Land a new job before year’s end

You’ve been applying to jobs consistently for the past few weeks but now that the holidays are approaching, you’re thinking of taking a break. Think again! While many job seekers will make this mistake, we can tell you that this is a great time to keep searching. Plus, find out some tips to make your resume stand out and land you that dream job you’ve been searching for.

1. Staying ahead of the completion

Since many people will begin their job search at the start of the new year, continuing your job search during the holidays will give you a head start and lead to less competition. Since many companies are looking to hire before January, the lack of competitive applicants at the end of the year allows you to take a more strategic approach with your search and land your dream job before others even start looking.

Simon Bromwell, Managing Director of Robert Walters California stated that, “Both companies and candidates make a real push to arrive at decisions on offers before the close of the year, which results in December being one of the busiest months of the year for us.”

2. More hiring activity than you think

Many companies are allotted an annual budget specifically for hiring which they need to utilize in order to reduce the risk of management minimizing the following years hiring budget. This is another reason that the holiday season is a prime time to job hunt. Additionally, we are increasingly seeing companies adopting a hiring plan where they strategically plan to do their own hiring and onboarding in late Q4. This is because they want to start the new year with as much firing power as possible, rather than be bogged down by recruitment activity that they could have done before year end.

“Normal companies plan to start their hiring at the start of the year. However, smart companies complete their new year hiring before the end of the year,” continued Simon.

Tip: Be sure that when you are approached with an offer that you negotiate using these successful approaches.

3. Time to get up to speed

With business typically slowing down at the end of the year, the holiday season is the perfect time to be onboarded at a new company. Usually the new year is full of strategy meetings and people getting back to the busy flow of things. So instead of feeling like a nuisance during the January and February time, when you get brought on to a new company during the holiday season, there is more time to be brought up to speed and finish training without feeling overwhelmed by the “plan of attack” atmosphere that the new year brings.

Simon added that, “A defined break before starting a new role can make all the difference to whether or not you have the energy and positivity to start as well as you possibly can at your new company.”

Tip: Find out how a recruiter can help you start the job search process.