January is the best month for job hunting and hiring

Job seekers and hiring managers are most active during January.

According to Monster, a job search engine, Jan. 6 is the most active day of the year for job searches. After the December holidays and vacations draw to a close, many job seekers are dusting off their resumes in hopes of landing a new position. Yet, it is not just job seekers who are the most active during this first month of the year: hiring managers tend to hire more during January as well which makes it the best time of the year for job hunting.

Barbara Safani, president of Career Solvers in New York, explained to Jessica Dickler at NBC News that January usually proves to be the most active time for hiring and the best time of the year to job hunt because budgets have already been approved for the first quarter of the year. It is also the time when employees return from their holiday plans, ready to make decisions as a team.

According to figures provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment is at a low 5 percent and the market as a whole is strong, which makes this the best time to job hunt for those looking to switch jobs or for those who have been unemployed.

“January is when office work at many companies tends to pick up again after a slowdown in December,” Dan Rafter at Wise Bread explained. “Some companies still mostly shut down during the last two weeks of the year. These firms won’t be making any hiring decisions around the holidays. Then the time to get your resume out there would be right after the New Year’s holiday, when hiring managers are back at work and no longer thinking of holiday parties, gift-giving, and ski vacations.”

To ensure that your company reaps the benefits of the January hiring surge, implement pre employment testing into your hiring routine to streamline the process and weed out any undesirable candidates who do not meet your company’s expectations. Feel free to contact EmployTest today to learn more about how our beneficial testing services can boost the productivity of your office.