Can you believe it’s holiday season already? The retail stores have decorated for Christmas and New Year countdowns have begun! When everyone is busy thinking about candy, pies, and spending time with their families, no one is thinking about hiring; that can wait until January, right? WRONG. There is no better time than NOW to fill your open positions, and here’s why:
- Fewer deadlines and fewer meetings = more time for interviews. When your team is busy meeting tight deadlines, blocking an hour to meet a prospective candidate for an interview is a burden. But during this final few months of the year, work deadlines slow down, and your team has more time and bandwidth to spend interviewing prospective employees.
- Onboarding new employees is easier. Not only will your team will have more time to train, but it also takes time to learn and get acclimated to a new job. If you plan it right, your new employee can be ready to hit the ground running on January 1!
- Less Competition. Your prospective candidates will have fewer interviews this time of year, which means more flexibility to meet with your team and a lesser likelihood of receiving competing offers. You might be able to lock down your ideal candidate before anyone else has a chance to interview them. Candidates will also be excited to head into the holidays with a job offer in hand!
- Critical Vacancies. Some open positions are business critical and cannot wait 2 months to be filled. Backfills or vacancies with direct impact to the business operations need to be filled with a sense of urgency, so don’t postpone these search efforts until January. Every day counts.
- Contract/Contract-to-Hire Bonus. Many companies use this option as a “try before you buy” approach. You’re able to make sure a candidate is qualified, will perform well, and fit in with the team before converting them to a permanent employee. If you go the contract route, you will only pay for hours worked, so you won’t be paying extra during the holidays.
- End of Year Budget. It happens every year: your team/organization is given a certain budget or an approved number of new positions to fill for the year. Don’t miss out on your approved numbers for 2017. Fill your open positions now!
If you wait until the New Year to start your candidate search like everyone else, be prepared to join the crowds, just like a gym full of new members with new year’s resolutions… We’re here to help you get started today!
Happy holidays, and happy hiring!
About Kate Lewis | Director of Consulting Services
Kate is responsible for growing the HireNetworks’ staffing and consulting business. Kate’s main focus is helping to match IT professionals on short term project engagements at local and national companies.
About HireNetworks
HireNetworks offers nationwide recruiting, staffing, and executive search services. HireNetworks fills positions for skills ranging from technology and finance to sales and research. Celebrating 14 years of success this year, HireNetworks is set apart by their experienced, senior recruiting team and reputation in the industry. HireNetworks is ranked top 5 of “Best Places to Work” and has been listed “Top Technical Recruiting Firm in the Triangle” every year since 2001. For the past two years, HireNetworks has been ranked in the INC5000 Fastest Growing Companies and recently named Best Employers in North Carolina again for 2017.
Clients use HireNetworks because of our vast network and collaborative approach to under-standing their culture, company and staffing needs.