Holidays May Be Good For Job Search
By Jamie McClintock© Pasadena Star-News, Wednesday, November 26, 2003
Forget the fuzzy sweaters and high-tech gadgets. According to some job search experts, the holiday season may be the time for a different type of gift - a new job.
"There are a lot of rumors that it's not a good time to look for a job, but that's one of the reasons it is a good time,' said Nancy Reynolds, senior vice president and general manager of the Pasadena office of Lee Hecht Harrison, a career management services company.
Because some job seekers see the holiday season as an obstacle to the hiring process, the market is often less competitive than during other times of the year, say some job search insiders.
In addition, most companies are now working to finalize their budgets for next year, putting hiring managers "in a position to act,' according to Richard Bayer, economist and chief operating officer of The Five O'Clock Club, a New York-based career counseling network.
Such managers who may travel during other times of the year are typically in their offices during the holidays, and may see people searching for jobs during the season as more serious candidates, he said. Reynolds said if fewer staff members work during the holiday season, the person job seekers are trying to contact could even answer his or her own telephone.
Holiday parties also offer network opportunities, Bayer said.
He recommends that someone currently unemployed spend 35 to 40 hours a week looking for a job.
"If you're unemployed, make this your job during the holiday season,' he said, adding that a job seeker who is currently employed should dedicate at least 15 hours a week to finding his or her next job.
But the season also carries with it some aspects that could present obstacles to job seekers, according to Gary Kaplan, president of Gary Kaplan & Associates, a Pasadena-based executive search firm.
"This period between the week of Thanksgiving through New Year's is usually not one of the better times of the year to be aggressively pursuing employment,' he said. "Not that you can't get things done, but the level of results (for your) effort is typically down.'
While the holidays could prove helpful for people looking for jobs such as part-time or temporary work in retail, it can be a "terrible time' for securing professional, managerial and executive positions, he said.
Pending vacations could make interviews hard to schedule, and a resume could also end up smothered in a pile of mail and receive "less attention than it would get otherwise,' he said.
Hiring, he said, may also not be a priority for some organizations during the holidays.
But there are exceptions to the rule, Kaplan said.
He advised financially-able job seekers to wait until just after Jan. 1 to begin their search and instead focus on tasks such as researching potential employers and making final adjustments to resumes.
Although the holiday season may not be the best time to land a job, it can be used as a preparation period, said Gail Schaper-Gordon, owner of and business psychologist at Win- Win Workplace Solutions, a Pasadena-based organizational consulting and executive coaching firm.
"This is the greatest opportunity for (job-seekers) to have more contact than they ordinarily would with people from a wide variety of industries,' she said, adding that people can get a sense of career options and upcoming job openings.
