It used to be accepted wisdom that as the year drew to a close, recruitment also shut down. If you’re still operating under the assumption that all business grinds to a stop for Christmas, it’s time to realise that your competitors aren’t. Even if you’re out of the office yourself, December & January is a key time to attract staff to your brand.

Over the most recent New Year period, Australia’s largest job boards recorded an increase in both job ads and applications, compared to both months and years prior. CareerOne noted “Traditionally, in years gone by, (recruitment) dies off in November/December and picks up again a bit around February, but in 2010-11 it never died off”(1). Meanwhile Seek measured a dramatic rise in employment ads in December 2010, and another slight increase in January 2011 (2). Importantly, the ratio of new job ads to the number of applications also increased over these two months.

Put simply, statistics show that December and January are busier than the months either side of them for both advertising jobs and jobseekers applications. If you choose to push recruitment onto the backburner over these two months, you risk losing valuable candidates to your competitors.

So how can you make sure your recruitment continues effectively even while you’re out of the office?Your jobs need to be advertised and highly visible throughout this period.  This may mean refreshing adverts on job boards over the holidays – you can use a Job Board multiposter to schedule the times and dates to post ads before you leave the office.

• Ensure that applying for your jobs is as easy for candidates at this time of year than any other. Use an online application method that sends receipt confirmations to applicants. Don’t advertise your phone numbers or email addresses unless they’re going to be monitored.
• The only thing worse than coming back to your office without any applications, is coming to back to your office with too many applications. Avoid starting your new year picking hundreds of spammed resumes out of your inbox, by using a Candidate Management System to filter your applications while you’re away from the office. Neat, self-contained, and your work is half done.
• Recruitment aside, many businesses do find the start of January to be a slower time of year. Take advantage of this opportune time to recruit quickly upon your return and start training new applicants.
• Remember that by the time you return to work, the Christmas season will be well and truly over. Your job ads (and Out-of-Office notifiers) that start with “Ho Ho Ho!” might seem a tad stale.

(1)    http://advertisers.careerone.com.au/hr/hr-best-practices/recruiting-hiring-advice/attracting-job-candidates/2011-employment-outlook-optimistic.aspx
(2)    http://www.seek.com.au/investor/news-media#100311