Why You Shouldn’t Call Off the Job Search During the Holidays
With the holiday season well underway and the end of the year now in sight, many job seekers decide to call off the job search until after the holidays. Everyone is distracted right now, they tell themselves. Businesses aren’t hiring. No one cares about adding staff. I’m too busy with my own family stuff. Nothing is going to happen until the New Year, anyhow. The list of excuses goes on.
If you’ve been tempted to join the masses in taking a break from your job search, I have some free advice for you: Don’t.
Don’t stop the job search. Seriously.
For the serious job seeker, the holiday season may actually be your most advantageous time to seek employment. Here are a few reasons why.
Employers Are Still Hiring
The idea that most places stop hiring at the holidays is a myth. If you don’t believe me, go to LinkedIn and Indeed and take a look at how many jobs relevant to your skill set were posted in the past week alone. The fact is, depending on the type of business, some companies actually need more help this time of year. They might stop scheduling interviews for a couple of days before and after Christmas and New Year’s, but that’s about it. Otherwise, the job market is very nearly as open as it was a month ago.
You Have Less Competition
Aside from the fact that companies still hiring—and possibly even need more staff—remember that a lot of your competition has stopped actively seeking work. Why? Because they made all those excuses we mentioned at the beginning of the article! If you stay in the game when everyone else drops out, your odds of getting hired go up dramatically.
Temp Jobs Often Turn Permanent after the New Year
If you’re worried that only temporary jobs are available right now, don’t be. A temp job often leads to a permanent hire after the holidays. If your only current offer is a temp job in your field of interest, you’ve got nothing to lose by taking it. Do your best work, and they might keep you around—and even if they don’t, you’re a little richer and no worse off than you were before the holidays.
You Need to Maintain Your Own Momentum
Even if none of the other things were true—and they are—the last thing you need personally is to use the holidays as an reason to lose momentum in your job search. It’s much easier to push a boulder that is already rolling than one that is stopped. You’ve already put a lot of effort into getting yourself moving on the job search the first time; it’s even more difficult to stop and start again. If for nothing else, keep the job search going for your own sense of movement.
Why take the holidays off from your job search when you just might land the best present ever? There’s really no excuse not to keep applying, and if you do get hired, the new year is already looking up for you. You can still enjoy the actual holidays with your family and friends; just stay in the game in the meantime. If you’d like more strategic help with your search, shoot me an email at terrylynn@giraffesconsulting.com, or give me a call at 646-320-1126.