Timing Is Important In Your Job Search

When it comes to connecting with the right job opportunity, timing isn't everything, but it's certainly something. Most South Carolina businesses, especially those whose goods or services turn on the weather of an actual time of year, do experience annual recruitment and hiring cycles. Understanding what those times are in your given industry can give you an advantage in preparation and planning, according to expert South Carolina business experts and employment recruiters.

Recognizing business cycles

Even though the seasons of the year or other particular factors may not drive a businesses hiring, they are still influenced by things like the seasons and, more importantly, holidays. For those businesses, the only constant is that the people who make the decision to hire are back in the office following Christmas and New Year’s Day. This also seems to include another important factor: Many of the same South Carolina businesses start their fiscal year on January 1 instead of in the middle of the year. Therefore you have businesses that have major hiring initiatives not only in the first quarter of the year, but also following the normal summer vacation months. This can be a boon for job seekers who make contact at the beginning of those cycles. The same applies to those who want a new job with higher responsibility or higher pay. Getting into the mix at the beginning of first quarter may work best since the pool of available talent is larger than the supply of qualified candidates.

Industries like tourism and hospitality hire just before the beginning of spring and second quarter in anticipation of the large summer vacation crowds. This is especially important in South Carolina, where the tourism industry is the top revenue production industry in the state. The beginning of fair weather also is a key time for hiring in the construction industry. This trend of hiring also continues unabated, throughout April, May and June, for those areas where housing and commercial building starts are strong. Again, this pace can be seen along the Grand Strand area of South Carolina near Myrtle Beach as coastal development continues at a rapid pace.

As mentioned earlier, hiring slows down in July and August, the third quarter, as most South Carolina businesses gear up their round robin rotations for employee summer vacations. However, this can also be a great time for a job seeker with initiative to first approach a high decision maker before the real hiring cycle begins again in September and October. For example, recruiters may be willing to take a longer look at an experienced professional woman seeking to return to work after taking care of younger children.

The fourth quarter presents the most complex hiring dynamics of the year with its mix of fall activity, holiday retail hiring, Thanksgiving-to-New Year's slowdown, and end-of-year financial and budget maneuvering. While December hiring is at low levels in many South Carolina industries, recruiters try to fill the year's remaining openings by December 31.

Year round employment search approach

Remember, playing the recruitment peaks doesn’t mean sitting on your duff, waiting for the -recruiting cycle” alarm to ring. Employment opportunities exist everywhere, and one of the best places to find all kinds of South Carolina job listings anytime of year is at www.employment.sc.