IT'S TIME to job search!

Job seekers, your time is NOW: Q1 through Q2. 

You often see us posting about taking care of yourself throughout the grind of today's job search. We still will. 

But today, the message is to THROW DOWN THE HAMMER - as much as you can, and in as balanced way as possible - over the next few months. 

With the exception of certain seasonal industries, many employers operate on a calendar fiscal year. Budgets renew and allocate for hiring. (Not all, but enough to create a pattern and feed into a general strategy). 

Here's our suggestion...

JANUARY: "NO POSTINGS" NETWORKING. 

As leaders return after the holidays to catch-up, tackle performance reviews & appraisals, review year-end data, etc. they are often not (quite yet) focusing on hiring. This is the ideal time to get on the radar of your target employers. Connect, message, initiate slow, GENUINE, HUMAN (NOT AI) conversations. The timing here is such that you'll be getting ahead of the upcoming job postings, which is the strategy. 

FEBRUARY: SAME AS JANUARY.

But start to keep an eye out for a first wave of postings. Continue lightly, authentically and collaboratively nurturing new connections. (View them as real humans with whom you can interact and add value to and learn about each other... not just as a potential job contact). 

MARCH through MAY: 1-2 COMBO. 

Steer any new connections towards open job focus as you see fit/if you see a posting. View this as helping each other; job opportunity AND business impact discussion. 

Apply to open jobs as you see fit, but first target where you've built relationships and created familiarity prior to the posting. Keep looking for new postings, and following up to cold applications with swift, genuine and value-focused direct networking. 

Continue building relationships to get on peoples' radars early... always. 

We don't have a crystal ball - we don't know what Q1/Q2 hiring will be like in such a challenging outlier of market dynamic. This is simply what's typical. Maybe in this current market, we'll see a similar pattern but just softer.

Now, we know you may already be tired from the grind of last year. It's heavy. And the weight of the world makes it heavier. So go as hard as you feel that you can. 

But in general, NOW IS THE TIME. Hit it hard, but pace yourself and exert as much focus on self-care as you can. #jobsearch #hiring #careerguidance #4SightCoaching