The Worst Time to Look for a Job
Should I pause my job search over the holidays?
From a statistical point of view, experts agree that the holiday season is the worst month for finding full time work because interviewers tend to take more time off then. But it is not a complete black hole, so I don’t advise taking the foot off the gas completely.
The other thing going against the holiday season is that most employers are nearing fiscal yearend and want to tally results to better align staffing budgets with the go forward strategy.
Conversely, yearend can create a heightened urgency to hire if a vacant position isn’t filled when the funding deadline runs out. No manager wants to lose a staff position simply because it was unfilled on December 31.
Summer months can also be slower because employers and job seekers tend to take more time off in July and August.
The Real Worst Time to look for a job ISN’T the holidays.
Summer months can also be slower because employers and job seekers tend to take more time off in July and August. The fact that people are away from their desk more often doesn’t mean that they no longer need to fill open roles or scale to meet an uptick in demand. It may just take longer to get all the interviewers lined up.
A major mistake that jobseekers make is throttling back their search efforts from June through Labor Day. Trying to ramp up a search from zero to 60 in the Fall is a recipe for failure. The prime fall hiring season only runs from mid-September to mid-November, so by the time the post Labor Day search gets ramped up it will be halfway over.
This is a great way to turn three months of unpaid vacation into seven.
The Best Time to look for a job ISN’T when you urgently need one.
It has become clear through my work on 6,000+ job search campaigns that two factors dictate whose search will be quick and whose will be drawn out and miserable.
1. How well did the job seeker maintain skills that the current job market demands?
Failure to maintain a current skillset can be devastating when applying online because employers’ applicant tracking systems (ATS) tend to filter on hard skills. You may have the best soft skills in the world, but if your competition has used Salesforce and you used a Rolodex you will be unlikely to make the cut.
Failure to build and maintain a network means that you won’t be able to count on human beings to help you get around those applicant tracking systems. Or even better, get hired before the job posting ever happens!
And networking partners don’t have to be your best friend. Most companies pay employees for referring in people who get hired, creating a financial incentive for your connections if they think you are a fit. They also don’t mind playing the hero to a coworker by introducing them to the person who can solve their problems.
Consistent and balanced job search effort beats maniacal scrambling every time!
The best way to avoid extended unemployment is to be proactive by addressing the two factors that make searches drawn out and miserable.
1. Do a job search annually whether you need to change or not.
Review the responsibilities and qualifications for these jobs to identify gaps between what the job market wants and what you have to offer. Do what you can to fill those gaps by using that new skill in the job (even unofficially) or through professional training.
While it is best to demonstrate desired skills in the professional experience section of a resume and LinkedIn profile, that is not always possible. Earning badges and certifications will demonstrate a defined level of competence that employers find appealing. This is particularly true for the age 50+ workers because employers tend to presume older folks are more likely to be resistant to new ways of doing things.
2. Make a consistent effort to add new connections who are influencers in your field and maintain the most critical ones through engagement in LinkedIn or other mechanisms.
Adding and engaging with contacts is particularly effective during the slower hiring times because it can get you ahead of the upcoming peak September-October, January-May spikes. Networking partners tend to be more relaxed and giving during those times as well.
The Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) reports an average time to fill of 42 days (days to fill is the number of days it takes from the time a hiring manager makes a request and the job is filled). Waiting until September to launch a search means that you will have about a month of search time to have a reasonable chance of being employed by the holidays.
Skills, maintenance, and professional networks are the keys.
As I said earlier, simulating a job search every year is the best insurance policy out there to ensure that you aren’t seen as a dinosaur in your chosen field. Technology and collaboration tools are evolving so quickly that it is easy to become obsolete if you don’t take preventative action.
Building the right network increases your chances of being seen as the heir apparent for a role when it is originally conceived while also providing a channel to get your credentials into human hands.
And 75% of applicants get knocked out by applicant tracking systems, including nearly everyone who fails to claim the right skills. Another 15% are eliminated by human screeners for the same reason. Having a connection who can get your credentials to the decision makers, or even HR, can improve your odds from 25% to 90%.
Special note to career changers:
It is likely you will have gaps that can’t be completely closed until you relaunch on the new path. It therefore becomes critically important to build a network in this new direction that can facilitate contact with hiring managers there. Hiring managers are quite capable of seeing beyond the literal qualifications while the computers and human screeners are mostly driven to filter on them.
