Ten Reasons to Amp Up Your Job Search During Holiday Season

iStock | Larysa Pashkevich

The holidays are almost over but it is not too late to finish strong. There is still a window of opportunity for proactive job seekers willing to dedicate a little, but significant, time to the administration of finding a job. Here are 10 scientifically (maybe?) proven reasons to keep looking in December:

1.     While it’s easy to be lazy every day of the year, it’s especially easy to be lazy during the holidays! Chances are most of your immediate competition isn’t thinking about their job search. They are on vacation or at holiday parties, and most are certainly double-fisting spiked eggnog and coquitos before walking into a wall. Take advantage of other people’s laziness. Now is the time to jump to the front of the line.

2.     There is truth to the perception that office workloads tend lighten up in December (excepting retail) – especially between Christmas and New Year’s Day. That includes hiring managers and recruiters. Think of driving around on Christmas Day, or, even better, during the height of “shelter-at-home.” The streets are empty. Now is the time you may be able to get through to the recruiter or hiring manager.                         

3.     The holidays are a giving season. It’s the one time of year that we feel celebrate our good fortune and help others who may not be as well off. That is the essence of the holiday spirit and it’s not silly to believe that, not unlike The Grinch, hiring managers and recruiters have small hearts that can grow up to three times. Now is the time to see if you can parlay some of that good old-fashioned holiday spirit into a new job.  

4.     Hiring managers are terrified of being understaffed. Some may try and orchestrate an end-of-the-year hiring surge to fill open positions before the new calendar and fiscal year. Now is the time to exploit the fears of strangers who are in a position to employ you.

5.     There is so much extra activity during the holidays that aberrations in normal routines go unnoticed. It’s also Covid/flu/RSV season. Everybody assumes everything is related to the holidays or one of the many options we have in our malady buffet. If you are employed but trying to jump ship, a December job interview won’t stand out to your boss. Now is the time to sneak away.

6.     Nothing takes the edge off looking for a new job than endless holiday feasting. Ever hear of Kugel? Don’t ask questions, just start eating it by the gallon. There is no bottom when it comes to holiday treats. Whether it’s a gingerbread house or a chocolate dreidel, food euphoria can power your job search. Now is the time to gain weight and write cover letters.

7.     Whether you like it or not, you are in shopping mode. Shop. Shop. Shop. However, there is only so much shopping you can do. At some point, the parking lot is full and it’s time to retreat home to nurse your consumer wounds. As long as you’re in shopping mode, though, you may as well shop for a new job – and it’s free. Now is the time to shop ‘till you drop until you find the perfect gift for yourself -  a new job.

8.     Take off your Santa hat and put on your tax deduction hat, which really can be anything from a beret to a sombrero. Any hat will do as long as you say it’s a tax deduction hat. If there is anything, anything at all, you need to help you with your job search (e.g., portfolio) you should buy it before the holidays end. It may be tax deductible (we’re not accountants – talk to your CPA for advice).

9.     Under your tree, you might find a iPhone 14, a pair of Air Jordans, and a Robux gift card. Please note what you didn’t find – a new job. Now is the time to follow potential job leads.

10.  One of the most effective (yet unproven and unsupported by any type of data or anecdotal evidence) ways of landing a new job is wearing an ugly Christmas sweater while mining the job boards. Additional fabricated data analysis shows that ugly Christmas sweaters increase the chances of getting a job interview by 25% - 30%, which is almost always followed by a job offer that includes a parking spot (Source: Absolutely nothing reliable). Now is the time to wear an ugly Christmas sweater every day.

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Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching is a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

Hiring Goes Dead During The Holidays – Or Does It?

iStockphoto.com | SergeRandall

There's a chill in the air and jack-o-lanterns on the porch. Jumbo bags of candy fill the stores, and Thanksgiving fixings are creeping in. It's the holidays! October-November-December is the sprint to the finish line, and the starting gun went off ten days ago.

A common perception among job seekers is that businesses push a big shiny red PAUSE button during October-November-December to focus on holiday parties and year-end vacations – and there is some truth to that. By no means universal, many companies experience a hiring slow down (but not necessarily freeze) in the last months of the year. A variety of factors play a role:

• Companies with a January to December fiscal year may budget new hire positions to start in the 1st quarter of the new fiscal year.

