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Five reasons you should be recruiting in December

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With work winding down and Christmas parties nearing, you may think it's also a quiet month for recruitment.

But, according to Robert Half, reality is very different. The job market actually heats up significantly in December, with job seekers wanting to make a fresh start in the New Year.

Here are five reasons why you should dial up your recruitment activities.

#1 Less intense competition

Many companies are looking forward to taking a break, and as a result, recruitment will be well down their list of priorities. But there will still be a steady supply of people who are on the job hunting trail.

If effort is made to fill vacancies in December, you're more likely to get the cream of the crop before your competitors do.

Another advantage is that you’ll be heading into the new year with the headcount you need to get the business off to a running start.

Apart from that, January and February can be a bit of a hiring frenzy, so you’ll also avoid the intense competition for talent that is usually seen in these months.

#2 More free time

With colleagues going on leave, there tends to be less business-critical work. This gives you more time to post job ads on social media and screen resumes. It also means being able to spend more time speaking with candidates, in a less rushed atmosphere where you have an opportunity to get to know the candidate on a more personal level.

If staff members are exiting the organisation in December, it also means there's more time available for handover activities, such as training, writing guides and answering questions. All this will help to ensure you are matching the right person with the right role, and that they are onboarded as effectively as possible.

#3 Time for a change

December often sees jobs becoming available immediately due to employees receiving their end-of-year bonuses and resigning.

In general, turnover tends to increase during this period as people make New Year resolutions about their career, and become more motivated to look for that dream job they’ve been thinking about all year.

Savvy employers will anticipate that this kind of soul-searching will be going on in the minds of many candidates, and look for ways to market themselves to them before January rolls around.

#4 Increased social media usage by candidates

As the year draws to a close and workloads become lighter, many people will be spending more of their day posting on sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

This creates a great opportunity to leverage these social platforms to promote your company and its current hiring requirements. Furthermore, the ability of such sites to deliver targeted content to users who are most likely to be receptive to it, will help you search and sort for the best candidates.

#5 Leftover budget

For calendar-year companies, December marks the end of the fourth quarter. Many organisations have the policy that if a department's budget isn't fully used up by that time, it goes back into the company coffers, without being rolled around from January.

If this leftover money is spent on hiring a new employee, it ensures you’ll go into the new year with the headcount you need – and may have also spared your team from future budget cuts as well.

Photo / 123RF

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