Wow, what a year it has been when it comes to recruitment; with unemployment being at an all-time low there has been a considerable lack of candidates to fill available roles. Counter-offers have been rife with many candidates being offered more money, better benefits and flexible working to encourage them to stay in their existing roles.

It’s not unusual for companies to stop recruiting all together in the month of December, often company recruitment budgets have run down and let’s face it, nobody wants to be doing the admin which comes with recruitment so close to Christmas.

BUT

Here at JR Personnel we cannot recommend enough to not put your recruitment on hold, here are some reasons below:

Less Competition:

With so many companies not recruiting in December it means there will be more candidates to choose from, in our experience the demand for work actually increases in December, with candidates who are out of work desperate to have the opportunity to earn some money in the run up to the most expensive time of the year, Christmas. For those in work, it’s very appealing to end current employment at the end of the year, ready for a fresh start in January.

More Free Time?

Maybe the industry you work in quietens down during December, it’s not unusual for typical “office based” industries to slow down in the run up to Christmas, as a hiring manager maybe you have more time to recruit, interview and train new candidates?

More candidate applications:

The year is coming to an end and people start thinking about the future and their next steps, with many industries winding down employees have more time on their hands, more time to see what else is out there, more time to apply to roles and register with agencies. December is the perfect time to take advantage of the quiet and advertise those roles you’d thought about putting off until the new year.