The holiday season can be an ideal time to reach hard-to-access contacts.
“Everything slows down at companies in December,” my client said, “so I think I’m going to take the month off.” My reply: “Missed opportunity!”
Everything slowing down is exactly the reason we SHOULD be intensively networking right now–reaching out to our existing contacts, and working to establish new ones. In many organizations, the later part of December is a time when not a lot happens as a result of people taking time off, year-end celebrations, and major projects waiting to kick off in the new year.
You may never have a better time to access the otherwise very busy people you’ve most been wanting to meet.
People may be more receptive to a phone call, email, or even an invite for lunch or coffee, because they have less to do. Another important factor: often, the gatekeepers to your target contacts are on vacation during this time. Higher up people are potentially more likely to answer their own phone!
Send holiday greetings
If you’re in search, whatever you do, don’t take December completely off. At the very least, send out holiday cards to key contacts and emails to others in your network (to save on costs). Just to wish them well–and remind them ever so briefly of the tremendous value you can bring to their organization or industry.
Or use this time to rethink and solidify your search strategy for 2012.
If you need help with any of the above, let me know.
Use Thanksgiving well
Have a very happy and safe Thanksgiving. No matter what position we find ourselves in, taking even a minute to clearly identify what we are grateful for–what IS working well in our lives–can give us the added strength and energy we need to continue on at our best. Try it.
Thank YOU for reading the Global Career blog.
This is spot on. I can tell you that the “holiday slowdown” has already enabled me the time to get out of the weeds and focus on the most important component of my organization—the staff. This morning I had a breakfast meeting with a former colleague/prospective employee, I had lunch with our E.D. to talk about staff as it relates to strategic direction, and then reviewed job descriptions for a few high-level positions. I also just accepted two appointments in the coming weeks with people exploring opportunities in the field. Most of this would not have been possible last month (even last week), and the calendar openings in December gave me some flexibility when deciding whether to accept those informational interviews.
In all my many years of job hunting, I also believed that the holiday time was the worse time to look and would wait until as late as February to start the search. This year, I found myself out of work in December and decided this time to start searching right away. I already found a consulting position that starts in January and two full time interviews planned in January as well. I have also talked with several recruiters. The holidays are a good time to job search and/or network as hiring managers gear up for the new year.
Thanks for adding your perspective. It should provide even more incentive to our readers to get out there (especially this week, between Christmas and New Year’s Day). Congratulations on your recent successes!