We've passed Turkey Day and are heading into the high velocity time of the December holidays. Traditionally, December is considered to be the slow time of the year to job search coming in just ahead of the month of June for sluggish response. That can be a good or bad thing depending on your perspective.
Most people only see the bad part of job searching in December so they don't make the effort. They wait until January when it seems like the entire world has resolved to find a better or more challenging job. No recruiters or hiring managers work in December, right? Wrong! Sure, the volume of job seekers on the market tends to drop in December but that is a definite GOOD thing for people looking for a new job. Recruiters and hiring managers have more time to read through your resume, set up interviews, and generally aren't as harried as other parts of the year. In January, those same recruiters and hiring managers are buried in resumes from people who waited for the New Year to start their job searches.
Another negative that most people see in a December job search is the lag in response time from recruiters or employers in responding to inquiries. People are on vacation or they are leaving work early to shop or attend holiday festivities. Let's be honest here for a moment - when is the last time you got an IMMEDIATE response from a recruiter or hiring manager that wasn't an autoresponder message? I bet it was in 1987 or so. Lag time happens and you might as well get your resume in there first before the onslaught of 2007 arrives and crashes their servers.
Now is the time to get your resume prepared rather than waiting until after January 1. We quote a three-to-five day turnaround but it's helpful to have a little extra thinking time in there and not be rushed when working on strategy. Low volume is a much better time for a resume writer than a high volume time.
Getting started ahead of the rush gives you more time to plan and get organized for your job search. The better organized you are the better your results and the faster the hire. Not to mention, your job search expenditures will count on this year's tax deductions if you get it done before the end of December!
So get moving on your job search now. Don't put it off just to be in the crowds of millions!