How to Find a Job During the Holiday Season

How to Find a Job During the Holiday Season Dont buy into the myth that nobody is hiring during the holidays. You CAN find a new job during the holiday season, even in the current competitive job market. And were not just talking about seasonal retail work.Make December a Very Merry Month by Landing a New JobIn fact, the holiday season may be a real opportunity for the savvy job seeker. Many of your competitors will sit back and wait for January, content to slack off on job hunting duties because theyve heard that recruiters and hiring managers are also taking the holidays off.However, a substantial number of companies have jobs to fill in December. If theres an open headcount, theres no reason to slow down recruiting efforts in December. In fact, hiring managers are often under the gun to make an offer before late December, worried that there could be a budget or hiring freeze in January.Companies are also more likely to make an offer to a solid candidate when there is time pressure. Instead of waiting around for someone bet ter to come along (common when there are so many good candidates for every position), hiring managers want to make an offer while they still can or risk being shorthanded in the new year.Holiday Hiring Can Be SlowerBe PatientIts true that the hiring decision making process can slow down during the holiday season (much as it does during the summer months). More people take vacations during the holidays and this makes it harder to schedule interviews and the follow-up discussions needed to finalize hiring decisions.Be patient waiting for that call back for your third-round interview or news of a final decision especially when youre dealing with a large company. While you worry that you screwed up the interview, they may just be waiting for Fred in HR to get back from vacation. However, hiring managers will work harder to push the decision through the bureaucracy if they know they have to fill in the position by year-end or risk losing the headcount.Its worth the effort to ramp up yo ur job search efforts in early December. Let other candidates make excuses and focus on holiday parties and shopping, waiting for better opportunities in 2012. This means you will have a better shot at those December 2011 openings.Follow the Lead of My Client Who Is Currently Choosing Between Three Job OffersAnd yes, its still a tough job market, but companies really are hiring. For example, one of my interview coaching clients is currently considering three attractive job offers after months of feeling stuck and not hearing back from recruiters and HR contacts.How did she turn her job search around? She worked with me on improving her job interview skills and she stuck with the job search process even when it was frustrating and discouraging.Your December Job Search StrategyUse this post-Thanksgiving weekend to craft a job search strategy for December.Who can you reach out to? What networking events can you attend?What opportunities can you follow up on?Have you lost touch with an y promising leads?Check in with your contacts to share early holiday wishes and let them know you are still looking for your next opportunity.You can also use this time to make sure youre ready for those holiday job interview opportunities. Work on your interviewing skills, make sure you are prepared to speak compellingly about your accomplishments, fine tune your resume. Above all, stay focused.You may find yourself celebrating a brand new job by New Years Eve. What could be a better holiday gift? Skip the doorbuster sales and cookie binges and stick with your holiday job search.Share Your Successes to Inspire OthersIf you land a job interview or sweet job offer during this holiday season, please let us know what worked for you! Your success can inspire others. We will be sharing job search success stories on the blog (and you can stay completely anonymous if you like).To share your story, you can send it to pam [at] biginterview.com.Connect with Pamela Skillings on Google+