Grinch Says No Job For You This Year

John Hollon over at the Workforce Blog says that you shouldn't waste your time during the Holidays looking for a job, because everyone is stressed out over shopping.

The reason for this is simple: Very little real hiring goes on between mid-November and mid-January. Yes, there are always exceptions,  like the desperate art director character played by Dustin Hoffman in Kramer vs. Kramer, but my longtime experience as both a hiring manager and a job seeker is that nothing related to job-seeking (and, for that matter, little related to jobs in general) happens from Thanksgiving to about Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

I think he's dead wrong, and I'll point you back to my holiday post for things to do to liven up your job search.  Here's a question.  Those people who start jobs January 1st or 2nd.  When did they get their offer letters?

The truth is if you wait until mid-January, you're stuck in the middle of a bunch of people who decided to make a change this year and started their job hunt in mid-January.  If you start now, even if they don't hire immediately, you differentiate yourself early.  While there may be a slowdown in hiring (not supported by six years I spent in recruiting), the people who work hard in December can and do get hired.

Companies don't budget Jan1-Dec1 all that often.  Many companies have fiscal quarters that start April, July, and October.  And even those that do, often can add a person at the end of the year on contract, while they work out their budget for the next year.  Now, John is in the newspaper business, which may be a totally different industry that does no hiring during the holidays. 

For most of us, buying into the idea that no one is paying attention is a costly mistake.