Draw a line, make a wish list, promise yourself to lose a couple of pounds - all these are traditional must-dos at the end of the year. But what to do if there is a desire to radically change life right here and now, and you decide to start with work ─ explains Natalya Koroleva, senior consultant for Lux & Media at the Hays recruiting company.
On the one hand, changing jobs at the end of the year seems like a very logical decision: this is a good reason to draw a line in your career development and calculate your “final points”. In addition, the principle “start a new life on Monday” works here. But there is one important point that should not be overlooked. By the end of the year, we accumulate fatigue, including from the current place of work. This is completely normal. Believe me, most of your colleagues go through similar experiences. If so, I would not advise you to immediately think about changing jobs - with the normal course of events, your apathetic mood will pass by the beginning of February. But if this desire has been brewing for more than a month, you can start looking for options and consider proposals.
Postpone until February
If you are serious about changing companies, it is better to think about looking for a new job in advance - in August-September. The selection stages are not a quick process, especially when we are talking about leadership positions. A series of tests and interviews with different levels of management and headquarters (if we are talking about an international company) can take several months. No one will tell you the exact dates, but you should not rely on the fact that everything will be decided in a couple of weeks. Especially in January.
If we talk about the liveliness of the market by the end of the year, it strongly depends on the economic situation and the results of companies. Of course, the number of offers decreases by the time of the holidays, as top management often takes vacations, and Western colleagues leave for the holidays even earlier than we do. Therefore, if the goal is to watch the market, it is better to set yourself up that a new active period will begin in February. But nothing prevents you from monitoring the situation and keeping your finger on the pulse. If suddenly the “dream company” starts searching in December, you will have the opportunity to be the first to know about it.
Don't miss out on the annual bonus
Moving to a new location at the end of December ─ early January is not so easy, you can stumble upon pitfalls that you might not have thought about when you were in a hurry to enter the next year with new career opportunities. Many large companies pay out a fairly large annual merit bonus at the end of the year, which you can miss out on. If, despite this, you are not eager to stay at work and are in a hurry to transfer, this may be a wake-up call for a new potential employer: perhaps everything is not going well at your current place or you have not met the required indicators for receiving a bonus. If, when accepting an offer, you realized “What about my bonus?” Do not despair and talk to a potential employer. Host companies, as a rule, are sympathetic to the desire to receive a well-deserved bonus and start a new job in January.
Or still decide?
If there is no practice of annual bonuses in your company, it is still better to agree to go to work at the end of the year - in the December hurricane it will be easier to get involved in the business, get to know the team, make plans for the next year, understand the logic of decision-making in the company, and the New Year a corporate event can be a great step towards getting closer to future colleagues and immersing yourself in the corporate culture.
Usually, companies at this time conduct a review - sum up, discuss opportunities, plan a budget. The host company understands that the candidate may use the offer as an opportunity to discuss with the current employer their opportunities in the current company. Remember that a potential employer also weighs the risks and may be cautious about making an offer during this period.
A few important steps from Natalia Koroleva
Step 1: Be honest with yourself about why you want to change jobs.
If you do not understand the reasons, you can find yourself in a situation where you received an offer and suddenly thought: “Maybe this is just a series of bad days?” My experience is that the impulse that drives you to look for a new job does not just happen, it is always the result of lack of motivation, dissatisfaction, career ceiling in the current company, etc. And if now it seemed to you that you were just tired, after a conditional six months this desire will most likely arise again.
Step 2 Decide what you need.
This applies to the sphere, and career development, and salary expectations, ─ everything. The more clearly you define all your goals, the more likely it is that in the new year you will finally enter your dream job.
Step 3. Develop a search strategy.
The search itself is a methodical process. HH.ru is one of the most common resources. If you have little experience, your position is intermediate or entry level, then be sure to update your resume. This will help to collect more information about different markets and offers, you will be found faster and interaction will be more effective.
If you are in a leadership position, it is worth contacting a familiar consultant from a recruiting company, so your request will be correctly understood, and hundreds of phone calls will follow with offers that are unlikely to interest you. In our age of digitalization, often the search and communication with candidates takes place through Facebook, this is a very fast way to communicate. Therefore, I recommend that you indicate the current position on your profile page. This will increase the chances that you will be found and offered something worthwhile. LinkedIn was also popular until recently, but now there are limitations in its use. But it's better to create a page there.
