The last job I interviewed for had 13 people INTERVIEWED for each of the 6 positions. That's not even how many people applied.

(Has to do with proximity to a school producing graduates in the field and with a year of hiring freezes prior, but still...damn.)

I would be happy if I was only competing with 6 people per job, I would only have to convince one company that I am best out of 6. That would be doable. It appears though that I am competing with, many, many more. Either that or I am not as good as I think I am.

I think HR people would give you different, more disheartening numbers.

My girlfriend just got a job teaching out of college after applying for 243 positions and getting 4 interviews. And she's one of the more qualified graduates from the school (as far as certifications/gpa/etc. go).

Well, maybe I should just go to grad school after college- the job market should be better in about five years, right?

I think the average is actually higher. Whenever I put up a job opening for my company for a specialized tech position I usually get 20+ applications within the first few hours. I can imagine how it would be for the jobs that don't require any specialized skills.

@Kishi: See, that was what I said--and then I graduated from grad school in 2007. :)

@frank64: Minimum wage jobs probably count for the vast majority of openings. So unless you are applying at MacDonald's, you are probably facing higher competition. Even if you are, being in the top 15% of burger-flippers is no easy accomplishment.

Is the .3 an illegal worker?

Is the .3 an illegal worker?

i've sent or handed resumes to easily 75 people, filled out applications for 20. Heard back from 3 saying "sorry, we filled the position" and one saying "i'd love to offer you the position, but i just don't have enough work for my current staff" (@ that last guy [Bed Bath & Beyond in Matthews, NC] - why do you have huge vinyl window stickers that say NOW HIRING if you aren't actually hiring?)

@meltingcube: Over the summer, the guy i worked for was hiring for another position. He said that he got 72 applications for a single position in the first 5 days it was open.

@morlo: If I were applying for burger flipper I might just squeak in. I will let you know in a few months when I may have little choice.(:

I'd like to know exactly how they came up with those numbers. Like other people here, to me it seems quite low. I was unemployed back in 2007/2008, and even back then it seemed like I was competing with a lot more than just 6 or 7 other people.

@Kishi: Yeah, and it's this very line of thought that kept me from getting into any of the grad schools I wanted to go to, even though I was top of my undergraduate class.

Giant influx of PhD applicants with 15+ years of work experience FTL. D:<

@gStein:

It's like Monty Python's cheese shop sketch. They're deliberately wasting your time.

The title seems misleading - 6.3 applicants for every job doesn't imply unemployed ones - I'm employed and still hunting for work, a situation I suspect I share with many others, given the crap economy

@Tatsuko: I think it is just the official unemployed based on the estimated openings. The thing is there are many more unemployed than the official numbers. You add in the underemployed and people looking for normal advancent and you have many more people per job.

Then you just have averages. Some types of jobs and areas will have many more. I don't know of any area that would have less applicants than that though.

@coren: The employed have a easier time getting a job than the unemployed even in this economy there is a stigma to not having a job.

@Kishi: Well, here I am in grad school right now, for the exact same reason (graduated undergrad in May). Let's see how things are in 12 months...

This is 6.3 people are unemployed per job opening -- that would be 6.3 interviewees ONLY if each of them applied for exactly 1 job.

The discrepancy between the headline and reality kind of shows you the value of statistics and economist.They make decisions based on numbers derived this way. If present numbers are unhelpful in representing reality, what does that say about the 10 year projections, or for that matter 1 year projections? I think our guess is as good as the MBA's.

@TechnoDestructo: I agree. There are "MANY,MANY" AND LOTS AND LOTS of applicants per single job posting! Plus the why the unemployed is counted is outrageous! "They" don't count the people that are underemployed! Or those that give up after a year (or 2)of un-replied applications being sent out into the (www) WORLD WIDE WASTELAND. I hate the disconnect, where you can't stop by and fill out an application. A web application is no different then the 1000's of others they get EVERYDAY!

@frank64:(SORRY, I HAD MIS-CLICKED under frank64) I agree. There are "MANY,MANY" AND LOTS AND LOTS of applicants per single job posting! Plus the why the unemployed is counted is outrageous! "They" don't count the people that are underemployed! Or those that give up after a year (or 2)of un-replied applications being sent out into the (www) WORLD WIDE WASTELAND. I hate the disconnect, where you can't stop by and fill out an application. A web application is no different then the 1000's of others they get EVERYDAY!@Kishi:

I wonder if they are counting the phishing and spam help wanted ads on Craiglist as actual jobs. That would really blow the statistics out the window!

@delorisw123: I wonder what would actually happen if you showed in person to apply for an job? Probably tell you to go home and apply online.

I don't think you would get past the security desk in most places.

