Day 16 The dreaded holiday season

Just as there are good and bad times of the year to take a trip there are good and bad times of the year to look for work. My experience has been that the weeks between Thanksgiving and the New Years is a bad time, a slow period, for finding a new job.

I experienced two times in my life when I was in the middle of the interview process with an organization and the search committee made a decision just before Thanksgiving to postpone further action until after the first of the year. On average that is a five or six week period. That is a long time wait when you are eager to see the hiring process keep moving along.

It’s understandable why organizations and company’s put hiring decisions on hold during this time of the year. Everyone is preoccupied with holiday activities and events. Companies and organizations have special seasonal events that consume their time and energy. It helps to understand what is happening and somewhat eases the frustration.

In all fairness I have to say one of my best experiences getting hired occurred during the months of November and December. A church had just put me on hold when another church called me a week later and began phone interviews with me. The leadership then arranged several face-to-face interviews in quick succession. I was offered the position on the 24th of December. You never know when you may be hired.

In talking with hiring managers and job seekers I found out that December can be an ideal time to do a job search. They suggest keeping your ears and eyes open for positions that will be made public in January. Here’s why. Companies don’t want to hire at the end of the year. They want to stay within budget or don’t have any budget left for new hires. Come January, the new fiscal year starts and there is money in the budget for new staff.

It turns out that August can be another slow month for doing a job search. In the Northwest August is a very popular month for people to take summer vacations. It is hard to get decision makers together to review resumes and interview candidates when they are off camping or are at the beach. Companies and organizations have busy and slow times. They have windows when they hire. Take that into consideration when doing your job search.

Just as there are better seasons than others for traveling there are good and not so good times for doing a job search. Being aware of the seasonal trends have helped me understand what is happening and lowered my frustration level when progress goes slower than I like.