It's best to end your relationship with your current employer on a positive note - you never know what might happen tomorrow. If you feel that you will let your colleagues down by leaving, talk to the host company. Most likely, they will meet halfway there, and this step will characterize you as a responsible employee, and will only once again convince the new employer of the correctness of his decision.
Publication date 28.12.2010 Moscow
The labor market lives according to its own laws: there are periods of calm and phases of recovery. It is certainly useful for everyone to take these patterns into account when looking for a new job, but it is also worth dispelling some misconceptions ... For example, it is believed that at the end of December the “dead season” begins, which lasts until mid-January, when recruiters and personnel officers are busy with just that that decorate office Christmas trees and do not pay attention to incoming mail. We asked the representatives of the personnel departments of large Moscow companies what their current situation with the selection of personnel is.
Nadezhda Nenasheva,
HR Manager of the Capital Trade House "Milavitsa"
I think that now you should not stop looking for a job, but, on the contrary, intensify it. The last days of December and the post-holiday weeks are a good time to get a job: competition in the labor market is significantly reduced, as many postpone the search for a job, therefore, the chances of the most active and persistent job seekers increase.
We are currently recruiting Sales Consultants. If earlier we made certain requirements for candidates (one of the mandatory ones is having experience in working with non-food products for at least a year), then in the last two weeks the number of responses has significantly decreased. Therefore, if the vacancy is “burning”, then we are ready to reduce our requirements for candidates, we consider applicants with less work experience or with work experience in related fields, for example, an administrator, a call center operator. On the other hand, applicants with insufficient qualifications and work experience can now qualify for better offers compared to any other period.
It is not easy for HR workers now, because finding a worthy candidate on the eve of the holidays and until the end of January is a big problem. Therefore, when searching for an employee, it is necessary to cover much more publications and Internet resources (including using additional options on specialized sites: highlighting, auto-raising, placing a banner or company logo on the main page, etc.), using social networks to search for candidates in order to attract as many candidates as possible and increase the number of responses. Of course, the costs become higher and do not always lead to the desired result, but if there is a hot vacancy, this is the only way out. Searching for employees for other vacancies may take longer, because the activity of candidates will increase, and the labor market will revive closer to February.
I would like to note that my job search period always fell on the post-holiday period: there were many interesting offers and job searches always took a fairly short time.
Ksenia Pirogova,
Head of the Human Resources Department of CJSC "Agent.ru"
There are many areas of business and activities in which the greatest activity is observed precisely on the eve of holidays and holidays. The leaders in this business, of course, are trade, customer support, logistics, tourism, etc. Therefore, it is natural that on New Year's Eve, when the majority of the population is busy looking for gifts and compiling annual reports, the personnel officers of the organizations indicated solve a different problem - where to find competent and trained personnel for efficient work.
However, the New Year requires not only temporary workers. After all, the onset of a certain date on the calendar does not at all mean the cessation of all work at the enterprise and does not eliminate the need to search, for example, for a process engineer. Recruitment is a permanent process, another thing is that before any holidays, the activity of the applicants themselves decreases, because an illusion is created that business activity is dying down.
In our organization, this is certainly not the case. Closer to the New Year (as well as to the summer), we are actively attracting applicants for the vacancies of "support operator", "courier", "driver". Many of those who came to temporary work after the holidays stay with us on a permanent basis or are transferred to other departments.
I do not consider it expedient to postpone the job search for the next calendar year. On the contrary, a fresh resume will stand out among its non-updated counterparts on recruitment portals. In addition, it will be easier for an applicant who got a job at the end of the year to join the team because of the atmosphere accompanying the holiday, it will be easier to adapt to it and start a new life in the new year. The only thing that can be advised to a candidate looking for a job in the New Year's bustle is to try to complete all negotiations with the company before the long holidays. Intermittent meetings in HR or with a line manager can get in the way of a complete picture of you as a professional. As for the staff of the personnel department, I recommend not to despair, even if it seems that all the candidates have “gone under the water”. On the contrary, the most stubborn and industrious remained on the surface, and it is precisely such that we are always trying to find. I wish both fronts to find their working "halves" in the new year: applicants - a favorite office, and personnel officers - dedicated employees.
