For over more than 20 years, I have been recruiting into various industry sectors and providing the market with knowledge and employment services. Over these years I have come to the conclusion that the employment market is a chain of events with a pattern through the year, which in my view has returned after the pandemic.
Post summer holidays and the employment sector (among others), ramps up. We go on our holiday and reflect on where we are in life. In a lot of instances, we go on holiday to the same places and at the same time. If you haven’t been on holiday this year, holidays in a widder wider sense are dictated by school term times (even if you don’t have children the cost / business can dictate when your holiday period is).
The job market can stagnate from November until Christmas, alternatively it can be exceptionally busy – it is rarely in the middle. Personally, I have had my best and worst months in December, so there really is no rhyme nor reason. October is usually the barometer as to the run up to Christmas.
The beginning of the calendar year often brings a sluggish start to the recruitment market, that starts to pick up in February and March. Some cite the reason for this being this is the post-Christmas/New Year blues. Apparently the number of house moves, divorces and change of jobs is the highest in the first quarter of the year! Easter tends to put a bit of a break on the recruitment market, however it does regain momentum in the months leading to the summer. Summer then arrives and people’s attention moves to the holiday season.
So, when is the best time to enter the job market? The simple answer is entering the market when the time is right for you. Personally, I was made redundant from a job I loved some 20+ years ago. If I hadn’t been made redundant then I would have taken a very different career path. I took advice, I researched what I wanted to do and finally analysed what I am good at. My motivator at the time was learning and developing my sales and people skills, so I joined a large blue chip recruitment firm and began my journey.
From a slightly different angle, when re-locating from London to Edinburgh, I looked at the companies that I wanted to align myself with. In this scenario the company, location and culture were my key motivators.
When advising candidates these days, I look at what are the key skills that the individual has, the motivators of seeking a new role and finally why those motivations are important. For some people money is the number one consideration, for others work life balance, career enrichment or generally seeking a change. Either way, the point still remains that you will enter the job market in a time that is right for you, as such, the opportunities that you will see will also be right for you.
If you want to have a conversation with one of the Able Bridge Recruitment team about this article or have a recruitment related query, please feel free to email us at info@ablebridge.co.uk or call 0131 202 3215 0141 739 7080.
