How Employers Can Leverage Hiring During The Holidays

With the holiday season quickly approaching, many employers may already be looking into next year to think about hiring. Just under half of our LinkedIn survey respondents, 45 percent, said their company is waiting until the new year to hire talent for their team. While business may be winding down as we approach 2023, employers who are leveraging this time to bring in new talent may put themselves in a better position at the start of the new year.

Kathy Cali, Account Manager at Hunter International explains, “During this time of year, many organizations face a slowdown in business operations, causing them to consider putting hiring on pause until the start of the first quarter.” She continues, “However, candidates are not slowing down their job search during this time. In fact, they are often utilizing time-off from work to update their resume, search for jobs and attend interviews with other organizations.”

Not only are there a number of candidates looking for jobs during the holiday season, Cali explained that they are engaged candidates as well. She adds, “We see that these candidates are quick to move through the hiring process and have greater availability for interviews during this time.” With more engaged candidates, companies can bring in talent at a quicker rate and hit the ground running in 2023.

Keep Your Job Posts Live

The holiday season presents a unique opportunity to market yourself to candidates. Historic data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that we can expect fewer hires in December. In December of 2018 there were 26 percent fewer hires. However, despite this decline compared to the rest of the year, there are still a large number of people job searching as 4.6 million people found their new opportunity that very same month. With many organizations decreasing their focus on hiring during this month, there will likely be less competition online as other companies lower their spend on job advertising platforms. Less jobs online could mean better visibility for your roles. By maintaining or increasing your online presence for hiring, you could attract more engaged candidates to your job postings and be well on your way to finding great hires before the new year.

Show Off Your Benefits

During the holiday season, professionals are taking time away from work and focusing on their personal lives. This time away from the office underlines the importance of benefits for professionals who enjoy spending time with friends and family during this season. Recently released research from the 2022 Nash Squared Digital Leadership Report found that 73% of digital leaders are leaving tech jobs for more money, 39% are leaving for better career prospects and training and 22% are leaving for flexibility and work-life balance. If your organization offers these benefits or others, make sure they are highlighted on your career page, in your job descriptions and are featured on your social media. If your company is rolling out new benefits or internal initiatives in the new year, consider highlighting those as well to attract candidates to your postings. As professionals look ahead to the new year, they may be setting career resolutions and it is likely that those who are looking for a new role will be prioritizing opportunities that offer a solid benefits package.

Prepare a Hiring Strategy For The New Year

Regardless if your company is hiring during the holiday season or waiting until the start of the first quarter, it is a good idea to utilize the end of the year to assess what went well and form goals for the new year to come. According to iCIMS 2023 Workforce Report, one in three workers are planning to look for a new job in 2023. What is your organization going to do to find, attract and ultimately hire top talent in the new year? Consider creating a hiring plan, which might include implementing new technologies to help your HR and talent acquisition teams hire talent more effectively or incorporating specialized staffing firms into your hiring process. Preparing ahead of time can help your organization hit the ground running in the new year.

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Need help hiring in the new year? Check out Hunter’s workforce solutions!