Every year I hear countless job seekers say the same thing, "I am going to put my job search on hold until after the Holidays." Unfortunately, this is yet another example of conventional wisdom misfiring. Here are some of the reasons that "suspending" your search in December will do more damage than good:
1) I have never seen a December in the search business that wasn't extremely busy – good economy or bad. Many companies are trying to get positions filled before year's end because of budgets or potentially losing the headcount. The latter is of particular concern right now, given the state of the economy and new job creation.
2) During December, there are multiple opportunities to network through holiday parties. The amount of people you can reach out and touch is two to three times that of any other time of the year. Why wouldn't you take advantage of it?
3) Think of your job search as a sales and marketing campaign. You should be creating "buzz" about your product – you! You have worked hard building up this "buzz" – so why stop now? Again, think about all the people gathering and networking (social or otherwise) this month. Don't you want to remain top of mind?
4) People are conditioned to connecting and re-connecting over the holidays. Combine this with a more charitable sprit and your networking efforts are made much easier. As many push their workloads off until the New Year, making introductions, renewing connections and touching base is much easier. Why wait until after January 1, when everyone is battling a pile of December's procrastination on their desk?
5)For those companies who aren't going to hire until January 2010, staying top of mind right now is even more important. Simply put, who has a better chance of landing the job – the person who has been in touch, networking and establishing rapport over December –or- the person who makes their first contact via email on January 2?
ExecuNet cited that executive level searches are taking upwards of 10 months in this market and the average job search is 2.5 – 3 weeks per 10K in annualized salary. Networking is key to shaving months off this average for yourself and a large part of my coaching programs (3 months is the average for my clients – even at the C level).So, this is no time to rest! Keep building on that momentum you have worked to build in 2009 for your job search. If one of your resolutions for 2010 is to make a career move, there is no better time to get a leg up on the competition.
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