Should I Look For a New Job at Christmas Time?

“On the twelfth day of Christmas my recruiter gave to me…” no, don’t worry, I’m not going to go through the entire song, swapping out the gifts for recruitment puns. I won’t lie, we did consider it over a coffee in our marketing meeting but got a bit stuck after ‘Six InMails a-waiting’, so decided to go at this a bit differently…

A lot of the time, people get affected by the change of the season and look to run down the clock until the end of the year, where they make a New Year’s Resolution to join the gym, quit smoking, learn a new language or, more often than not, secure their dream job next year.

But why wait until January 1^st to start job-hunting? It’s time to consider why you shouldn’t slow down the search at Christmas time.

Here are a few reasons your applications would be as welcome to a recruiter as brandy to Santa in the lead up to the big day.

1. You’re getting ahead of the curve

Picture it, you could be getting back to work after a few too many cheeseboards and glasses of wine over the festive period, sitting at the same old desk in that mundane role you’ve not been enjoying for a while now.

Instead, you’re starting at a brand-new job, knowing that so many people save their job search for the New Year. You’re feeling smug, safe in the knowledge that you’ve beaten those thousands of others who are rushing to LinkedIn, Indeed and other job boards, registering with recruiters and getting stuck into creating a new CV. You’ve not got all of that extra competition to stand out against in the process, as they’ve held off their search – waiting until the New Year for a ‘round number’.

Not you. You got ahead of the curve, you worked with a 3Search recruiter in December and had an amazing Christmas, getting your new job in the bag before the break.

Well done, you’ve earned that warm, smug feeling, why don’t you have an extra mince pie?

2. Hiring Managers will be winding down

With their teams taking holiday and their clients getting ready for the break, hiring managers will have more time on their hands and will be readily available to talk to their contact at 3Search, it helps that we’ve hand-delivered mulled wine and candy canes, whilst singing carols (disclaimer, we might not burden our clients with this, but it’s a nice idea, right?)

But on a more serious note, they will have more time in the calendar to arrange interviews, get that extra bit of facetime with you and – perhaps more importantly – it’s possible that their plans are changing, so they will be allowing for extra opportunities across the company.

You might not know this, so we’ll let you in on a little secret… a lot of businesses revaluate their budgets and hiring plans at the end of the year, setting aside a bit of extra budget for future vacancies. If that means hiring new staff before January, then that can only be good news, right?

3. ‘tis the season to be jolly!

I mean, this does kind of tie in to the other two points, but it’s the time of the year where people are (typically) at their happiest – don’t you want to join them and revel in the joy?

Unless the hiring manager is a Scrooge – and we’ve not come across any in our five years of working in the digital marketing arena with 3Search – they are with the rest of us in being in a happier mood

Join them in that, you want to relax and enjoy your Christmas, whether it’s with friends, family, or whatever you’re doing! So, by not having that constant dread of returning to that job you disliked looming over you, you’ll be free to chill, get in the best possible mind frame and just be generally in a better headspace.

So, to summarise… it’s a bit of a common misconception that you should slow down your job hunt in the lead up to the New Year – it’s easy to sit back and think that you can just put it out of your mind and enjoy your third viewing of Miracle on 34^th Street with a cup of hot chocolate.

There’s so much to take advantage of, so check out the 3Search website today and get in touch with one of our consultants, get searching for work and ahead of the mad rush.

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3Search is an award-winning UK recruitment consultancy, specialising in marketing, digital and creative tech positions. Whether you’re seeking new talent or looking for your next career move, we can help. Learn more at 3Search.co.uk