Why is Autumn the Best Season for Career and Job Searches?

September and October are the best months to transition to a new company and career opportunity.

Why? Companies are focused and motivated to hire as quickly as possible, and this focus will probably result in faster interviews and hiring decisions. The company’s motivation could result in less work for you during a search, and you might land your next dream job with fewer applications.

Why are companies motivated to hire NOW? Four reasons:

Reason #1: Companies have annual hiring targets tied to budgets approved for the calendar year.  If the company doesn’t hire enough people, budgets and projects may get cut. Managers want to keep their budgets and projects, and they will be laser-focused on hiring.

Reason #2:  Summer vacations and early autumn holidays are over, and company employees are refreshed, energized, and back to work. With everyone back, recruiters can schedule interviews more efficiently, complete them sooner, and the length of time to hire someone is shorter.

Reason #3:  Recruiter performance reviews are coming soon. A recruiter’s hiring statistics impact their compensation. The statistics include the number of people hired and the “time to hire” (application date to offer acceptance date). Top-paid recruiters achieve lots of hires quickly. Autumn is the last chance for recruiters to improve their performance metrics.

Reason #4: Companies don’t want to hire during the winter holidays. Starting with Thanksgiving, hiring slows down until the end of the year. It is hard to schedule interviews during this holiday season since interviewers will be out of the office on vacation. With people out, interviews take much longer to complete. With longer hiring cycles, there is a greater chance that the chosen candidate will take another offer. So companies make every effort to finish hiring before Thanksgiving.

Advice for Job Seekers:

ACT NOW!  Update your resume, activate your network, research companies, apply to job openings, and prepare for interviews.

And, guess what? As you tell people in your network about your planned career move, you may hear about the unpublished job opportunities. BINGO! You just hit the JACKPOT! Your resume could be in a hiring manager or recruiter’s inbox BEFORE the recruiter advertises the position on job boards. Companies prefer hiring candidates from employee referrals over hiring an unknown applicant. You now have a significantly better chance of landing an interview.

For professional guidance on a career change or job search, learn more about my services HERE.

Tricia