Post a job
Home / Tools / Job search calculator

See how many applications one job offer takes at your rates

A job search works like a funnel: many applications go in, fewer turn into interviews, fewer still into offers. Without the numbers it is hard to tell whether to send more applications or to change what you send. Enter how many you send a week and your own two rates: how often an application leads to an interview, and how often an interview leads to an offer. You see the interviews and offers to expect and how many applications one offer takes. The rates are yours; this page has no statistics about other people’s searches.

A percent, or your own count so far: “3 of 40”.

A percent, or your own count: “1 of 5”. Count first interviews.

Applications for one offer

—

Enter how many applications you send a week and your own two rates.

Your own ratesThe result is arithmetic on the numbers you type. It is not a statistic about the job market and not a forecast of your search. Nothing you type leaves your browser.

How the figures are calculated

  • interviews = applications × share that lead to an interview
  • offers = interviews × share that lead to an offer
  • applications for one offer = 1 ÷ (first share × second share)
  • weeks to one offer = applications for one offer ÷ applications a week
  • chance of at least one offer = 1 − (1 − first share × second share) ^ applications, which treats every application as having the same odds, independent of the others

A rate typed as “3 of 40” is turned into a percent: 3 ÷ 40 = 7.5%. The results are averages: an expected 1.2 offers means that many searches at these rates would average 1.2, not that you will get exactly one. Rates worked out from a handful of applications are rough, and they move when you change your resume or the jobs you pick, so update them as you go. The page uses only the numbers you type; it holds no data about typical reply rates.

Questions about the job search calculator

How many applications does it take to get a job offer?

It depends on two rates that differ from person to person: how many of your applications lead to an interview, and how many of your interviews lead to an offer. Divide 1 by the product of the two. At 7.5% and 20% that is 1 ÷ (0.075 × 0.2), about 67 applications.

How do I find my own rates?

Count what has happened so far. Interviews divided by applications is the first rate; offers divided by first interviews is the second. You can type the counts directly, for example “3 of 40”. With fewer than about 20 applications the figure is rough.

Should I just send more applications?

More applications bring more interviews only if the rate stays the same. If very few of your applications get a reply, look at the resume and at which jobs you pick as well: doubling the reply rate has the same effect on the result as doubling the number of applications.

Is this a prediction of my job search?

No. It is arithmetic on your own numbers, and it assumes the future looks like your past. It cannot know the job market, the season or how well each job fits you.

Related tools

All free tools

Resume review

Paste your resume: a score out of 10 from six plain checks, with strengths, weaknesses and what to fix, each quoting your own line.

Resume match checker

Paste your resume and a job description: see the match score, the skills you are missing and what to fix.

Interview answer builder

Situation, task, action, result: build a 60 to 90 second answer and check its length, its numbers and whether it says “I”.

Jobs for you

Pick your skills or paste your resume and see the open roles that fit, best matches first.

Open tech jobs

67,583 roles from company career pages, re-checked every hour.