Christmas season is no doubt a long break-period for most companies and their HR Professionals alike. After a tireless working-journey from January till December, it is only normal to get as much rest as one can get, pending when full work resumes in January, the following year. It is a time for you to just unwind, catch up with family members and exchange gifts.
However, during this festive period, it is easy for most job seekers to get carried away by the euphoria forgetting the that they don’t have a job to get back to the next year, and for some employed people to lose their consciousness of the reality that they will need to make some quick money to save up for January.
The reasons for this are not far-fetched.
Firstly, most people are carried away by the euphoric atmosphere that accompanies the yuletide season. Secondly, many think that during this period, most companies are not recruiting. While this second thought may be correct in some cases, it is not in some others.
A company in need of an employee will employ and hiring managers will scout for new employees, no matter what season it is. Work carries on, especially for companies which do not go for full-break during this Christmas period. And secondly, December has been proven as one of the best months to find a job.
Why is December the best month to find a job?
Why is Christmas a good time to kick start that job search?
How to land a job during the holidays
Jobs that you can do this Christmas (Fast payouts)
Survive the holiday work
Why is Christmas A Good Time To Kick Start That Job Search?
Some companies still hire, irrespective of the season
Money for holiday shopping
You get a head-start over other job-seekers who start searching by January
There is less competition
Christmas gives the opportunity to volunteer, take a temporal or seasonal job
People are generally happier during Christmas
It’s easier to catch peoples’attention this period
You can use Christmas social events to network
New year salary and benefits are in place
You may get holiday time off
You can negotiate a suitable start date
Get a new wardrobe
Employee discounts
It gives opportunities to read career books, blogs and follow trends
1. Some Companies Still hire, Irrespective Of The Season
With Christmas just around the corner, many job-seekers may want to ask, “Should I stop looking for a job during this period and just wait till January?”
Of course, Christmas and the holiday period is a wonderful time to take a break, relax and enjoy your family and friends, and hiring traditionally slows down at this time of year. However, the hiring process has not completely ground to a halt.
Hiring still happens! Companies are looking to fill not just seasonal positions, but for some companies, the hiring budgets will reset before January and they will already be thinking about using up the budgets set aside for recruitments before the New Year’s budget.
Specifically, some industries make it customary to hire over the festive season. Hospitality, tourism, and retailing are at their peak over Christmas and New Year which makes it a great time for jobseekers to be onsite looking and applying for opportunities. The top categories in South-Africa, for these industries, are chefs and cooks, management and waiting staff, retail assistants, store management and department management.
Capetown, Johannesburg, Pretorial, Durban and other hospitality-driven states in South-Africa, usually shows the greatest demand for these categories of staff during this period.
2. Money For Holidays
With the holiday season comes buying of gifts for the endless list of family members, friends, and co-workers, buying non-gift items for the house, Christmas shopping, taking advantage of the sales and discounts, and just getting more stuff for the season, all in a bid to spread some Christmas cheer.
While spreading Christmas cheer is a lovely thing to do, it is also quite expensive, requires a lot of spending and is sometimes way above your budget, that’s even if you have any and could also cause you to walk into the new year empty-handed.
Scary isn’t it, an empty pocket to start off the new year?
But, instead of spending all your money on Christmas shopping? How about you get a job that can potentially support this cause? Think about it, you make extra cash to spend this holiday and it could also help you secure your place at a company for next year.
3. You Get A head-Start Over Other Job-Seekers Who Start Searching By January
If you want, you can be completely justified in deciding to take a break from your job hunt over this festive period. But, equally, if you want to get a job soonest, you might need to keep the momentum going and get a head start over other job seekers who will most likely start by January.
The most important thing to remember is to use your time and focus your efforts on reaping the highest benefit. For some, taking a well-deserved break will be just what’s needed to put you in the right frame of mind to hit the job search process again in the New Year. For others who prefer to keep going, the downtime before and immediately after Christmas Day is the perfect time to re-assess your strategy and put things in motion for January.
Also, you can avoid the usual January panic if you are consistently job hunting this holiday season. The New Year is always full of reminders to start afresh, to think about a ‘new career in the New Year’, turn over a new leaf and set new career goals.