I've seen worse in places like Florida . When a major hotel chain opens it is/was not uncommon to have almost 30,000 applicants for about 4000 jobs - even during the real estate bubble years . If you went to a job fair during the bubble there even be lines at many of the skill or degree required jobs . Heard similar stories from people in California .

Although immigration problems add to problems in those states since they are warmer weather states they tend to attract people from all over the world making competition that much more fierce .

Decades of outsourcing and economic mismanagement have come home to roost . As have ' O I don't need to go back to school attitude ' . If anything experience scares employers off so their attitude is take the college graduate with no experience but all the latest & greatest training & certifications at a cheaper rate .

NEVER let someone berate you or impede you efforts to return to school . I don't care how good the business is doing at the time . Sooner or later you will need the school . WARNING - if your management doesn't give a crap about more education LEAVE or simply go to school and ignore them . I've been with too many corporations where the mid to lower level of management get or are very short sighted to the point where their lack of a degree or additional training comes crashing down on them . Don't let it happen to you.

In my search for work, I went to a job fair in Ocala, FL. At the job fair was a fast food chain company offering an entry level position. I got there a half hour after the fair had started. When I rounded around to their table, they informed me that they had run out of applications. When I inquired how many applications they came with, they said 100.

Granted this was an entry level position that anyone without any prior work experience and a high school diploma can apply for...but it's unfortunately all this 20-year-old college student with virtually no job experience is qualified for. I've been to numerous other job searches where a company boldly states, "now hiring," and I can definitely tell you there are more than six people competing for an entry level position. Maybe they eventually weed out the dozens of applications and then interview six people, but it's still harder than ever.

@gStein: My bosses wanted me to have the NOW HIRING sign in the window all the time, even if I wasn't. It drove me bonkers because, of course, people always wanted to give their application to the manager. I was usually busy doing something, because I was cutting down labor costs and was working most of the shifts myself and had to stop and talk to the person and then explain, sorry, we aren't really hiring.

I hated doing that to people. Thankfully, I was able to take the sign down when we were supposed to have a video crew come in for some local story and I just "forgot" to put it back up.

Of course, I also saw a now hiring sign underneath a going out of business sign. I meant to take a picture, but never got around to it.

I've been unemployed for 2 months. I have been applying left and right for all kinds of things. Right now, my biggest possibility is for a call center making about $9.50/hr. For me, that's a HUGE pay cut, but, since my savings are down to almost nil, I have to take it.

The best part? It'll probably take 7-10 business days of jumping through hoops to get that job. For a call center. Personality tests, drug tests, various multiple applications you have to fill out (after giving all the information already to the temp agency), interviews, mock call situations. *sigh*

Unfortunately, since I was in the restaurant biz for over three years, not to many offices think you can handle being an administrative assistant after being a manager of a restaurant.

@TechnoDestructo:
I've got one for you. I went to an interview for a really crappy part time job I found on craigslist. I get there and ask the nicely dressed person at the front desk if I need to check in. Turns out that nicely dressed person was there for the interview, along with the 3 other people in the lobby and the person interviewing.

The owner was completely dumb in this situation, thought no one was going to show, so he booked 4 interviews for the same time, every 15 minutes. 9:45 was my interview and I didnt get to interview until almost 10, and by then 4 more people had shown up. Turns out he had been doing this for a couple of hours at least. My interview lasted all of 2 minutes since there were 6 other people waiting after me.

Glad I didn't get it. It was a dump. But I was desperate at the time.

@frank64: When I was checking in for an interview, a gentlemen behind me was waiting his turn and when he got up, asked the security guard the following:

Guy: Who can I speak to about a job opening?
Security: Who do you have an interview scheduled with?
Guy: No one, I have twenty years of experience and I'd like to talk to someone about a current opening?
Security: Have you applied for a job?
Guy: No, I want to talk to someone about applying for a job.
Security: You have to do that on line.
Guy: You mean I can't just talk to someone?

This is at a major financial institution's offices in a city - not a branch. An company that employs about 15,000 people in the city. Guy thought he could just come in and talk to someone about a job...

There are MANY well-paying jobs that require very specialized training. Thus, there are never enough trained people to fill the positions. I'm a certified court reporter and I have never been without a very secure job in 20+ years. There just aren't enough of us. The trick is, I guess, is to choose a field that DOESN'T have a dozen people competing for the same position.

The last job I applied for was in June, a part time position with the city. There were over 2000 applicants. I was perfect for the job, but not even enough for an interview. Now I've pretty much given up (the unemployment rate in my county is nearly 16%). Out of over 2000 applicants I'm sure more than 6 or 7 were unemployed.

@frank64: Some might say your inability to parse statistical information in an economic story is an opportunity to learn.
If you're not up to the challenge, you can't legitimately gripe about those who have.

