Off for the Summer

No vacation from your job search

Some call it the summer slow-down. You know. With so many people on vacation, are there any businesses that are at full strength? Then you have summer hours where the ones who aren’t on vacation leave early on Fridays. And everything is on hold until after Labor Day.

Logic would tell you that this is not a good time to be looking for a job. Although there may be few companies hiring now, this is a prime time to reach out to your various contacts. With the summer slow-down, workloads are often lighter leaving people with unusually high amounts of free time.

Opportunities exist

So many of those people who otherwise are just too busy to have a few minutes to spend with someone like you, now may be able to squeeze you in. Time for a quick cup of coffee or an informational interview may be much more readily available than at other times of the year.

This is the time to strike. Reach out to your contacts. Make an impression. Make certain that they know you’re available and very interested in them and that you can positively impact their organization. You’ll be at the top of their mind’s awareness when things pick up after Labor Day.

So while August may not be a good time to actually land your next job, this can be an ideal time to prepare the soil and plant your seeds so that you can harvest them aplenty come fall.

An aside

While the circumstances may be different, the end result is the same around the holidays in mid-to–late December. Many people are gone. The work load lightens up and suddenly many people are available to chat – and they’re in good mood because it’s the holidays.

In addition, some may be holding off on hiring someone until new budgets are enacted in January. Done right, you can position yourself perfectly.

The moral of the story: Just because people are absent and work loads slacken, that doesn’t mean that you should act in kind as to your job search. This is the time of year when people are available. Take advantage of that.

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