A job search requires a lot of your labor and attention. It might be more tiring than the actual job. Wouldn’t it be nice to know when you have a chance of getting hired by your dream instead of applying for random organizations on the BCJobs board?
There are times in the year when you have a better chance of getting a notice from the hiring managers. This increases your chances of grabbing an in-person interview and, eventually, the position.
Best time of the year to apply for a job
The start of the year, January and February, is the best time to apply for a job. You might want to begin your preparations in December, especially if you have a particular company in mind.
Hiring managers receive their new yearly budget during this time. Holidays ended a few weeks ago, and the workload is slow. But, everyone’s back on the job too. Hiring managers can finally sort through the positions they have yet to find talent for and have more time to post job openings.
Compared to January, February is even more favorable for job search. However, the first two weeks of January can be incredibly slow, so you might have to wait for ages to get a call from HR.
Try to apply to job posts within the first 4 days. The longer you wait, the more your application is sorted to the back. Monday and Tuesday are the best days to send an application, especially early morning or after lunch. The inbox of hiring managers isn’t flooded with emails yet, so they have time.
Time to apply for jobs by season
Fall
September and October closely resemble January and February regarding the sense of urgency in recruiters. It is almost year-end, and they’re hoping to find people to fill in some positions before November comes with Thanksgiving and the tide of holidays.
Spring
March to May, the recruitment fever is still present. Mangers hope they can train the new hires in time so they can go on vacation without worrying about the office when summer comes around.
Summer
Grabbing a job from June to August is the toughest. Summer vacation means most of the important people are on their precious family trip. So unless there is an urgent position, they won’t look through the applications in their mail for job posts they made in February.
Final Thoughts
December is the worst month for hiring. Everyone’s busy preparing for Christmas and New year. The company does not see any point in hiring someone new, negotiating salary, and such when they will have a new budget next month. The budget also gives them a better direction on how they will go about hiring. Lots of employees stay until December to receive the annual bonus too. So, companies know they will have to hire new people in January anyway.
About the Author
BCjobs.ca is Western Canada’s largest job board, and host of “Innovators” a weekly podcast interviewing top recruiters in BC and across Canada. Check out our recent interview with Jonathan Watson, CTO at Clio, (Podcast link), and Erica Rizzo, Director of People and Culture at Metafy (Podcast link).
