It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Greetings of the season! Isn’t it fun to be job searching over the holidays? Actually, this is the most wonderful time of the year for job search. Let’s think about it: most people are focused on the holidays during this time. There are presents to purchase and wrap, cards to address and send, decorations to put up, plans for family and other holiday gatherings, special activities at your children’s school, cookies to bake – the list goes on and on. This is the time of year when many job seekers slow down their job search because there are just too many things to pull them away from the focus of getting a job. If job searching slows down, that means there are fewer people applying for jobs, fewer people sending out resumes – and fewer people to compete against for that great new job. Ho! Ho! Ho!

Many of us have a perception that employers are also slowing down their hiring process during the month of December, but that is not necessarily true. Many companies begin their new fiscal year in January. That means budgets are being negotiated and possible plans for expansion are being made right now. This includes reviewing how many new employees they are going to need to hire for the new fiscal year. Several of the best jobs I have ever had were for employers I interviewed with in December and started working for in January.

So, instead of slowing down your job search, use the month of December to ramp things up. Apply for as many positions as possible for which you are qualified. Target the companies you would like to work for and send a cover letter along with your resume. Use this time of year to contact everyone in your network: send holiday greeting cards to everyone you know with a gentle reminder that you are still diligently working on finding employment, and include one of your job search business cards; send e-mails to everyone in your address book with a nice holiday message along with a copy of your resume, mentioning that you would be happy if they could forward your resume to anyone they think would be interested in you. Work like one of Santa’s Elves: they work day and night to get all the toys made, wrapped, and ready for Santa to deliver.

I encourage you to work day and night over the next few weeks to get yourself in front of those employers who are hiring for the new year, while the competition thins out. Then you will have yourself a merry little Christmas!

Velta Worley in the Office Manager of Workforce Solutions – Willowbrook office. She has over 8 years experience in corporate management, 5 years of that specializing in workforce development.