It's the final countdown

We are in the middle of the last best week of 2016 to drive interest and turn it into job offers.  It's well understood and reasonable that the job market window is closing for the year.  So, what does that mean for your search...doom and gloom?
Nay, it means opportunity.

Companies still hire throughout the end of the year.  It's just not as robust as usual.  But, this may be the best time of the year to pounce.

We like surveys.  We just completed our Fortune 1000 survey jam packed with all kinds of goodies.  We asked about hiring trends, winning job search strategies, candidate marketing and retention strategies, Linkedin profiles, winning resumes...and, wait for it,...when these big companies will freeze hiring for 2016.  Of the 512 respondents, we found a predictable number.  Meaning, the hiring trend line for the rest of the year was in line with the past 4 years (2009 was the biggest outlier for obvious reasons).  Over 60% of the companies said they will hire until the third week of December.  

We also asked when they would reengage in hiring for 2017.  The responses here were not inline with hiring trends over the last 5 years.  Instead, we received responses that referenced cautious and conservative budgets with constricting staffing matrices.  Most employers cited the uncertainty of global economics with the new administration.  Some employers cited a ramped up push for, automation,  cloud solutions and remote workers in other countries.

Over 40% of the respondents referenced staffing for 2017 opening on or before the second week in January.  Over 30% targeted the 2nd week to the last week of January for staffing ramp ups with the final 20+% of employers target February to March to open their purse strings.

So, what does this all mean for your search?  Pull out the stops!  The most important questioned we asked was about the applicant drop off rate from now until the end of the year.  The average drop in applications was over 80% vs. the rest of the year.  So, even though there are fewer jobs there is way less competition for you to break through the doors and get hired.