This is a very popular question: ‘What is the best time of the year to begin searching for a new job’? The short answer is: yesterday, today, tomorrow, and so on. There is no perfect algorithm to explain when the best time to start a new job search is.
However, even if you know when you are ready to begin your search process, we have observed a yearly pattern of hiring that you should take into consideration. In fact, searching for a new job in the following strong hiring periods may allow you to stand out due to the demand for talent outweighing qualified job seekers.
The New Year’s Refresh
As you can imagine, almost everyone takes a vacation around the holidays…and almost everyone is back in the office come the first or second week of the new year. In fact, January through February turns out to be quite possibly one of the best times to land a great interview due to the general nature of having an entire hiring team in the office at once.
Therefore, searching for jobs throughout late December into the first few weeks of January is a smart move if you want to make your lasting impression on an entire hiring team.
Another reason why this time of the year is great for conducting your job search is that companies tend to also receive new budgets for the year in January. Therefore they may have the wiggle room to hire for positions that were put on the back burner in November and December. This may also allow you to have some of your own wiggle room when negotiating your salary as well.
The ‘Back from Vacation” Fall Rush
Again, we find ourselves looking at the calendar for peak vacation times. For most people, June through the middle of August seems to be dedicated to the very necessary summer vacation. Therefore teams begin to break off and may decide that it’s in their best interest not hire a crucial member until everyone is back in the office and able to conduct face-to-face interviews.
Hiring managers will begin to ramp up their search for qualified candidates at the end of August and through October before the next holiday season begins. Interviews during this period will be less spread out, and the hiring process begins to smooth out over the next few months.
The Fourth Quarter Lull
The end of the year definitely dwindles down for both job seekers and hiring teams. However, recruiters may be striving to fill the current year’s positions before December 31st. You can look at this as either a time to avoid, or a small window for you as a qualified candidate to apply for a narrowed down selection of jobs. If anything, applications tend to slow down during December more than job openings.
Overall, when it comes down to it, if you are thinking about finding a new job, there really is no better time than now to at least start looking. Even if you are deciding to leave your company six months down the road, you never know if you are going to miss the perfect opportunity if you do not start your search now. Taking the hiring wave into consideration will be a way for you to get ahead of your competition and strategically give yourself an edge.