• Companies want to boost their year-end balance sheet. Pausing new payroll expenditures is an accounting method that helps achieve that end.

• People take holiday vacations, and if enough staff who are part of the recruiting and hiring process are absent, hiring slows down.

• End-of-year job duties often require more time and effort. Whether you're a college professor administering and grading finals, a social media manager hammering away at holiday KPIs, or an accountant doing year-end, your core work consumes your time.

That perception is part reality, but it's also a part myth. There is no reason to slow down your efforts to find a new job during the holidays – especially the 2021 holidays. Things are not back to normal. The job market remains uncharted and uncertain, so this holiday season is still guesswork on many fronts. Here are some quick things to consider:

·      Hiring is always happening. Even during bona fide hiring slowdowns, hiring is happening. Whether evergreen jobs that recruit 24-7-365 or seasonal surges, hiring is happening right now. Take one of the examples above. A company may defer new hires to the new fiscal year and crank up that process in earnest in January, but they may start posting openings in December. But you won't know if you take the holidays off and stop applying for jobs!

• The holidays are typically a boom time for retail and hospitality – two sectors that need a blockbuster season from coast to coast. Businesses hope there is a shift from online shopping back to in-store, and there are full airplanes, hotels, restaurants, and bars. There should be a seasonal surge in hiring.

• Companies can't find workers and have sweetened their recruiting efforts to avoid a worker shortage heading into the crucial holiday season. The means increased compensation, signing bonuses, and retention efforts.

• Global supply chain issues are already impacting the 2021 holiday season. ("There Really is a perfect storm of supply chain issues, a logistics expert explains." 10/04/21]. Companies large and small can't move their product. In the United States, there is a truck driver shortage, and transport ships hover off the coast of our ports, unable to unload their wares. Staff are needed to resolve these issues – and a surge in supply chain hiring in the fourth quarter is quite possible this year, when consumer demand skyrockets.

• When the office empties for the holidays, some people choose to stay behind. They use the quiet time and free time to catch up. Some of those people are recruiters and hiring managers.

• Remember that you know you will not get the job if you do not apply. Be vigilant over the holidays because so many others won’t. Your resume and work ethic will stand out in a less crowded field. You cannot predict when a little extra effort will turn into a real opportunity, but it is easy to predict what will happen with no effort at all.

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

Holiday Job Hunting Blues? 5 Fantastic Reasons To Apply For Positions In December

iStockphoto.com ( lentus25 )

Looking for a job in December, and not getting much traction?

It's true, hiring activity does slow down late in the year as hiring managers and recruiters take their Christmas vacation, and corporate Finance teams clamp down on spending to goose the end-of-the-year numbers.

But don't lose hope. The end of the year can still be a great time to look for jobs. Here's why:

1. There are fewer applicants during the holidays. Job hunters are often just as distracted as potential employers, pulled into holiday shopping, vacation, and office parties – which means less competition and a better chance of having your resume reviewed.
    
2. Some positions really do need to be filled, regardless of the season. Urgently. While some hiring managers are off skiing in the Poconos or at home making holiday fruit cakes, some recruiters are still clocking in. And they're actively working on filling jobs for managers who are also in the office, screaming loudly about their need to fill the position. You won't know which posted positions are critical – so act as if they all are, and apply away. Be the gift that mysteriously appears under the hiring manager's tree (metaphorically speaking, of course).
    
3. The office environment is more relaxed during the holidays. Unless you work in retail, the pace of activity slows substantially during December. People are in a good mood. Let this work in your favor – should you be called for an interview, you may find yourself ina  more pleasant, in-depth meeting with the hiring manager than during crunch time. It's a great opportunity to build a bond when you're not rushed and don't find yourself competing for attention with your interviewer's email and a buzzing phone.
    
4. Your current employer will be less suspicious of time taken off for interviews. Between school Christmas pageants, holiday parties, and picking up visiting relatives at the airport, employers anticipate a lot of PTO will be used in December. You won't be missed.
    
5. Hiring picks up again in January. Big time. Be ready. Everyone's back in the office, and working at full speed. Managers will buzz the recruiter, demanding resumes for their open positions. If you applied in December, you're ready to be found. If you wait until January 2, it may be too late.

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Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, and career coaching services, including a free resume review. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.