Job Searching During the Holidays

Every year I connect with candidates who have the bad luck of being out of work during the holidays. This is an added stress at this time of year, since the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is usually an extremely slow time of hiring for most companies.  Vacations and holidays find many hiring managers being out, and not ready to move forward on any of their open positions.  Other companies are in their 4^th quarter of their financial budget, and therefore are essentially ‘out of money’ for bringing on any additional employees.

This does not mean that you should simply pause your job search until the New Year. There are many things that candidates can be doing if they find themselves out of work during this time of year.

Here are a few things that you can focus on if you are a candidate looking for work through the holidays:

1.  Build a target list– Use the time off to put together a list of companies that you are interested in working for.  By focusing your search on specific companies, you can center your search and start looking at specific ways to get in front of those companies.  You can set up search alerts on the job boards for these companies, connect with hiring managers on LinkedIn, and look for relevant news that might be a trigger for upcoming hiring at your target company.
2. Use the time to network-The holidays are a time when work slows down for many people, so use this as an opportunity to ask a potential business contact out for a cup of coffee or request an informational interview.  This is also a great time to meet with informational sources or business contacts in your industry, such as Recruiters and Vendors that usually have great industry knowledge about any trends or changes at potential companies.
3. Work on your personal brand online– Most people that are working don’t have enough time to build their LinkedIn profile out completely to their liking.  If you find yourself out of work during the holidays, use this opportunity to build your profile.   You can also join relevant groups on LinkedIn.  While you’re working on your online profile, Google your name to make sure there’s nothing surprising that is popping up.  You can use this time off of work to ‘clean up’ your online profile.
4. Attend an Industry event– Remember those industry & networking events that you’ve kept telling yourself you should be attending?  Now is the time to attend those events, as many organizations put on some type of holiday event where you can connect with people in your industry.
5. Be available for temporary or contract work– Every year in between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve I’ve seen companies get surprised by a sudden resignation from one of their key employees.  Many hiring managers need to find someone in a pinch to cover for this sudden departure, and have ended up hiring the temporary help into a full-time role.  If you’re out of work, don’t only focus on full-time positions.  It could pay dividends for you if you’re ready to go into an assignment on short notice or are available for a temporary position.

In short, you shouldn’t give up or pause your job search just because the holidays are upon us.  These are just a few of the things you can focus on if you’re out of work during this holiday season to help increase your chances of landing your next great position.