'Tis the season

Day light savings time always throws me off. It's just an hour and yet it impacts me tremendously. I can't fall asleep, although I'm tired. I can't wake up early, although I'm restless. And while I know that I will be impacted each new year, I'm still thrown off like, "Why did I not plan for this!"--I'm fatigued just thinking about it...

Just like the seasons affect us, did you know they also impact hiring? Not a hunch, it's a trend! In the article "Hiring Strategy"-written by Dave Anderson, he says it best, "The new year tends to start with a bang as many companies have a fresh budget to spend. The fall months are also regarded as a peak hiring season before slowing down during the winter holiday season. And spring is generally viewed as a consistent but not overly-busy time of year to hire."

"But what about summer?" --Summer trends to be the absolute worst time of year for companies to hire and for candidates to job search.

Let us explore why...

• Vacationing. Those not interested to switch careers aren't looking, and those looking to hire are also enjoying their PTO. You can imagine the coordinative nightmare that this recipe for "how not to hire" cooks up.
• Budget. Efforts from Q1 hiring spend, for most companies with a standard fiscal year, slow down. Meanwhile, the company re-evaluates hiring needs going into Q2-Q3.
• Change in priorities. Whether you started the year looking for a new job or you recently started a new job, by the summer candidates take a break. They turn off their job board alerts, and they don't answer every number hoping to have it be a company who reviewed their profile and feel they would be a great fit. They enjoy the summer hoping for a fresh start come September.

Can you combat summertime hiring fatigue?

Yes!

1.) Consider working with a staffing and strategic hiring partner. Kforce has an enormous bench of re-deployable proven resources that can assist with hiring needs while the talent pool may be treading water.

2.) Be open to changing how you hire! Consider long term contracts. By opening your opportunity to long term contracts you are casting a wider net to bring in resources that may be 3rd party sponsored. This is such an underutilized talent pool. While these candidates typically cannot convert full time, by working with a staffing company such as Kforce you are still able to come in at or under budget by using their 3rd party resources.

3.) Create a summer interview panel - a team of people who are knowledgeable of the organization, skill sets, and what the ideal candidate should embody to be successful. While everyone's schedules are hectic and may not align, again you can use your hiring partner to build this out for you, and can come back from vacation with your team trained and ready to get to work! --Ask me how!

Overall, don't slow down, speed up. Whether the candidates are there, or the need has become a second priority to hire. Just like Summer is typically a lull, the Fall is a sprint to the finish line.

Summer may be the worst time to hire "just anybody", but it's the best time to find Unicorns!

Happy almost weekend!