Which Periods of the Year Are the Most Difficult to Find a Job In?

If you’re looking for a job and find yourself struggling to land one, then it may not be for the reason that you think.

When is the best time to find a job?

Even if you have a ton of great experience and have brushed up on your skills using online home learning courses, there are certain times of the year where it can be more difficult to land a job than others. This isn’t true for every single industry. Some places will hire as and when they require a new employee. Read on to find out about the worst (and best) times of the year to get job hunting.

The worst months for job hunting are November and December.

The holiday period from November to December isn’t the best time to look for a job. There are various reasons for this. First of all, most employees are feeling festive at this time and are more focused on enjoying the holiday period and wrapping up campaigns and work-related items. They are hardly in the mood to be scheduling interviews and posting up job vacancies. Many managers prefer to spend their year-end focusing on tying up any loose ends rather than making any fresh starts. Many people also go on holiday during the last two weeks of December, making it the worst month by far for hiring or interviewing new candidates.

June – August can be quiet for recruitment  

The summer months are not the best time to kick off your job hunt. During this period, most managers are keen to get their holiday time in. With so many employees being away at any given time, it can be hard to get together the necessary team members for an interview.

Companies want to make sure that all the important decision makers are present and available before any new candidate is hired. This is less likely to be the case during the summer months.

Though it’s unlikely that there will be many jobs posted during this time, you can spend time refining your CV and embarking on home learning courses to add to your skill set. This way, you can still be busy working on preparing yourself for your job hunt without making applications.

The beginning of the year can be the best time to look for a job

If you’re looking to schedule your job hunt around the most effective time of the year, it’s advisable that you start looking in January and February. These two months are widely considered to be the two when the job market is most active. This means that you’re much more likely to be successful in landing a new job.

As everyone settles back into work mode after the holiday period, many companies will re-assess their team and workloads and decide how many new people they need to take on. A number of existing employees might decide to quit and have a fresh start, leaving their job roles open and ready to be filled by someone new. Some people also make it their new year’s resolution to quit their job, which means that, generally, there’s a lot of movement in the job market during this period.

The job market picks up during the autumn period

The months of September and October are also good months to start looking for a job. Again, most people will be back from their summer holidays. It’s much more likely that they’ll be available for interviews. There can also be a little more downtime before the company descends into the busy Christmas period. This makes it easier for managers to find the time to schedule interviews.

Although job hunting can be done at any time throughout the year, it makes sense to focus it around these two periods if you have the luxury to plan and choose when to do it. Of course, if you have no choice but to start looking, then the best thing to do is just to get going! Invest in some home learning courses to help your CV stand out and give yourself an edge over your competition.