Career Resources: Now is the Time To Get a More Prestigious Job

More job seekers get new and better jobs in the first few months of the year than at any other time of the year.

You may be pleased to learn that the first few months of the year are typically the months where qualified professionals most often "move up" in terms of the prestige level of their jobs. Now, before we get too far into 2010, is a once-a-year opportunity that will be over before you know it.

As I am sure you are aware, the job market has been improving a great deal since the beginning of the year and thousands of peoples have "moved up" and found great positions-even those who were formerly happily employed in other jobs.

Every year after the first few months of the year I hear a surprising number of success stories:

A large number of people "moving up" from small to larger employers with greater benefits, prospects and salaries;
People getting jobs in their dream cities;
People finding their dream job with one or more of the following: fewer hours, a better work environment and more interesting work.

Statistically, the first few months of the year are the very best time to locate a new position. Here is why:

New Budgets That Take Effect in the First Few Months of the Year Give Hiring Organizations an Increased Ability to Hire. Most employers create new budgets in the first few months of the year. They rely on these budgets to forecast their personnel expenses (i.e., payrolls) for the coming year.
Around August of each year many hiring organizations have already exhausted their hiring budgets for the year and others choose to wait for new budgets to begin hiring until receiving a new budget in January. Accordingly, less hiring typically occurs in the second half of the year. Once hiring organizations get new budgets in the first few months of the year, they begin aggressively hiring.
Hiring Organizations Know Employees Are Most Likely to Leave After Receiving Bonuses in Late December or in January And Hire in Response to the Knowledge People Will be Leaving. Most employers (at least the sorts you want to work for) also pay bonuses in December or January. Once June or July hits, many employees who would otherwise move to a new position choose to stay on so they can receive these bonuses. Once they receive their bonuses these people are ready to move on and do. Accordingly, there are many new positions and hiring organizations typically forecast much more hiring at the beginning of the year than in other months.
Many Employers Are Busy With Summer Intern Hiring From August to December and Do Not Hire Laterals During This Time. In many employer organizations, the recruiting personnel are generally very busy with summer intern hiring (and supervision) between August and November. Due to this, they do not spend time on new lateral hiring and the demand for laterals builds up within the organization. Three months of limited or no lateral hiring can create significant demand in most organizations. While you would think that hiring organizations would learn from this, they never do and have the same problems at the beginning of each year.
Hiring Organizations Typically Do Not Hire Between Thanksgiving and the New Year. Hiring organizations simply do not do a lot (if any) hiring around and after Thanksgiving. Call this a cultural phenomenon. Nevertheless, this also results in increased demand in January because of the "down time" in lateral hiring in November and December.

You Should Take Advantage of the New Year Hiring Frenzy. The result of all of this is that there is often a bit of "frenzy" in the beginning of each year. In addition, in 2010 we are also in an improving economy and this only further exacerbates this environment-compared to the past few years.

Given their increased demand, hiring organizations are far less "critical" of their candidates in the beginning of the year than they are in other months and consequently are more likely to make positive hiring decisions. Most hiring organizations need people more than ever at the beginning of the year and simply cannot afford to be overly discriminating when hiring.

Right now is an excellent time to look for a position.