For those unfamiliar with the concept, a cohort analysis is when you categorize and dive data into groups with common traits before you analyze it for patterns, trends, etc.
That being said, using the concept with your job applications can help optimize your job hunting efforts by reducing low-impact actions and increasing high-impact ones. In other words, you would then have a data-informed way to figure out what you should be doing more of and what you should be doing less.
To do this, group up your applications into cohorts. This could be based on criteria like what time of day you applied (or better yet, how long the posting had been up before you applied), industry, type of role, seniority, whether or not you’d be managing people, salary levels, etc.
Then, track outcomes over time; things like days until first response, how many turned into an interview, how many turned into offers, etc.
Once you have this laid out, you can then look for patterns. Do you get interviews more consistently with business-focused roles vs. technical? Or full-time vs. contract? Maybe in X industry, applying before lunch suggests better results, and with Y industry, applying after lunch does. Do referrals lead to traction? Or better yet, when do they yield progress?
Naturally, the more applications you have, the more data you’ll have to work with. The bottom line is as the data begins to unveil what yields faster/better results for you, double down on those actions.
Optimize your job hunt with cohort analyses.