Is Your End-of-Year Career Plan in Good Shape?
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The thought that no one hires toward the end of the year is a topic I’ve covered before, but I think it’s worth another quick look as Christmas and other holiday celebrations take center-stage in people’s lives.



Year-End Hiring Dormant or Nearly So?



Conventional wisdom often says that you might as well “hang it up” until at least the first of the new year as far as job searching or other career management activities goes. However, as I’ve said before, I’ve had clients who proved this theory to be less than solid. Hiring probably does slow down, although how much is perhaps arguable, but it doesn’t necessarily stop.



What might happen if you do put your job search or other career-related activities on hold until after the holidays is that someone else who’s more active and better prepared will land the job you could have filled quite well. That doesn’t mean they’re a better performer on the job than you are–just that they didn’t wait for a “better” time.



When Should You Look for a Job?



What’s the best time of year to look for a job? According to Nick Corcodillos of Ask The Headhunter, it’s now (that year-end period where “nothing is happening”).



In his article, ‘Tis the season to land the right job,” Corcodillos says, “Companies are indeed hiring. They’re just not doing it the way you’d expect. They’re in a hurry but they don’t want to make mistakes….Some managers are under great pressure to fill precious slots before the year ends and budgets close (or are cut). Thus, employers are not hiring slowly because they can, but because they can’t get the right candidates.”



If you follow his reasoning, you should be actively seeking and establishing relationships that lead you to people within the organizations you want to target. Corcodillos emphasizes the fact that many hires come through trusted referrals and personal contacts with influencers and decision-makers.



As he puts it, “If you are the candidate a manager needs, you can capitalize on the rush to hire….Be ready to articulate your value, but do it face-to-face or on the phone.”



Along with this comes the need to recognize and acknowledge that there probably aren’t 50 or 100 jobs out there that you’d be the perfect candidate for. If you do it right, you only need–and can only take–one job at a time. That makes selectivity in your job search approach a high priority in terms of success probability.



Definition of Insanity



One definition of insanity goes something like this: Doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. It applies just as well to your job search and career management planning.



Maybe now is the time to re-think what you’ve been doing, especially if your answer to the question, “So how’s that working for you?” is “not so great.” Make 2015 your year-to-remember for all the right reasons.