Wondering Why Job Searching During the Holiday Season May be a Good Idea? Read on….

Recently, I had a conversation with one of my old friends regarding when is the right time to look for a new job. He had an experience of landing up in some remarkable jobs in the past years. To my surprise, he told me holidays might be the best time to look for a new job.

I always believed holidays are off-seasons for job hunting. But his arguments convinced me that holidays could be one of the best times of year for a job hunt. Let us see with detailed examples how we can do an effective holiday job search.

Here’s Why the Holiday Season Could be a Good Time for Job Search

1. Don’t Follow the Herd

Seeking employment during holidays could be successful, simply because of the fact that there is much less competition in the job market during long holidays. It’s psychological, but still works like a charm.

• What does the herd of job seekers do? They put great efforts during the hiring season and go into hibernation period during the holidays. This could be a real good opportunity to grab some jackpot opportunities.
• The idea here is try doing things which only a few are expected to do.
• But make sure you constantly track the industry, and put full on when the opportunity comes.

2. Seasonal Job Openings

Seasonal job openings are easier to crack than the regular job postings. Always keep a check on the hiring during the holiday season. Holiday job searches have worked wonderfully for many.

• Most companies face crunch of resources during holiday seasons, as many employees would be going on long leaves. To make up for this, companies would open up temporary job positions. Cracking those interviews would be much easier as recruiters would be under pressure to complete hiring as soon as possible.
• One you get through the process; the ball is in your court from thereon. Do incredible stuff, impress your managers. The next thing, you would be in their payroll. Recruiters always prefer to find people in-house rather than posting opportunities in job boards.

Holiday Job search is a good strategy to crack some incredible opportunities. But that doesn’t mean that you could relax when the real hiring season is going on. Each unsuccessful interview takes you one step closer to the real opportunity. So always be all fired up and ready to grab the opportunities that come your way.

3. Make Use of the Job Portals

• Job searching has become easier than ever before. There are a large number of websites in Internet that has a surplus of opportunities. Monster, indeed, LinkedIn, jobrapido are some of the major ones. They work beautifully for holiday job searches.
• As I already mentioned, you would be dealing with much less competition during holidays for various opportunities listed in these websites.

4. Shows Your Commitment

Recruiters are looking for employees who could go the extra mile in fulfilling the responsibilities associated with them.

• Slogging yourself with interview preparations during the holiday season could work as a bonus for you. So, your holiday job search could work in your favor.
• My two cents here would be, whatever be the industry job scenario, keep giving your best continuously and it wouldn’t be long for the opportunity to knock at your door.

5. Each Day is an Opportunity

My main objective with this article is to break the common misconception that seeking employment during holidays is a bad idea. There are opportunities around us all the time. It’s just we have to keep giving our best each single day till it happens.

6. Connect Through LinkedIn

We all are well aware of LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a great networking tool for reaching out to potential employers. LinkedIn could play a major role in your holiday job search strategy.

• After finding about opportunities in particular companies, the next step is to try connecting with other employees at key positions in the company through LinkedIn.
• Most of them would not be accessible in their official mail ids. So, LinkedIn could be an effective way in reaching them so that they can refer aspirants for various openings in their companies.

Here I am adding a must have checklist for grabbing amazing opportunities: [1] A well written Resume. [2] LinkedIn Profile updated with your latest qualifications and work experiences. [3] Profiles made in major Job listing websites. [4] An excel sheet to track relevant companies on a regular basis.

7. Don’t Wait for Job Board Postings, Instead Reach Out

Holiday job search does not always work like the normal hiring season. Majority of the openings would not get posted on job boards. So, don’t always rely on job board postings.

• Recruiters prefer to hire from their networks as the openings are to be filled immediately. So, it’s a good idea to reach out to recruiters with your updated skill set.
• Holiday job searches could work in your favor, as the recruiters would do most selections on a first come basis during these times.

8. Network, Network and Network – Key to Your Holiday Job Search

By the word network in the sub heading, I am referring to the verb – network – the act of connecting with people.

• Networking need not be always for getting into a job. Connect with people who can provide career guidance, people from different industries and anyone who can add some sort of value to your life.

I would also like to warn my readers about some inappropriate ways of networking. Constantly messaging recruiters in platforms like LinkedIn may not work in your favour. Instead a crisp message to connect with them stating your qualifications, experience and the career options you are looking for would be sufficient.

9. Do Freelancing

You don’t always need a company to display your skills. During your holiday job search times, you can look for freelance job opportunities through various online portals.

• You can also add details about the works you completed in your resume so that there is an increased chance of you getting hired.
• You can even have a business card for yourself and a personal website. These gives a better exposure for the works you accomplished, thus increasing your chances of getting hired.

I would also like to include one of the experiences shared by my friend. He was continuously looking for opportunities some two years before. He connected with one of the recruiters in one major firm. They were hiring for a future requirement in advance. Since he reached out to them during the December holiday season, he had the early applicant advantage and got selected for the position with much less competition.

Summing it Up

Wrapping it up, I would have this important advice for all job seekers. Don’t wait for any particular hiring seasons. There are opportunities around all the time. And in fact, the better opportunities would be those not so popular times in a year. So, I expect my readers to develop job searching strategies during the holiday season and make the best out of the hidden opportunities.

So that’s the knowledge I gathered about the importance of a holiday job search. Hope this adds some value for my readers.