In her years as an executive recruiter, Gina has come across many individuals who ease up on their job search during the holidays. These people think that businesses shut down their search during the holiday season, but that is not the case. Many companies are in fact still hiring, and many are looking to hire before the end of their calendar year. Still others are in the middle of their fiscal years and are practicing normal hiring procedures!

Lesson One:

Some companies, like Microsoft for example, hold fiscal years that start in July so they are only in their second quarter during the holiday season. This means they are engaging in regular turnover and hiring practices while most potential hires have slowed down their search! If you put your job search into hibernation mode, you could miss a very lucrative opportunity.

Lesson Two:

Many businesses are usually very active during November and December. This tends to be the busy season for many different industries, and often companies will hire during the holiday season to manage increased workloads. It is also the time right before the New Year for a lot of companies have money left in their budgets and want to hire open positions before the end of the year. This is a time that they will be looking to hire these requirements and tie up any loose ends before their next calendar year begins.

Lesson Three:

A higher rate of employees tend to take vacations and personal time during the holiday season, so they have the time to try and interview and search for different jobs if they are considering a change. The holidays are a good time to grab a festive drink and interview! Employers and employees seem to be in good mood and more relaxed, and often make time to interview. Additionally, clients tend to give executive recruiters search engagements during the holidays, which means those recruiters are proactively searching for new hires during this time!

The main lesson here: don’t halt your search during the holidays! This can be a very copious time of year to find a new positions/new hires.

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