Everyone looks forward to the Christmas break, with dreams of over doing it on Christmas food and dozing off in the living room. But in this last blog post before Christmas, we look at the ways in which the Christmas break can be both a good time to job hunt, as well as valuable opportunity to brush up your CV and online profile.
Traditionally, Christmas has been the period when things slow down. Companies take their foot off the gas, and job seeking is put off until the New Year. But the last couple of years have been different. In fact, for PVR, this time last year was our busiest period. The main reason for this is that many companies who had been keeping agencies in a holding pattern before signing off on new business had budgets cleared before Christmas, and suddenly agencies needed to hire staff. This was true for a handful last year, while this year other factors, such as the recovery of the economy in Q3, should make this situation more widespread. Indeed, we're already receiving new briefs each week for brand new roles in agencies - unusual for this time before last year.
So this is in fact a golden opportunity for searching. And not only that, the week long break should also provide ample time to update your CV, compile a great portfolio of work, and make sure your online profiles are up-to-date.
It can also be a good time to prepare for interviews. If you've interviewed people before - this should be fairly easy. Sit down with your CV, and pretend it belongs to someone else that you are going to interview. Then make a list of all the possible questions you would ask if you saw your CV. Then, back in your own shoes, make sure you have pithy answers for all of these. If there are questions that could be answered simply by tweaking the CV - then make sure you change those details. If you've not interviewed anyone before, you can do the same exercise, but also take a look at our previous blog post on the key interview questions.
So for Christmas, some forward planning is best. Plan what days you'll work on your CV and online accounts. As when the Christmas cheer starts to take over, working on your next job will be the last thing on your mind. So have an activity plan for the holiday and stick to it. This will get you off to a flying start in January, and hopefully land you a fresh job for the New Year. This is one of the best times to do those things you wish you had time for - don't lose out.
