The month of December often seems like a dead month for recruiting. Much of its 31 days are taken up by holidays and hiring activity is limited heading into the new year. However, identifying and sourcing good candidates is almost always a good investment, if not for a current opening, then for a future one. Depending on the job level, recruiting can be a several week to several month process. Anyone who waits until January 1st to begin will be at a disadvantage.
The holidays are a break when candidates have the free time to pick up their heads and see what is out there.
Candidates’ work schedules slow down and there is very little corporate travel or major meetings during the weeks leading up to the holidays. This means they have more time at work plus have the added bonus of time off. Even if they are happy in their jobs, the year-end is a natural time to assess where they are in their careers and explore options. While some of them will submit applications if they see an enticing job, may more will just gather research about who is hiring and which companies have interesting opportunities.
Candidates take action when they see an opportunity that looks like a good career move. They don’t take action just because a company looks attractive, they do it because are interested in the job. If the job is a good next step for them, then they want to learn more about the company. But they need to understand why the job is a good fit and how it will advance their career.
Every employer should be at full tilt during the holidays and make sure their jobs are posted before Christmas. To maximize their exposure to candidates, especially the highly valued passive candidate, it is essential to utilize the holidays. Passive candidates are generally succeeding in their jobs and don’t usually spend time looking at job postings. It can be challenging to get their attention, but the holidays are an opening when they are the most reachable. You need to have compelling content and useful information, and if you do, you will get more interest. Sending successful candidates a text-only job description, or posting a text-only job description is generally insufficient.
Employers need to reassess how they are sourcing and reaching out to candidates and the holidays are a perfect time to experiment with that. Start with posting mobile friendly job descriptions as the majority of candidates are getting their information on a mobile device. Tweet your jobs, post them on Facebook; utilize social media to get your jobs maximum exposure. Try video based recruiting to attract top passive candidates who won’t be swayed by typical text-based job descriptions.
December is far from a dead month for recruiting. With passive candidates seeing what the job world has to offer them, there is plenty of opportunity for recruiters to experiment with new recruiting trends and build a strong candidate pool and tested tools heading into 2016.