If you keep up your job search efforts through the holiday period, and you will be ahead of the game by the time others are making their first calls. Fewer job seekers equal visibility.
4. There Is Less Competition
For the few positions that would be available during this Christmas period, one thing that is sure about them all is that there would be fewer job-seekers pursuing them unlike the usual. Thus, you will have fewer competitors.
Why? Simple, many job seekers stop actively looking for jobs around the holidays. If you continue, you will have less competition for the openings you find and it will take less time for your CV to fully catch a hiring manager’s attention because they are looking at a few CVs.
If you don’t search for a job this month, then get ready to resume with the mass job-seekers in the fierce search by January.
So know this: there’s less competition right now for any company who is on the lookout for new hires.
5. Christmas Volunteer Opportunites And Temporal or Seasonal Jobs
Christmas is a great time to reflect and give back. Volunteering looks good on your resume and it can also be a valuable source of new skills and experience. Likewise working part-time, or setting up a business on the side of your day job can lead to new openings.
A Temporary Job Could Become Permanent. If you are hired for a temporary holiday season job, you could get to keep it. Companies typically keep some of the temporal or contract staff they hire for the holidays, and you could be one of them if you make a good impression on your employer.
6. You Can Take Advantage Of The Holiday Cheer
Take advantage of the holiday spirit. Everyone seems a little happier and friendlier during this time of year, so use that to your advantage of any opportunity you get especially as regards seeking for jobs. If you get an interview during this period, tendencies are that the recruiter would take you.
Hiring process might not even be as tedious for some companies as it usually is. It may involve fewer interview questions and all forms of complexities that usually exist in a typical recruitment process.
So take advantage of this seemingly happy mood of employers and land yourself that dream job.
7. It’s Easier to Catch A Hiring Manager’s Attention this Period
Hiring managers are easier to reach during the Christmas period. They might not be travelling as much as usual as the holidays approach. It’s more likely that they are finishing up on projects, catching up on administration before the holidays, meeting with colleagues and attending holiday gatherings.
And while some may take some time off between Christmas and the New Year, plenty will still be in work or checking emails at home, so you could still catch them if you’re making contact. Also as many businesses and job seekers do take time off, they will have fewer emails to answer.
8. You Can Use the Christmas Social Events To Network
Christmas period gives you more networking opportunities. You couldn’t pick a better time of year for networking. Those parties are prime networking opportunities.
Try not to make every conversation about your job search but letting people know how they can help you is crucial. And try to keep things positive. For instance, when you tell people you are looking for a job, also tell them how you have been productive with your time off.
There are many social and business holiday functions during this period when you can connect with people who can help your job search. It’s easier finding people who are more willing to help this period.
Remember that all the Christmas parties will give you the opportunity to meet new people and expand your professional network. So keep an open mind (and ears) when attending events. Take this year’s opportunity, as next Christmas is next year. Obviously!
9. New Year Salary And Benefits Are In Place
Working during the holidays is labour that you reap during the new year. Why? With the salary you have from a holiday gig, you can get your life in order with it by January.
It also helps to pay the bills and with budgeting as well. The extra cash ensures that you don’t go broke before your January salary comes.
10. You May Get Holiday Time Off
If what you landed is full-time work, not a side gig before the holidays, you can rest easy knowing that you will still get time off. Being a brand new employee will not take away your holiday from you.
You go for holidays when other employees go or if it is for only Christmas Day or New Year’s eve. You are also entitled to allocated time-off depending on your start date.
11. You Can Negotiate A Suitable Start Date
Getting a new job this December, you can negotiate the best time for you to start. Two weeks time is okay, especially if you have to give your current employer the usual two-week notice.
You can also get a later start date if the business is closed on Christmas day or any other Christmas public holiday.
12. Get A New Wardrobe
If you have a new job waiting for you, you could take advantage of all the black Friday sales and other shopping discount schemes to buy as many new outfits and shoes what you need for your new job.
13. Employee Discounts
If you get hired for retail shop or hospitality gig, you can use your employee discounts for shopping for holiday presents and gift certificates. Think about how much money that will save you.