Svetlana Kadyrova,
Recruitment Manager at Mobile Element
Traditionally, before the New Year, it is more difficult for an HR manager to find people for open vacancies, since there is a decrease in the number of people who want to get a job. At this time, we begin to place more advertisements in the media, on the Internet and connect additional search methods. The managers of our numerous communication salons support new employees in various ways, helping them to get used to the new place of work. Unfortunately, applicants often have the following mood on the eve of the holidays: I’d rather have a rest now, and go to work after the New Year. But sales managers are in demand before the New Year as well as at any other time. In addition, the New Year's consumer fever is a great way to cash in on sales. The sales consultant works for the result, that is, receives a percentage of the cost of the goods sold. Since at the end of December, sales increase, respectively, and the salary of sellers doubles. Yes, the pre-New Year's race will be followed by a slight decline in sales, but by mid-January, demand will recover, since cellular communications are always in demand.
When applying for a new job, any employee faces a number of difficulties: a new company, a new team, for many even a new field of activity. The adaptation period is present in any field of activity, and the tasks of the personnel manager include helping a new employee to get used to the new team, understand the numerous assortment of salon products and increase sales.
Thus, it's time for sales managers to get hired before the New Year and make big profits. Purposeful people who do not lose hope of finding a good job for themselves, regardless of what day it is on the calendar, easily find the right vacancies. It is precisely these: result-oriented, not lazy, positive applicants that we want to see at the interview and then at the position of the seller.
The material was prepared by Olga Lebedeva
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New Year's Eve job search can turn into a "going through the throes." The fact is that since the beginning of December, all firms and organizations begin to reduce documentation, their leaders are planning their New Year's holiday. Of course, you don’t want to be engaged in hiring new employees, their training and internships for HR, at a time when colleagues from other departments are preparing for the New Year holidays.
Most applicants think this way. But is this really the case in firms and organizations?
Job search is also a kind of work that requires a lot of effort and is performed regardless of the season, weather and mood. People who are looking for work, somewhat reduce their activity and lose their assertiveness before the New Year holidays. Experts say that the labor market has its own cycles. And it cannot be ignored when distributing one's forces and time, when making plans for the future. The most optimal time for employment is the period from February to May and from September to December. Summer is the time for holidays and vacations. Many bosses at this time are somewhere in the resorts. And in winter, New Year's Eve hype and holidays significantly reduce the chances of finding a job.
However, experts say that even in such situations, one should not stop looking for a job. The more a person strives for employment, the more chances he has to find a decent job with a good salary. As the saying goes: "Knock and it will be opened to you."
Many owners of firms and large enterprises categorically disagree with the point of view of specialists regarding the decrease in the activity of the employer. They argue that such a theory is designed for small firms and small companies. They have a limited staff of employees and updates in the team are extremely rare. Plants and factories with a thousand employees are another matter. At such an enterprise, employees are always valuable, regardless of the time of year or holidays.
At some enterprises, managers, on the contrary, are interested in starting the new working year with a fully staffed team. Therefore, they conduct interviews and recruitment until December 30th. Some companies are trying to hire workers before the end of the year so that they begin their duties immediately after the holidays.
Experts say that recruitment is suspended only at those enterprises where there are no urgent tasks to perform. Such teams can afford to fully enjoy the holidays, corporate parties, celebrations.
There are special career consultants who give people recommendations regarding their employment. So, they argue that for a person who urgently needs a job, any time - whether it's New Year's Eve or the height of the summer holidays - is ideal for an interview and employment. After all, all job seekers think approximately the same way, and once you discard these stereotypes, you get undeniable advantages in finding a job on the eve of holidays.
Now let's try to look at the problem through the eyes of the employer. What should he do if, precisely in the New Year's turmoil, he urgently needed a worker, and all the workers fell into a New Year's hibernation? Since competition in the job market is noticeably reduced during the holidays, you get a great opportunity to get this or that job. In normal times, you would have to fight dozens of competitors for such a place. And on the eve of the holidays, you get a kind of head start.
Fewer competitors isn't the only benefit of holiday employment. As a rule, the working process during the holidays is somewhat relaxed. Some employees take days off, which reduces the amount of work performed. It will be much easier and easier for you, as a beginner, to familiarize yourself with the list of your duties and get up to speed. Yes, and to properly establish relations in the new team also does not hurt. And what better way to bring people together than New Year and Christmas…
When starting a job search, one should not forget that this is usually a lengthy process. No need to expect that by contacting an employment agency today, you will get the job you want tomorrow. You need to look for a job with a margin of two to three months. Approximately for such a period it is realistic to find a workplace that meets your requirements.
