Thinking of abandoning your job search job until after the holidays?
Think again.
Common sense tells us to put our feet up and spend quality time with family, and begin the job search after the holidays. After all, hiring managers are winding down, HR professionals are busy with annual reviews, promotions and the year-end reports.
However, contrary to popular belief, the holiday season between December and January, might be the best time of the year to hunt for your dream job.
Monster experts share tips and tricks that can help you get a jump on the competition and land a new job, just before the holidays end.
Competition Levels Dive Down
Most applicants opt to relax, indulge in long winter naps and gear back in January. Rather than following in their footsteps, let yourself benefit from their lack of enthusiasm. New projects, initiatives, and budgets are put into place and hiring generally skyrockets at the beginning of the year.
Make use of this lean time to socialize and make scores of new contacts that could field new job opputunities in the market. Any of these might lead to your next position.
Expand Your Network
The holidays are a great time to grow your professional network. Volunteering, seasonal hiring and various other opportunities present themselves for moving out of your immediate circle of contacts. Take advantage of these seasonal opportunities, while still pursuing other holiday networking activities. Actively networking and positioning yourself as a valuable and enthusiastic candidate, will surely lead you to getting that call for an interview, right at the beginning of the New Year.
Tap Onto The Year-End Strategy
Both year-end budgets and new-year headcount estimations can lead to hiring during the holiday season. The classic hiring cycle for a vacant position can take weeks, if not months.
Recruiters foreseeing the need to fill new roles may need to initiate their hiring process, by the end of the year to get a new hire onboarded by February. Therefore, activating your profile within the recruiter network and to companies of interest to you can pay off quickly. Especially if they’re in a hiring cycle and you’re most qualified for the role.
Put Your Free Time Into Action
If you’re currently employed and looking for a job, this time of year will open up some free time due to the holidays. Make your ‘days off work’ productive by using them to look for jobs, rather than using all the extra weekday hours to sit back and relax at work. It might not sound like a fun idea now, but you’ll be glad you did when your job search comes to an end sooner than expected.
Build Ground For New Year Job-Search Surge
The slow pace of the holiday season must be utilised to assess every part of your job-search plan. This should also include your networking strategy, marketing and branding tools (resume, cover letter etc.) interviewing skills and follow-up techniques. And while you do this, also take the time to build your social brand while expanding your online network.
Don’t let the slackening of hiring or holiday merriments slow you down. Follow the steps and you’ll beat the competition to your new job, even in the so-called ‘slowest’ period of the year.
