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Why Wait Till Eventually?


Why Wait Till Eventually?

By Daryl M. Williams
December 18, 2012

If I had a $1 for every time I heard a student or client indicate they were going to wait until they graduated or until the holidays were over before beginning their employment search, I would have a nice down payment on a near luxury vehicle. Here’s the thing, folks: it really is a myth that hiring stops during the end of the year.
We HAVE to go forth and conquer because depending on where you look you will find data suggesting that the average time it takes to earn a new job is 6 months to 1 year. For example, an article at AOL indicates the average time is 7 months. AOL Job Length
Think about that in terms of YOUR job hunt YOU just pushed back until you graduate one year from now. If you thought you would waltz from the classroom to the boardroom you may be in for a huge, unwelcome surprise. The same applies to the holidays in terms of assuming companies are waiting. Here’s the thing, I get it. People go on vacation, they have unused personal time to burn plus the holiday parties. Well, companies also have budgets and for some departments you use or lose those funds. What does that mean? It means companies will continue to post jobs to CareerBuilder, Monster, Dice, and indeed.com will continue to gather those jobs nicely and neatly for your perusal.
I don’t want to bog you down with boring numbers, but…
·         According to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey published in September 2012, we are looking at the strongest Fourth Quarter Outlook in Five Years: The Quarter 4 2012 Net Employment Outlook of 11% gain is the strongest fourth quarter data collected since 2007.
·         A new survey of recruiters by online executive career network ExecuNet says that 69% report place as many, or even more, candidates in December as in any other month.
Why wait till eventually? Jobs are available now and if other people want to take a holiday siesta let them…but you shouldn’t be that person.  Don’t stop the momentum you have been building throughout the year. If you’re just starting, no one is telling you to spend 8 hours a day looking for a job. But remember, YOU have to OWN your career. So go ahead and go get that gift that won’t be there after the holidays. Then go get the job and the career you are looking for.

Comments

  1. Eric EllisDecember 18, 2012 at 2:49 PM

    Nicely said Mr. Williams. In my experiences as finance executive, I've seen an urgency to attract talent before the end of year. This is primarily due to the fact that the hiring managers don't have the funds in the proceeding year's budget for new hires. Similar to the vacation days, it is a use it or lose it scenario.

    Enjoy the Blog!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dee M WillDecember 19, 2012 at 7:04 AM

      Thanks Eric,
      I agree. When I was in the position of hiring manager or assisting in making those decisions we tended to want to ramp up in preparation for a goal and so didn't have the time to wait. If we start understanding our audience and what they're expectations are, it can make a tremendous difference in how we are perceived, the actions we take and results we see.

      Delete
  2. Dee M WillDecember 19, 2012 at 7:01 AM

    Brian,
    Thanks for your comment and you're a perfect example of someone who found success by doing what my article points out we should do and that is business as usual. Glad to hear you seized the opportunity and I wish you continued success.

    ReplyDelete

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