Here’s Why You Should Continue Your Job Search During the Holiday

A couple of days after Thanksgiving, a client and I were discussing his job search plans. He’s a senior director of marketing at a Fortune 100 company. With a brand-spanking-new resume in hand and a few job search tips under his belt, he shared that he was feeling much less anxious about the future of his current position following a corporate acquisition and pending organizational restructuring.  He seemed more confident about being able to secure a position with a new company.

As we were finishing up a follow-up coaching call,  we found ourselves discussing whether or not it’s worth it to spend time searching for jobs during the holiday season. Our conversation went something like this:

CLIENT: Man, I almost can’t wait until January now so I can use this to start looking [for a new job].

ME: *wrinkles  entire face in confusion* January? Why are you waiting until January?

CLIENT: Christmas holiday? Most managers and executives take vacation during this time of year wait until after the New Year to focus on hiring. I mean I always take off during Christmas.

ME: Not necessarily. I mean, I know that a lot of people do take off for the holidays, and business for most companies slows down; but if jobs are still being advertised, they need to be filled. Plenty of people in management will still be working and hiring for job so that they don’t have to do a lot of hiring all at once come January.

CLIENT: Hmmm…

ME: And companies that REALLY need to have positions filled by the beginning of the year will  still be recruiting job candidates during December.

A lot of people will put off their job search until January, but I think they should take advantage of this time. You’ll have a lot less job seekers to compete against for one thing.

I know the hiring process might be a little slower this time of year, but even if you don’t secure an interview this month, you could end up being a top contender for an interview come January, so searching now could new you a new job around the beginning the New Year. You never know.

Not to mention this is prime networking season rife with social events and opportunities to get job leads and if nothing else grow your network of contacts…

But I won’t bore you with the rest of our conversation. Suffice it to say that he agreed to launch his job search now. He hasn’t had to look for work in more than 10 years, so this is a great time for my client to create a plan, get some momentum going, and establish a consistent routine (consistency leads to results!).

As we near the end of 2016, more and more people have shared their plans to kick 2017 off with a strong job search effort; so I’ll be publishing weekly December blog posts all about job search battle strategies. Feel free to contact me with your job search questions.

Photo credit: Tim Mossholder