When sending a resume to a company or organization before the holidays, make a test send after the holidays. Make sure the letter is delivered to the addressee. Indeed, in the pre-New Year's number of congratulatory letters, your letter can easily be lost.
And in conclusion, I would like to note that only those people who are trying in every possible way to "get around" the work are looking for an excuse for themselves. That time of the year is not suitable for them, that the place of work does not suit them. Or the salary is less than the level of their dignity. You can always find an excuse for your unemployment ... And only those people who have specific life goals and plans will be able to get a job at any, even the most inopportune time.
The person was left without a job or just wants to change it. And ahead of December-January - almost "dead" months for employment. Why is it difficult to find a job during this period? Or, perhaps, on the contrary, this time is quite even in the hands of the applicant?
The second half of this month is considered extremely inactive. Almost everyone who was going to find something new postpones this decision until January. However, not all job seekers and employers think this way - the job search and recruitment, although sluggish, is still going on. What are the pros and cons of trying to find a job during this period? Here's what our experts say.
Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper “Work for You”, editor of the portal SPB.RABOTA.RU, recruiter Igor Abramov: “December is the month of the lowest activity on the labor market, both on the part of employers and job seekers. The choice of vacancies is less, and this is a minus for the applicant. But in conditions of reduced competition, it is easier for an employer to catch the right person on his own, perhaps not very attractive conditions.
Anastasia Dmitrieva, Human Resources Manager at BANKO: “Some companies reduce expenses in December due to corporate events. They reduce open vacancies in order to save money and fill them with existing workers. Yes, and among personnel officers, the desire to find new employees is approaching zero at this time.
Margarita Bragina, recruiting consultant for the AVICONN recruiting company: “Of the minuses of finding a job in December, I can note the fact that the employer can postpone the decision on the candidate (especially the final one) to the period after the holidays. And in the new year, the applicant can remain “at zero”, without paid days off.”
Vladimir Volkov, General Director of the Successful Manager recruitment company: “From the point of view of the employer, it is most profitable for the latter to find an employee in December, but with his entry to work only in January, after the holidays. Indeed, in this case, the employer does not lose money during the New Year holidays. Therefore, the applicant has a chance.
Anastasia Dmitrieva: “When an applicant decides to start looking for a job in December, he is guided by the thought: “I will start looking now - I will bypass competitors while they are resting.” And this is quite likely, because the number of applicants is really declining.”
Margarita Bragina: “The advantage of finding a job in December is that there are more chances to successfully pass the competition. In the pre-New Year bustle, the employer is in a hurry to close the vacancy as soon as possible and calmly go on vacation. And many candidates are in no hurry to enter the labor market (again, on the eve of the holidays), so there are fewer competitors.”
The long holidays are over. Companies are starting to make plans for the current year, including revising the staffing table. The activity of both sides of the labor market participants is increasing sharply. The number of applicants is increasing. However, there are more vacancies. And it's hard to say which is growing faster: supply or demand...
Vladimir Volkov: “Of course, it is very difficult to “swing” after long holidays, but nevertheless, those who have firmly decided to change their lives purposefully begin the search. And there are many. So the competition is very high.”
Igor Abramov: “Yes, in January there are a lot of vacancies. But the January competition among applicants can no longer be compared with the December one - after all, most people begin their “new life” with the New Year.”
Margarita Bragina: "Of the advantages of finding and going to work in January, it is the psychological aspect itself that can be noted:" In the new year - with a new job!
Igor Abramov: “The second half of January is the time of market recovery. Already at the end of the month comes the first peak of the year in activity. The second such happens only in the beginning of autumn. During this period, you can catch something that is more difficult to find at other times: after all, there are more vacancies not only in terms of number, but also in terms of assortment.
Search whenever you need it
In general, it is necessary to monitor the emergence of new vacancies constantly. Quite a worthy offer can come at any time - regardless of the season. Therefore, you can search for a job even in seemingly unfavorable moments for this.
Anastasia Dmitrieva: “I believe that it is worth starting to look for a job at any, even inappropriate, time and not inventing any excuses for yourself. After all, in any case, you win in almost everything.