14. It Gives Opportunities to Read Career Books, Blogs and Follow Trends
Christmas period offers job-seekers the opportunity to boost their job search knowledge by reading career transition books and blogs articles that helps to be well-prepared to market oneself effectively when 2018 arrives.
Now, while some HR professionals recruiting for their companies may go on full break, this should not be the case of job-seekers. Otherwise, when the reality of January dawns, the pressure can be too much.
How To Land A Job During The Holidays
Accepting that Christmas is the best time for you to find new jobs or take on a side hustle is one thing. But actually getting a job is a different ball game.
Yes, the competition is less, but you still need to put in work if you want to get hired. This is how to land a job during the holidays:
Decide Whether Seasonal Work Is Right For You
Seasonal work sounds almost as sumptuous as filling your belly with choice delicacies this Christmas, but be wary, if you choose to take on more than you can handle, you will purge.
Before you even start searching for a job, weigh the pros and cons of working a holiday job. Pros are adding more work experience to your resume, preventing gaps in employment history, getting your foot in the door for permanent employment and make extra cash if its a gig you’re working, limited schedule, and employee discounts as well.
Cons include working on weekends and holidays, limited training, and typically low pay. Not to mention hectic days if you work in retail or hospitality, zoos, museums, food service, due to loads of customers to attend to.
Think Beyond Retail And Customer Service
You could try to land gigs aside from Retail and Customer Service, which pays more. You could try Photography, decoration, social media assistants, and event planners. You may also need some experience to do these highing paying jobs.
Another thing you can do is to start your own business. Try out business ideas like selling chicken, turkey, goats, fish, buying rice or other foodstuffs in bulk and reselling them. Research online to learn resource management, customer service, and brand equity. Once your business is up and running research about helpful techs like payroll and inventory software.
Be Memorable
No matter what type of job you are applying for, full-time, retail, or side gig to be hired you’ll need to know the right way to apply. Start by avoiding common application mistakes, when enquiring about open positions try to go straight to the manager and go alone.
If you are looking to work in retail, avoiding applying for jobs on weekends or holidays as those days are busy days for the business and the manager will be too busy to remember you applied. Also, make sure that your resume stands out.
Ace Your Interview
Side gig or full-time maintain the same sense of professionalism that comes with a job interview process. Follow proper etiquette, dress well, and answer questions correctly.
You can check out: How To Answer Common Interview Questions to gain insight on how to answer various interview trick questions. Don’t forget to research the company to learn everything there is to know about them.
Jobs That You Can Do This Christmas (Fast Payouts)
Christmas brings endless possibilities and job opportunities and to be candid if you can provide a dire service that people need, no matter how small, you could make some good money.
Need a Christmas job idea? We have 6:
Driver
In most areas, during the holidays it may be difficult to get transportation. And because people need to get around, you can provide that service to them by using your car to drive them. You could also deliver packages to people.
Retail
You could apply for a sales position at a retail shop that needs extra hands and help them serve customers during the holidays.
You mustn’t work at a cash register, you could help with stocking shelves, merchandising, ordering, baking, gift wrapping, etc. You could also be Santa Claus at the mall.
Decoration
If you are artistic and creative you should look into offering your services in decoration this festive period.
Hospitality Jobs
You can also be part of an ushering or catering team at an event. Since a lot of parties are bound to happen this season, you shouldn’t run out of opportunities in this industry.
Freelance
Freelance is a great job to do this Christmas whether you are a developer or a writer. You can log on to the numerous websites where you can find freelancing gigs, and sign up for one.
Baking
If you think your baking skills are unmatched, then try them out by baking and selling cookies, cakes, and other snacks this holiday. You can deliver to shops and houses in your area, and even reach out to friends on social media to ask if they need a delivery.
Survive The Holiday Work:
Working during the holidays is hectic no doubt about that, but while working it is important that you keep your head above water and focus on the pros of what you are doing.
Just stay productive
Take a break whenever you can
Make every activity count
Don’t forget to talk to your loved ones on the phone to stay close to them
Meet up with loved ones whenever you can.
If you what you need is a full-time job, then Christmas came early for you this month. Simply head on to our Website to check out the new jobs Santa dropped for the month. Hurry!
Good Luck!
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