As the bonfires burn out the Nation’s focus turns to one thing: Christmas. It won’t be long before the decorations are up, Mariah Carey is being played on repeat and people are getting giddy for the office Christmas party. This time of year also marks something else for a lot of companies: holding off on recruiting and making key decisions until the New Year. You can see how this happens, the combination of employees using up annual leave before the end of the year, Christmas festivities taking up everyone’s time and in a lot of cases an office shut down Mid-December, it hardly seems like the best time to be thinking about recruiting for a new employee. What a lot of companies fail to realise however is that November is often the best time to secure a new hire, and if you still aren’t convinced then you should check out the rest of this blog:
Your company will stand out
With your competitors making the decision to hold off on recruiting until the New Year you have a great opportunity to stand out in the market as a front runner to attract the best candidates. There won’t be as many vacancies on the job boards to distract candidates from your offering, and less companies will be actively promoting vacancies on social platforms too. Use this as a chance to get your company name out there at a time when others are holding off for increased visibility and engagement.
Less Competition for Candidates
Not only is this time of year a great time to stand out in what is usually a crowded market for candidates, but with more companies holding off on recruitment until 2019 (either because of the increasingly busy Christmas period or the fact that new budgets are being confirmed in January), means the candidates you do attract are less likely to be interviewing elsewhere or considering a handful of offers against yours.
Realistic Salary Expectations
Busy recruitment periods often lead to candidates’ salary expectations being driven up, simply because companies are having to make their offers more competitive than usual and because candidates are more likely to be contacted by numerous recruitment agencies. When your skills are in demand you can command a higher than usual salary, so if you hold off on recruiting until January you could end up paying over the industry standard if you want to secure the right hire.
Interview Availability
A lot of companies hold off on recruitment because their employees are using up annual leave (and therefore not in the office as much to conduct interviews), but if you look at this from a candidate perspective it’s actually a great time to arrange interviews because it’s easier for candidates to secure time off to attend interviews. As long as you have some key decision makers in the office, why not schedule some time for interviews and get them across the line before the Christmas break?
Onboarding into your Company Culture
If you can secure a quick turnaround with your recruitment process you can potentially welcome a new employee to the team by the start of December. With Christmas parties and increased social events over the December period, it will give you a chance to welcome a new employee into the team and showcase the more fun side of your company too.
Training in time for January
If you hang fire on recruiting until January, then it may be another month (or more) until a candidate joins your company, and with training and inductions taking up the first few weeks of a role it means that it will be even later into the year before your new hire can really hit the ground running in their role. By recruiting in November, your new hire can be with you in a few weeks and become familiar with any systems and processes before the Christmas break, ready to make a full impact in the role in January.
Festive Offers
Christmas cheer takes over and more and more companies offer special offers and discounts on products and services to help you recruit! It’s worth keeping an eye out for anything that is going to help you secure a hire at a lower cost than usual.
If you’ve read our 7 reasons why November is the best time to secure a hire and you’re ready to take the next steps to find your perfect candidate then get in touch with a member of the Searchability team today via [email protected] or call 01244 567 567.
