Three Compelling Reasons To Keep Job Hunting During The Holidays

iStockphoto.com | RyanJLane

It’s the holiday season, everyone’s taking their vacations, and companies just aren’t hiring. Time to forget about the job hunt until the new year, right?

Wrong!

It’s true, hiring does slow down between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. It’s also true that things come roaring back on January 2. But here are three compelling reasons to keep plowing ahead with the job hunt during the holidays.

1. Those jobs are still posted online, right? You can still apply, which means they’re still looking to hire. The companies are still gathering resumes. And sometimes job postings have automatic expiration dates, and if you miss them then you lose your opportunity. Go ahead and apply.
   

2. There are fewer people working at your target company, but the corporate recruiter might be one of them. The holiday season is catch-up time for HR. Most of the hiring managers are on vacation, so it’s an opportunity for recruiters to review applicants with less interruption. I can confidently state from my days in HR that the holidays were extremely productive for identifying and screening candidates, and preparing packets of resumes for the hiring managers to comb through when they return to work after New Year’s Day.
   

3. There are fewer job applicants, too. Your competition is busy attending Christmas pageants and visiting the relatives in Minnesota, so they’re not applying to jobs at the moment. That means fewer applicants, and if the recruiter’s working, there’s a greater chance that the recruiter will take a look at your submission because the pile of resumes to review is more manageable.

Enjoy the holidays and the New Year!

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Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services, including a free resume review. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercareerstrategies.com.

The Curious Case Of The Career As A Pit Crew Member

iStockphoto.com | kirstypargeter

Careers can be funny things. They often go in directions we never anticipate.

In college I was convinced I wanted to become a journalist. I took the appropriate classes, and after graduation applied to journalist jobs. I was excited when I found a job as the crime and government reporter at a small newspaper in a small city in Michigan.

It didn't take long (five months) for me to leave the profession. I liked the writing, I just didn't like the job itself and what it entailed. So I went back to school for an MBA and after graduation embarked on a career in recruitment. Today, I'm a resume writer and career coach.

For those of you counting at home, that's three different professions. And if you had asked me at the very beginning of my career if I wanted to be a staffing manager or a resume writer, I was so naïve and unaware of the world around me that I had no idea either such career path even existed.

The other day I stumbled across a fascinating article on Jalopnik, "How People Become Part of a NASCAR Pit Crew."

Performance cars need a lot of maintenance during a race. After so many laps around the track, the car will roll into the pit (maintenance) area. The pit crew swarms around the car. They jack up the car, change the tires, fill the gas tank, and make repairs. Then the car speeds off and continues the race.

I always thought race teams used mechanics as pit crew members. Some do. But consider this – the whole process takes no longer than 15 or 16 seconds (that's considered long). That's not much time for critical work that requires a great deal of speed and agility. And mechanics aren't always the right fit.

Enter athletes. Elite athletes spend an inordinate amount of time and effort developing their speed and agility. NASCAR got smart, realized that being in a pit crew was an athletic job, and that they could recruit and train athletes to be professional pit members.

Per the article:

"Amongst those 33 crew members [surveyed], more than half did college athletics and another 21 percent did amateur, semi-pro, Olympic or professional sports. Together, nearly three-fourths of the group came from some kind of serious sporting background outside of racing. Only 6 percent had racing backgrounds, and only 6 percent were listed with no athletic background at all."

Even more telling was that only six percent of crew members had a mechanical background, and that only 15 percent stated their "career goal was to be in racing."

Another 46 percent were recruited, scouted, introduced, or lived in the area of the work. In other words, they most likely either had no idea the job of a pit crew member existed or had no idea how they would break into it.

Bottom line: It's a big world out there, with countless vocational possibilities. You may not have found the right career. But don't lose hope - your career may find you!

iStockphoto.com | maccj

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Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, and career coaching services, including a free resume review. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website,

I Ghosted My Employer And They're Trying To Reach Me. What Should I Do?

iStockphoto.com | shironosov

Have you ever been "ghosted?"

For the uninitiated, ghosting is when someone ends a personal relationship by suddenly and without explanation withdrawing from all communication. Usually the term refers to situations that occur after an uncomfortable romantic breakup.

But it happens at work, too. During my career in human resources, I encountered multiple cases of warehouse and factory workers quitting their job without notice. It would be time for someone's shift to start, they'd be a no-show. Then it would be mad scramble to reach the individual and found out what happened, only to find out they started another job and didn't bother to mention anything.

In recent years, this practice has increased. Reporting on employee ghosting has shown up quite a bit in the news, and I've been hearing anecdotal evidence from several individuals in HR that their white-collar employees are disappearing from their jobs without any explanation.

I’m shocked that ghosting an employer has become “a thing” in the workplace. It’s immaterial how lousy the job is, how annoying your boss is, how hostile the work environment is, or how juicy the salary offer a competitor made.

Unless you had a medical or other major emergency (which does happen) rendering you incapable of making contact, leaving a job without notice – much less without telling anyone – is grossly unprofessional. Part of being a professional is being accountable for your own actions, and that includes leaving on professional terms.

Your former employer (they don't yet know they're a former employer) will want to know what happened to you. My recommendation is to the call from your old boss – even better call him or her first. Thank them for their concern, apologize for leaving without notice, inform them you won’t be returning, and thank them for the opportunity.

Our professional reputation is our most valuable asset. It’s what inspires an employer to hire you or an acquaintance to recommend you. Ghosting an employer will immediately (and potentially irreparably) undermine your reputation. Repair your bridge, and move forward.

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Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, and career coaching services, including a free resume review. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.