We hope you’ve had a truly fantastic Christmas/ New Year.
But now… it's back to business.
As you can imagine, we’re pretty busy in January.
The ‘Monday Blues’ take on a whole new level of doom when it comes to the 1st day back after Christmas & flocks of restless staff will soon decide it's time to seek pastures new!
But does that necessarily mean January is a good time to recruit?
My fellow directors, Mark Wilkinson, James Ball and Charles Trivett reveal all in this 2-part video post...
Video 1:
Does seasonality even affect recruitment?
It seems that January is a great time for recruiters (a huge pool of potential talent actually looking for jobs) but not for job-seekers (imagine the competition)!
Key Takeaways:
Seasonality should play an important part in your recruitment considerations.
Throughout the year, there are clear peaks and troughs in the number of candidates applying for jobs that you can and should take advantage of.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that you should recruit during the peaks – you might actually want to take advantage of the troughs, like Christmas – you’ll certainly have less competition.
Of course, your industry will also have a big impact. (There would be stiff competition for good sales staff in the lead up to Christmas!)
Video 2:
So when exactly are the 3 best times in the year to recruit?
Key Takeaways:
There are 3 main times during the year when job-seeker numbers rise significantly.
1. January
The most popular time to recruit is RIGHT NOW.
As we mentioned earlier, the January Blues really do rock the country and the Christmas holidays force employees to reassess their lives and jobs.
“New Year, new start” and all of that jazz!
This means that the UK will see a significant rise in applications, registrations for online databases and candidates calling recruitment consultants like us.
It also means that passive candidates (75% of the market) will become a lot more active and will be much more easily swayed to leave their current workplace.
Sometimes, all they’ll need is a little nudge. (Click here to find out more about attracting passive candidates).
A word of caution: The significant spike in candidate traffic does mean that you’ll receive more applications than you might receive at other times during the year. You must have the processes and people in place to deal with those applications.
2. March/April.
Particularly savvy professionals will know that many businesses reach their financial year end around March/April time.
And of course, a fresh budget means many businesses will start to recruit.
The number of job adverts will increase exponentially, which will in itself attract more people to start applying for new jobs!
So even if your financial year doesn’t end in April, it’s a great time to start recruiting.
3. September/October
The “September effect” is very much like the January blues.
People are just coming back from their holidays, which have given them a chance to take a step back and wonder, is this really the job for me?
And their mood will be inevitably low as they return to work, knowing they've got another 12 weeks before their next holiday.
Any other times?
We’ve talked about the most popular times to recruit (or for job-seekers to come out of the woodwork) but what about the troughs?
Could you be recruiting in July/August/September?
It's definitely something worth considering as you’d have much less competition from other recruiters and you’d certainly stand out in the crowd...
Try it, you never know!
Are you recruiting in 2016?
At Coburg Banks, we're well prepared for an influx of candidate phone calls and applications over the next few weeks.
Of course, there'll also be a whole lot of savvy recruiters taking advantage of that - are you one of them?
Recruiter Pro Tip Of course, the more candidates out there, the more applications you will receive and they can be difficult to manage - so before anything else, make sure you have the right systems and people in place before any recruitment drive. (If you'd like some tips on how to speed up CV assessment, click here.) On the other hand, why not call in the professionals? Get in contact with us today!
If you'd like to watch more recruitment videos like these 2, then check out our YouTube channel or if you'd prefer to receive weekly updates from us, click here to subscribe.
The time is now!
