During the early Winter and holiday season, many candidates relax when it comes to job searching. A general malaise comes over them and they justify the lack of action with statements like, “I’ll start fresh in January!” However, there is a certain type of candidate that keeps searching during those times; the hyper-driven, goal-oriented candidate. Here are some reasons why top talent can be sourced during the early Winter recruitment season.
1. Informed Candidates
Savvy job seekers know that the best time to start a job search is when no one else is looking. The chances of having their information seen skyrockets, and therefore putting in 100% of their effort toward a new career becomes worth a lengthy time investment. The people who look for these sorts of downturns are serious about making a change. They are ready to apply, interview and be on the payroll by 2017. These candidates are ready for action! Definitely make time to see them.
2. There’s Money to Hire
Throughout the year, the budget is pretty firm at most companies, but by the end, there always seems to be a few spare dollars to offer to tail-end candidates. In the words of a recent Workit Daily article, “Many companies have budgets set up where any untouched funds will be lost if not used.” Use it or lose it! With that bit of monetary ammunition in your pocket, it becomes much easier to seal a deal on a premium candidate. And, since the salary you have to offer might be a bit better than you initially thought, you could land a more experienced professional.
3. Starting Fresh
As we noted in point one, starting fresh is particularly attractive to career-driven candidates. They want to hit the ground running and that’s why they are conducting a heavy-hitting job search campaign during the colder months. These types of candidates will be highly motivated to sign on the dotted line so that they can get themselves situated for a tabula rasa style 2017.
4. You’ll Have More Time to Sell
Let’s be honest, recruiting is half relationship building and half sales. You’re selling a career lifestyle. When you have 50 open searches that all need to take priority, it gets a pretty hard to pay attention to all of the available candidates.
In Winter, you can take extra time to research what matters most to your ideal candidates so that when that top talent does come through your applicant tracking system (ATS), you’ll be ready to close the deal. Candidates who feel that they are being catered to will immediately put your company on their top choices list.
--
Winter recruitment strategies are incredibly important, but so are retention programs. We suggest that you spend your downtime working on quality Winter recruitment brainstorming and an overall company culture assessment. After all, if you can retain, you won’t have to recruit in an under-the-gun manner when the busy season hits.
