Folks,
There comes a time in every job when you hear angels sing (or demons shriek) in the background and you have an epiphany. This is when you know whether you would stay with your current employer for the rest of your life OR that you want to move on to other opportunities. My epiphany today was for the latter. It was a long time coming but it finally happened today.
I am posting about it here because I am trying to determine a reasonable time frame for the transition in order to be mentally prepared. I think it would take me ~2 months to network and be considered for the best positions out there (for me). This brings us very close to the holiday season.
I would like to hear from your experiences about how recruiting works (or not) around that time. Specifically:
1. If I start applying in ~mid Nov (will be networking, etc. till then), is it reasonable to expect for interview processes to conclude in the current calendar year?
2. Anyone has experienced their interview process go in limbo during the holidays? 'would love to hear your story
3. Does HR even bother posting new jobs/setting up interviews around that time given that a lot of people would be travelling for the holidays and hence, scheduling interviews around that time would be a nightmare?
4. If HR does take a break for the holidays, would it be right to expect them to pick up steam right after (start posting new jobs, setting up interviews) the holidays (Jan)?
Additional info:
Not sure if this matters but I live in the north east and want to continue living here. I work in corporate finance and am looking to stay in this line of work in a post MBA role, preferably at an F100.
Thanks!
I'd just start now and see how it goes. There's no magic formula for when companies do experienced hires but they tend to slow down at the end of the year with regard to posting new job listings because they're waiting for next years budget and headcount allocation to start up, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you couldn't start a job in Nov/Dec. Now, right after summer, is typically a time when new job postings become available because they'll wait for summer to be over so that they're not trying to track the X number of people down who will need to interview and approve candidates when they know those X people will be on vacation in July and August. But like most business, the last two weeks in December are usually not worth doing much. The most likely answer you'll receive in December when talking to companies is that a position will be coming up after the new year or get back in touch with us then. Which isn't bad-you've at least made contact.
But remember, outside of recent grad recruiting and a few specific industries (big PE firms tend to recruit analysts out of IB's at certain times for example) most companies are more likely to hire on as as needed basis so if they need someone to start the week after Thanksgiving, they will, even though starting in December is less common. Yes, more job openings will be available after Jan 1 but you never know when and where your opportunity will come and how long it will take. I'd start networking, reaching out to recruiters, and applying for job postings online now. I've had friends and colleagues with amazing networks that produced nothing and then they got a job they really wanted applying to a random online job posting.
Start now.
@"Dingdong08" & @"ArcherVice" Thanks. I am starting now... No question about that. Also, I realize that sometimes things work out faster than others.
I was just wondering if there are any particular HR/recruiting related quirks/practices that manifest themselves around the holidays that I should know about .... I would hate to be fretting about the wrong things during holidays when I could use that time to drink, eat & make merry
When it's not structured recruiting (such as from undergrad or grad school) there's typically no real rhyme or reason and it varies not only from company to company but it really depends on what that company is doing at that moment in time and their specific needs. I'm sure someone who's been on the inside could say, for example, that GE Finance recruiters bake fruitcakes all day in the company caf and mainline eggnog from Dec 16th through Jan 2nd and the people at Pepsi snort pure corn syrup dust but I have no idea.
But I'd more or less check out and not reach out to anyone new for the last two weeks of December. It's just like any deal related company: if I have a deal that doesn't need to close by 12/31 (or some pressing matter that needs to be shuttered by years end), I check out and don't start anything new. Maybe HR recruiting people are more admirable than I and they keep pounding through the holidays, but I don't. If and when you don't hear back from people the second half of December, or during Hannukah (whenever it is this year), don't fret.
true,, I guess a contact who would have forwarded my resume would be the best source of info in any sort of limbo - holidays or not
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