Amy Lindgren To search or not to search, that is the (December) question. Job search, that is. Searches for life’s meaning or other deep issues can continue unabated, but candidates may need to decide if job search at year’s end is worthwhile. It’s understandable that the question would come u p. In the old days, it was obvious there were fewer job ads over the holidays. A glance at the Sunday paper told you that, leading to the conclusion that employers weren’t hiring for the month. Ironically,  this was really a chicken-and-egg situation, at least back then. Puzzled that employers would suddenly need fewer workers, I ran an informal experiment for a few years. Using just the phone book (remember those?) my employees called companies randomly until we had 100 answers to these two questions: Do you currently have openings? If yes, are you advertising those openings? As it turns out, the non-advertising employers who had openings were holding back because they thought job seekers were on pause for December. Not wanting to waste money on expensive newspaper ads, they limited their outreach. The candidates, meanwhile, assumed that fewer ads meant hiring was shut down in December. And so a tradition was born of job seekers deciding not to search in the last month of the year while employers chose not to advertise. Even so, not advertising wasn’t (and isn’t) the same as not hiring. Employers who met candidates through other means — including self-introduction — were still open to hiring, a fact that job seekers often missed. Coming back around then, should candidates search in December? Some indicators have changed, making the decision muddier. For example, you can no longer tell at a glance that advertisements are more or less plentiful at any point in the year. With a significant number of online postings being duplicates across different platforms, and others being “held over” despite having expired, it’s not a statistic us laypeople could easily discern. All that said, we’ve long known that postings don’t represent the bulk of hiring activity, so they’re not a great indicator of openings at any time. From my perspective, the answer to the December question is more personal than global. Three arguments for continuing your search full-speed through December might be: • 1. You need a job, and can’t afford to lose the 10 or 20 days of potential searching a full stop would represent. • 2. You’re in an industry that uses December to gear up for the new year, such as tax accounting. • 3. You’re afraid you won’t return to your search if you take a break. Conversely, arguments for intentionally stopping or slowing your search in December could include: • 1. You’re burned out and need recovery time from the process. • 2. You’ll be traveling or dealing with kids on school break, effectively erasing your options for searching. • 3. You know you’re not going to do the work anyway, so you might as well plan for that reality. Over the years I’ve pressed for staying in the search, with the understanding that other candidates holding back makes a less crowded field for those who press forward. I still favor that concept, but I’ve also come to see the value of a catch-up month for job seekers, especially if it’s been a long search. In that version, here’s what you might do instead in the month of December: First, keep your schedule, but shorten it. Suppose you’ve been reserving 9 am to noon, Monday through Friday for job search tasks. Stick with the 9 am start, but end after an hour instead of three. Maintaining the start time will make it easier to pick up the reins again in January. Next, consider unfinished tasks from your search. Have you been meaning to organize your files or create a networking database? Identify what would make you more efficient and set that up for yourself. Now, what about your contacts? Are there networking coffees you can organize for December or January? Maybe you want to send holiday wishes to those who have helped you this year. Finally, what would make you a stronger candidate in January? Consider small things such as updates to your résumé or LinkedIn page, while also reviewing online sessions on Coursera or elsewhere for “universal” topics such as project management. December can be a good time for building knowledge that future employers will appreciate. Whatever you choose, do set meetings for the first week of January. That will help you start your motor again. Related Articles Working Strategies: When job hopping becomes ‘job hugging’ Working Strategies: Celebrate the wins in your job search Working Strategies: Balancing a job search with elder care Working Strategies: The things you need for networking post-60 Working Strategies: Job search outreach: Don’t call it ‘networking’ Amy Lindgren owns a career consulting firm in St. Paul. She can be reached at [email protected]. ...read more read less