Summer – The Best Time For Hiring Great Talent

With existing employees going on holiday, you may not consider summer the best time for hiring. Although, the summer lull can free up your time. This allows you to devote your energy to finding skilled candidates for important roles.

The Yearly Hiring Cycle

The hiring process certainly seems to be cyclical and from our experience, looks something like this:

January and February is a super busy time of the year for hiring managers. After returning from the Christmas break they’re full of ideas and ambitions for the coming year. This is commonly when budgets are reset and open positions are advertised. This presents a great opportunity for job seekers. Who are also starting the New Year full of ambition!

After this initial spike in recruitment activity, things slow down a bit. The spring months, March, April and May are, however, the most active for graduate recruitment. This is due to most companies wanting their graduate placements filled before the summer holiday season starts.

The summer months are slow for most businesses so this is when hiring activity tends to grind to a halt. We’ll come back to that later…

September and October are where the mid-year rush happens. Probably because hiring managers want their new recruits to be fully settled in before Christmas comes around again.

Late autumn sees another lull in recruitment as this is when businesses often do their planning and budget setting. And so the whole cycle starts again with a massive spike in new hires after Christmas.

Why Summer is the Best Time for Hiring Hard to Find Candidates

So if the above is true and summer is so slow, how can it be the best time to hire sought after skills like niche tech talent? Here are a few reasons why:

Your Competitors’ Guard is Down

The main reason summer is so great for hiring is that your competitors are effectively “off their guard”. Thus the quieter months of summer can be the perfect time for recruiters to swoop in and beat the competition.

This is why advertising hard to fill roles at quiet times, such as summer, puts your business at an advantage. With fewer jobs available to choose from, companies are most likely to have their pick of the most talented recruits.

This tactic can be particularly effective in notoriously competitive sectors like IT, Digital & Marketing where recruiting talent can be challenging.

Candidates Search all Year-Round

Businesses slow down their recruitment activity at certain times throughout the year. However, it does not follow that job applicants stop searching for jobs. In fact, the below screenshot from Google Trends shows that the search for ‘jobs’ is consistent year-round. Apart from a spike towards the end of December where candidates are keen to get ahead of their competitors.

Serious job-hunters are often searching for new roles all year round. What’s more, the latest recruitment technology makes it possible for candidates to hunt for jobs from anywhere they like. They could even be sat on the beach in Southern Spain or elsewhere, job hunting as they sunbathe.

More Quality Applications

As business activity slows down, so does our pace of life and our stress levels. Skilled professionals looking for jobs in summer have more time to tailor their CV and submit a quality application.

Businesses may be reluctant to advertise job vacancies in summer because they could struggle to assemble an interviewing panel. However, it still pays to get your job advert out there. This way you can reach top candidates who may be in the midst of a job search.

Increased Confidence That Your New Hire Will be a Success

If you do offer a talented IT professional a job during summer, you will be less likely to lose them to another company. With fewer companies are actively hiring in the slower summer season.

How Recruitment Companies can Help with Summer

It’s true that summer presents its challenges in recruitment. Although if managed properly, a summer recruitment strategy can be advantageous. Here are a few ways recruitment consultants can help you get the most out of summer:

Take the Sting out of Advertising Costs

It can be difficult to justify advertising spend during periods when business is slow. Recruitment companies, however, subscribe to major job boards and advertise all year round. When you submit a job vacancy to a recruiter, you only pay a fee once the role is filled. Thus keeping your costs down during quieter periods.

Keeping Your Skills Gaps Filled

With members of staff taking holidays during the summer it is important to ensure your business-critical roles are taken care of. Take IT Infrastructure, for example. This role provides a service that your business can’t function without.

Consequently, you may want to consider filling such positions with contractors or gig workers. Thus ensuring that valuable skills are not lost and your business can operate as usual when permanent staff are on holiday.

Tap Into a Vast Network of Pre-Qualified Talent

Recruiters maintain a database of candidates with a wide range of skills, experience, qualifications and more. Whilst it’s not always the case, it is possible to fill a role with a candidate who is immediately available and has the skills you’re looking for.

More Time for You!

Maybe, it’s not just your team who would like a summer holiday this year, maybe you would like one too? Placing your role with a recruitment consultant leaves you free to concentrate on things that are more important to you. Like taking a well-earned break!

The summer can be the perfect time for an employer to place roles with a recruitment consultant, saving them value money, time and effort.

Would you agree that summer is the best time for hiring? Do you have any summer recruitment tips for others? We would love to hear any thoughts you have on the subject.