Ten Reasons to Amp Up Your Job Search During Holiday Season

iStock | Larysa Pashkevich

The holidays are almost over but it is not too late to finish strong. There is still a window of opportunity for proactive job seekers willing to dedicate a little, but significant, time to the administration of finding a job. Here are 10 scientifically (maybe?) proven reasons to keep looking in December:

1.     While it’s easy to be lazy every day of the year, it’s especially easy to be lazy during the holidays! Chances are most of your immediate competition isn’t thinking about their job search. They are on vacation or at holiday parties, and most are certainly double-fisting spiked eggnog and coquitos before walking into a wall. Take advantage of other people’s laziness. Now is the time to jump to the front of the line.

2.     There is truth to the perception that office workloads tend lighten up in December (excepting retail) – especially between Christmas and New Year’s Day. That includes hiring managers and recruiters. Think of driving around on Christmas Day, or, even better, during the height of “shelter-at-home.” The streets are empty. Now is the time you may be able to get through to the recruiter or hiring manager.                         

3.     The holidays are a giving season. It’s the one time of year that we feel celebrate our good fortune and help others who may not be as well off. That is the essence of the holiday spirit and it’s not silly to believe that, not unlike The Grinch, hiring managers and recruiters have small hearts that can grow up to three times. Now is the time to see if you can parlay some of that good old-fashioned holiday spirit into a new job.  

4.     Hiring managers are terrified of being understaffed. Some may try and orchestrate an end-of-the-year hiring surge to fill open positions before the new calendar and fiscal year. Now is the time to exploit the fears of strangers who are in a position to employ you.

5.     There is so much extra activity during the holidays that aberrations in normal routines go unnoticed. It’s also Covid/flu/RSV season. Everybody assumes everything is related to the holidays or one of the many options we have in our malady buffet. If you are employed but trying to jump ship, a December job interview won’t stand out to your boss. Now is the time to sneak away.

6.     Nothing takes the edge off looking for a new job than endless holiday feasting. Ever hear of Kugel? Don’t ask questions, just start eating it by the gallon. There is no bottom when it comes to holiday treats. Whether it’s a gingerbread house or a chocolate dreidel, food euphoria can power your job search. Now is the time to gain weight and write cover letters.

7.     Whether you like it or not, you are in shopping mode. Shop. Shop. Shop. However, there is only so much shopping you can do. At some point, the parking lot is full and it’s time to retreat home to nurse your consumer wounds. As long as you’re in shopping mode, though, you may as well shop for a new job – and it’s free. Now is the time to shop ‘till you drop until you find the perfect gift for yourself -  a new job.

8.     Take off your Santa hat and put on your tax deduction hat, which really can be anything from a beret to a sombrero. Any hat will do as long as you say it’s a tax deduction hat. If there is anything, anything at all, you need to help you with your job search (e.g., portfolio) you should buy it before the holidays end. It may be tax deductible (we’re not accountants – talk to your CPA for advice).

9.     Under your tree, you might find a iPhone 14, a pair of Air Jordans, and a Robux gift card. Please note what you didn’t find – a new job. Now is the time to follow potential job leads.

10.  One of the most effective (yet unproven and unsupported by any type of data or anecdotal evidence) ways of landing a new job is wearing an ugly Christmas sweater while mining the job boards. Additional fabricated data analysis shows that ugly Christmas sweaters increase the chances of getting a job interview by 25% - 30%, which is almost always followed by a job offer that includes a parking spot (Source: Absolutely nothing reliable). Now is the time to wear an ugly Christmas sweater every day.

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Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching is 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. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

Hit The Gas! Why The Holidays Are Prime Time for Spring Graduates And Internship Seekers

iStock | AndreyPopov

Even though it’s the season for family and celebration, it’s important to resist the temptation to pause your job search during the holidays. For recent or proactive soon-to-be graduates pursuing their first professional job, that advice is even more important. 

It is true that the last quarter of the year is different from January to September. It is the busiest time of the year for many businesses (e.g., retail), finance departments crunch year-end numbers, and normal workflows are disrupted by holidays, holiday events, and vacations. The completely understandable perception is that companies sideline their recruitment efforts during the holidays, but that perception is wrong.

However, for recent and soon-to-be graduates, now is the perfect time to launch your job search for a multitude of reasons specific to your circumstances. Here’s why:

1. It takes time to get a good resume ready. Your resume is more than a list of what you’ve done. Your resume should focus on your achievements and experience, but it should also tell the story of who you are. Give yourself the time to consider how you want to market yourself and craft a resume that will help land that first big job.

2. College career fairs start in January for April-May graduates or summer internships. January is prime time for college career fairs. This is because employers take their time evaluating young candidates for coveted internships and employment. College fairs are an excellent way to make connections with employers you’re interested in, but they aren’t a hire-on-the-spot kind of thing.

3. Employers recruit in the early spring. As in January (well, it’s still winter, but it’s considered the spring semester). Employers who are interested in hiring recent graduates launch recruitment efforts in the spring – near graduation. This is because recruiting employees is expensive and requires a great deal of time and effort. At the very latest, you should have a solid resume and strategy in place by January.

4. Preparation is an advantage. The top students and graduates who know exactly what they want to do will have a leg up in the job search game. It follows that, in theory, a top student who knows exactly what they want to do will have the easiest path. However, you can be a top student and still wait until the last minute to initiate a proper job search. If you start preparing now, you will have a leg up on your peers when robust recruitment efforts rev up in the spring.