When they say the economy is recovering, they actually mean that the businesses are going back in black by eliminating jobs to cut cost. So businesses are going back in black and more people are losing their jobs.

@Gracegottcha: I would not be so cocky -- this state, Iowa, and I'm betting others, has been seriously considering doing away with court reporters (except perhaps for major crimes) and just making and keeping a recording as the court record.

Since the Gov. just announced a 10% across the board budget cut, (and I'm guessing another 10% to come in 1Q2010), I'm guessing this will be even more likely.

People should start looking at moving abroad (India, China etc) for jobs. When the economies sucked in Asia, a lot of people from Asia moved here for better opportunities. The last I heard from some buddies in India, things are still booming out there. If you can ignore the traffic, pollution and spicy food, people should consider taking away jobs from the locals just like they did to us.

@haoshufu: It's not a recovery.

@Gracegottcha: It's not only specialized training but sometimes in a large company there locations or tasks that nobody seems to want to do . In other words look for jobs nobody else seems to want . I'm not talking hamburger flipper either.

Wether it's specialized training,vocational,technical or just plain old college ; schooling can't hurt in long run even if it's to get you promoted from anothe position . Hopefully school will help you on the job as well .

@AgamemnonV1: Florida is tough. The problem in Florida is that you still have those that think you're living in the old south . But your not anymore in most locations . Many employers think you can get by on old south wages .

In south Florida it used to be as soon as you got a block away from the beach you could live cheap now anywhere between the ocean and Everglades has a big city price tag on it BUT still old south wages in most spots . It's gotten to the point where shall we say even the new immigrants now turn their noses on many a job and pay because they need a higher wage for the higher cost of living as well .

And that's another problem : many employers in Florida especially shy away from college grads, college students or applicants with a higher salary history because they ' fear ' you will leave . Even though you are willing to start at entry level it doesn't matter to them . Entry level is tough because alot of times an employer gets credit for hiring welfare to work applicants , those on food stamps or on unemployment for tax credit/brownie points so if you have burnt savings , racked a credit card bill but don't take government assistance you're screwed again . And even those hired from those categories start looking elsewhare because the wage simply isn't high enough .

Then thrown in the competition from the transplants , legal immigrants or foreign language speaking applicant again you are screwed . I've even seen snowbirds get hired easier than permenant residents because they're only seasonal .

Florida's back to what it should be - a tourist and retirement state . The building boom and construction jobs that flooded the state for about a decade have now gone.

Hang in there and Good Luck !!!

I moved recently and put out several dozen applications within a few weeks. I only even heard back from one place, but from everything I'm hearing, I'm pretty glad to have landed a lowly cashier job to get me through for now.

If it helps any, I'm unemployed and not looking for a job.

Then how come there are no ladies competing for the job of having sex with me?

@Ihaveasmartpuppy: that is nothing, my team was recently looking for a java developer... I got so many people that did not even list a programming language on their resume... more than three quarters went right into the trash.. Something tells me people are going to job sites and just applying to everything they see.

@locakitty:
Check out unemployment - it gets you at least 12 month, soon to be 18 months of money. Maybe you can use the time to volunteer at an organization to build your resume?

@sinikal:

It is illegal to move to India for work. India does not issue work visas. They protect their domestic job market from foreigners.

@Stephmo: Thing was, you used to be able to do that, and I imagine a lot of people don't realize things have changed. When my dad moved to the US in the 70's, that is exactly what he did. And after a few months of knocking on doors, he got a job that paid more that I make now. And that's in numbers on the paycheck, not inflation-adjusted dollars. And he had no college degree. I have a law degree.

He's constantly asking me why I'm so lazy, when all I have to do is go knock on doors like he did. He doesn't seem to get that it's just not possible these days. I do what is considered acceptable in today's work environment, but I've spent three years searching for something in my field of study. I'm still at the same law firm I started at seven years ago, with just ONE interview to show for all the time I've spent looking. I'm mostly resigned to the fact that I'll be stuck in the same place forever, but I still haven't been able to stop looking, and it's SO disheartening.

@Kishi: Big mistake. Go to grad school because you love your field of study, not because you are waiting for the job market to improve. Otherwise you'll have a lot more debt, and your job prospects won't be any better unless you are in one of the few fields that don't have enough employees. (If I recall, they were mostly health care and engineering fields.)

I don't know if you were actually serious in your post, but there are a lot of people thinking that way, even if you aren't. Speaking from my experience, and the experience of all but one of my many friends who went to grad school, another degree and more debt isn't going to get you anywhere. You'd be a lot better off looking for ways to network and meet people who work in the field you want to get into.

@Karita: I'd much rather a face to face meeting with someone, you can only learn so much about someone from a resume. There's so many hundreds of resumes sent online that it's ridiculously easy to get lost in the shuffle.