The Hiring Season – February 2009
When you need to make a hire whether it’s an expansion,
head count increase or replacement position, the time of year
is not relevant to the need. The need is now. However, in reality
there are certain times of the year when things can come to
a screeching halt as if a wrench has been tossed into the gears.
A classic example is hiring very early in the year before bonuses
have been paid out. Have you ever tried to set the start date for
a new employee, before the candidate’s last year’s bonus was paid?
There are many companies that don’t pay employee bonuses for
the prior year until March! No employer feels good about paying
last year’s performance bonus to a new hire and very few will.
In the summer months or nearing Christmas, my internal radar is doing a “bleep” bleep” to warn of incoming vacation obstacles that are in reality, only timing issues. I want to make sure the answer “I am not interested in making a move right now” is not really translated as “I have a trip to the cottage coming up and I need to focus on what is going into the car”.
Now, we all know, a lengthy search in the summer is not always due to lack of the candidate’s availability. Summer vacations of the people who need to be part of the interview process can easily make a 3-week process into a 2-month process. Just trying to coordinate final interviews with senior management who need to fly in to interview can add 2-3 weeks to a search.
So what can you do if you must hire at slow times? Knowing what you are up against is half the battle.
• Put proper expectations in place. Don’t short change the time that is required and put undue pressure on yourself and your process.
• Manage what you have control over. Prepare your internal people who need to set aside time to interview.
• It does take longer to hire at certain time of the year. Hope for the best but plan for the worst.
And finally, know that this is cyclical and around the corner there is always a faster hiring “season.”
David Street, Senior Consultant