the amount of time it was taking him to find a new job in higher education. He mentioned how he had been successful in landing a number of interviews, but then received no response, or denial, after the interviews. He expressed that he just didn’t understand why it takes so long to find a job in higher ed.

My mind shifted back to my own experience with this dilemma in 2021. My husband was looking for jobs in higher ed for over one year before he landed the job that would bring him to the institution and us to our desired location.

I remember the gleeful hope of finding a new job posting that matched our location and his career experience. “This could be the one!” I remember telling myself. I would send him the job postings and cross my fingers that this was the one he was going to get and in just a few months we would be moving and on our way to where we both dreamed of living.

I believe my husband applied for over 10 different positions and had 3 different interviews in that year. It was a long year. And anyone’s well-meaning words of consolation like “Don’t worry, the right job will come” were just kindling to the fire that was burning in our anticipation, and our hopes were dwindling day by day.

Bringing myself back into the Zoom conversation, I wondered “how long does the average job search in higher ed take?”

We polled job seekers on HigherEdJobs to see what others’ job search lengths looked like. We asked, ‘How long did your most recent job search in higher ed last?’

How Long Did Your Most Recent Job Search in Higher Ed Last?

Of the respondents, 44.21% said that their most recent job search in higher ed was ‘1 year+’, 25.82% said that their most recent job search in higher ed was ‘0-3 months’ long, 18.40% said their job search was ‘4-7 months’ long, and 11.57% said their job search was ‘8-12 months’ long.

I was fairly surprised by these results but happy for the 25% who were able to land jobs within 0-3 months. Perhaps they were internal candidates or just at the right place at the right time. I was assuming that the 0-3 months job search length would be much lower in percentage. While these are not statistically significant results, it leads me to believe that if you don’t land the job in 0-3 months, it is more likely that you will be in the job search for over one year.

In comparison to other industries, TopResume finds that “The average job search may take somewhere around five to six months from application to hiring. Prior to the pandemic, the BLS numbers showed that the average search took roughly five months, so it is reasonable to assume that 2022 will look more like 2019.”

LinkedIn Career Coach Juliana Rabbi says, “the average time is between 6 to 7 months.”

What is no surprise to me is that the majority of respondents experienced longer job searches in higher ed compared to other industries. We know how slow things in higher ed can move. If you have been on a search committee yourself, you may even be surprised by how long the process can take — to get the position approved, position description approved, position posted, applications sent in, applications reviewed, initial interviews scheduled, initial interviews conducted, secondary interviews scheduled, secondary interviews conducted, selecting a hire, organizing the paperwork for the new hire, and then finally the onboarding process. And this is if everything goes completely smoothly and there are no hiccups along the way, which we know is not always the case.

How Do You Stay Motivated?

So how do you stay motivated if your job search is over one year long?

Lean on your network of support and mentors. From personal experience, when my husband was feeling down and not worthy of the positions he was applying for, getting no response or calls, or getting rejections, sometimes he would bottle up those feelings rather than express them and set them free. Think about who you can reach out to express your feelings and just talk through the frustration you are going through.

While it is easier said than done, don’t take the lack of response or rejection personally. You are a qualified individual for a position that will present itself. I know it feels disrespectful when you have spent time and energy on a job application that gets no response or is later rejected with no rationale, but keep moving forward and remember your worth.

Learn from each application you submit. Much like the peer review process authors experience in academic writing, there is something to be learned from every submission. Even if you don’t know why your application was rejected and there was no feedback, what did you learn about yourself while writing this cover letter and application? How did you present yourself for this position, and is that something you want to continue in future applications or something you want to switch up? There are many ways to tell your story.

If you did make it to the interview phase, and enjoyed the conversations you had during your interview, but still weren’t offered the position, connect with those folks on LinkedIn. We are human social beings at the end of the day, and those connections and networking will pay off. My husband was rejected for a position but really connected with one of the search committee members and now works at a neighboring institution. They keep in touch and swap ideas. No bad blood.

Finally, internalize and reflect on how you feel after a rejection. Is there a part of you that understands why you didn’t get that position? After reflection, were you actually relieved you didn’t get that position? Take the time to process the positions you wanted and applied for but weren’t offered.

Remember You Are Not the Only One

If your job search is dragging, remember 44.21% from our poll said that their most recent job search in higher ed was ‘1 year+’. You are not being singled out. You are not the only one that is waiting for that new position to move forward. The wait can be demoralizing, but patience is a virtue, and you are not alone.

Remember there are ebbs and flows in hiring that we all are subject to. Cody Harker, head of data and insights at Bayard Advertising (a recruiting marketing firm) says, “Today’s jobs report indicates the job market is chugging along, albeit at a slower pace, as available jobs still outnumber job seekers 1.7 to 1, and employer demand for talent remains elevated.”

It took over a year for my husband to get a job in higher ed that matched his experience and where wanted to be. We are here now, and it was worth the wait.

What advice do you have for those in a long job search? If you recently went through a lengthy job search, how did you cope? Share in the comments!