5. 5Internships. There is no better way to establish professional relationships than a humble internship. If you worked any internships during your college career, you have contacts and experience that others do not. An expanded network of professional contacts made working an internship (or two!) is another great advantage when seeking permanent full-time employment post-graduation.

If you play your hand well, you use the holidays to work on your resume, attend a career fair in January and make some great connections, follow up with the most promising leads and any other contacts you may have at least once before April, and position yourself to submit your resume directly to a recruiter or hiring manager for a job you know you want.

Imagine both scenarios. You’ve zeroed in on what you believe is the perfect job for you. You spend two hours laboring through the many steps of submitting a cover letter and resume online and after you hit “submit”, your candidacy disappears into a digital void and you wait. And wait. And wait. Or you email your cover letter and resume to the recruiter or hiring manager because you kept in touch with their company’s representative after meeting and talking with them on campus.

If one of those paths seems easier than the other that’s because it is, and it’s more effective. Circumventing online job application systems, job boards, etc. is a significant way to increase your chances of getting an interview. This is a point of emphasis. There is a tangible payoff for developing connections early with potential employers and preparing for your job search in advance (e.g., resume, LinkedIn profile).

Also, if you graduated early (i.e., December), don’t pause until the new year. See if you can make some headway while everybody else sits on the sidelines for a month. If you’re heading into your final semester, don’t pause until the new year, be ready for the new year.

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

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. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

But I Don't Want To Go To Work! – Or – What To Do When Your Employer Says It's Time To Come Back To The Office

iStock | egdigital

Your professional life may not be a smooth ride. Think of the labor market as a pendulum. One moment it swings toward employers. The next moment it swings to employees. The pandemic disrupted that pattern and had two significant impacts: what is now called The Great Resignation and the normalization of remote work.

A tug-of-war about the future of remote work has been going on for a couple of years now. Let’s start with the good news. Remote work is a big hit – with employees and employers. If you’re currently in a remote job or want one, the data looks good. Many companies are continuing to allow employees to work remotely, and others are staking out the middle ground with hybrid models.

However, the pendulum is slowly swinging back to employers, who feel empowered and in control again. Companies that wish for their employees to return to the office will start to issue ultimatums to existing employees and make new open positions in-office only. If you’re one of the 26.7% of working Americans in a fully remote job and your company tells you it’s time to pull the plug and return to the office, what do you do? Here are some things to consider:

• Breathe. Know that fundamental shifts take time, like turning a big ship. While circumstances vary, companies are not likely to pull remote workers back in one swift move. Upheaval is what led to the historic rise in remote work in the first place. Upheaval as a strategy to return workers to the office makes the transition more difficult for all. Return to the office may be phased in until the staffing structures return to pre-pandemic levels.

• Take a holistic approach to make an honest self-assessment of your desires and opportunities. Whether you’re currently working remotely or want to, know there are risks, rewards, and sacrifices to planting your flag in the remote camp and returning to the office. Only you can determine the best way forward.

•  For the sake of argument, let’s say you know a return-to-the-office mandate is on the way and it comes with a hard deadline. You can accept the new terms or you’re out of a job. You know you have two options – stay or leave. Take the time to think about the steps you need to take to successfully navigate both. Is returning to the office such a bad thing? Or would you rather risk finding a new remote job? You can also bide your time - go back to the office while looking for another remote opportunity.

• Have an open discussion with your manager. If a mandate is inevitable, get as much clarity as you can about how it will progress. Don’t make assumptions or let rumors give you unnecessary anxiety. There may be no flexibility. But, in some cases, you may be able to make the business case that you remain fully or partially remote.

• If you can make the case to remain fully or partially remote, you must be able to present evidence (like you’re in a courtroom) to prove you add more value remotely than in-office. It can’t be a 1-1 proposition. If you add the same value remotely as you do in-office, then you’re headed back to the office or somewhere else. Companies expect a healthy ROI on their investments and that includes staffing. If you’re remote, you don’t have the same visibility as someone who is in the office; your work may be invaluable but there may not be a clear understanding that you’re responsible for it. Lay out your case.

•  You may be in an office job now but, encouraged by recent trends, want to work remotely. The number of fully remote workers is expected to increase, but that doesn’t mean opportunities will increase in your field. For example, if you work in IT, which already had a fair number of remote workers pre-pandemic, you’re going to have more remote work opportunities in the future than someone who works in retail. Do your homework before you choose a path. Monitor job openings. If the remote job postings dwindle and become super-competitive, assess your parameters for how you make a living. In other words, is a having a job that doesn’t offer working remotely as an option a deal breaker?

• Job security means something different to a parent with a house full of kids than it does to young professionals at the dawn of their careers. There is reason to believe that remote workers are the first to be fired. That’s not a guarantee. Everybody’s circumstances are different, but you may be more vulnerable than your co-workers. Once again, when you work remotely, you’re less visible than in-office employees. Out of sight out, out of mind. Rank your job requirements and see where job security falls in comparison with the benefits you may gain working remotely.

• If you’re uncompromising about working remotely, 16% of U.S. businesses are fully remote. Here is twenty-five of them. Put in the time and effort to learn about companies with full or majority remote workers and see if you discover endeavors perfect for you.

• The pendulum will continue to swing, and the tug-of-war about the future of remote work is likely to continue on different fronts (e.g., the future may be hybrid). This is a fluid situation. Monitor the tea leaves. See which way the wind blows. As always, do your homework. The only way to make informed decisions is to keep yourself informed.

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

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. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.