For many job seekers, the holiday season is a time for… resting and taking some time off. WHAT!?
Unfortunately, what many job seekers don’t understand is that simply because there are fewer jobs OPEN and posted in December doesn’t mean that employers aren’t thinking about their hiring needs for next year—and where they are going to find candidates for those jobs!
Most job seekers look online to find jobs, and see a large drop in job posting over the holidays. This is mainly due to the fact that most companies have completed their hiring plans and have no additional budget until next year. That doesn’t mean, however, that managers are not thinking about the future and the possible fact that they are currently short 3 people and have a large project starting in March. These mangers are planning NOW for hiring after the first of the year. What a great time to introduce yourself.
While your out-of-work cohorts are sleeping in, you should be introducing yourself to as many hiring managers in your area of interest as you can! If you can make even 3-4 good introductions/connections each week over the holidays that will give you 12-16 new WARM relationships that you can follow up with in January. On January 2nd, your competition will frantically be back online looking and searching for jobs that you now know won’t be posted because you already proactively contacted the hiring manager.
DON’T take the holidays off from your job search! It’s an amazing time of year for networking with people you rarely see and you may find that you have open access to interested (and stressed out) hiring managers regarding soon-to-be open jobs.
Happy Holidays and start making some calls!