RICHtip - Help! How do I find a job during the holidays?

because people think, oh, it's fourth quarter, it's December of the fourth quarter, it's year-end, it's holidays, people are distracted. But this will lend into also what we're going to talk about as far as if you were to get laid off, as our, our, uh, person did, that Monday after Thanksgiving. And she wants to understand why that is, that they always wait till the Monday after Thanksgiving. You know, she's throwing up her hands thinking, "Oh well, it's December 5th and there's not much I'm going to be able to do before the end of the year." Eh, not so fast, not so fast. We'll get into all that when we get back. Different scenario from one of our listeners, but that whole question of it being even the holiday season, you know, do I have the right to ask for a promotion or a raise?. But in this case, it's really about an individual who's been laid off. Now raise your hand if you are a boss and you've had to let people go that lovely Monday after a long Thanksgiving weekend. I'm raising my hand up high because I've had to do that my entire career. And so therefore, I'll give you an idea and give you kind of some insights as to what bosses and leaders are thinking about when they They do that. It feels really ugly, I know. Now raise your hand if you've been laid off like this individual, if you've been laid off that lovely Monday after Thanksgiving. And I'm gonna raise my hand to that too, because on November 7th, 8th, something like that of 2008— no, 2007, the Monday after Thanksgiving, I too was— sure, I'll call it laid off. It was more like fired, but I'll call it laid off. So this individual wants to know kind of what do I do? It's, you know, now it's even December 5th, it's the holiday, it's the last month of the year, so forth and so on. What options does she have and what is going on? Why do businesses wait until that lovely Monday right before the holidays when everybody wants to spend money and kind of have a great you know, holiday, why do they wait to do that? Well, don't take it personally. I know that's hard. That's hard to take in when it's you being let go. Don't take it personally. What I mean by that is it purely comes down to money. That Monday, it's kind of getting the books as clean and as consolidated as possible before year-end results. It's really, you know, the opportunity for them to streamline what their expense structure looks like before the end of the year and as they go into the new year. So it's really just, you know, monies, you know, their budgets get slashed, their budgets get reorganized. What they had this year doesn't look the same as what they need to have come January 1st, and therefore those type of decisions are always made. If you, if you think about it, especially if you are in corporate and you've been there a while and you've been maybe with the same company for a while, the fourth quarter, you know, including the November-December time period, is also when major restructures are done. So it's just a matter of economics. So yes, you are going to take it personally because it's you that's affected. Affected, but recognize that it's really, you know, about money unless you are let go or fired for your own performance issues. But in this case, that isn't the case. So just know that what's going on in, in bosses' heads is actually other bosses coming down on them saying, "I need you to cut 10%," or "I need you to restructure," or whatever the case might be, and it's a matter of numbers. Plain and simple. That doesn't make you feel better, but, um, uh, it's the way it is. Now, what can you do about it because it's December 5th? A lot, a lot, a lot. Because now I'm going to kind of flip on what I just said. For many companies as well, it is a matter of consolidation, it's a matter of restructuring, it's a matter of cutting costs. At the same time, it's not for all companies. For all companies that do that, it might also be because they want to, they want to move that money into other areas of their business. So one is, even with the company that you're with, unless you're flat-out fired and asked not to ever come back again, you might even be able to find another job within the company, and it's a matter of asking, you know, am I able to move into another division or another department? Who might have dollars, who might even get more dollars because of, of the changes that they're making. Uh, you— other companies are certainly going to be hiring. Uh, the other thing about November-December time period is as they are doing those cost cuts and restructuring and planning for the next year, they're also seeing where their gaps are, where their holes are for people. Uh, so don't assume that because it's December you're not going to be able to find a job because the other case is some, a lot of companies actually, you either spend the budget or you lose it. So if they're making these changes and they have budget left over, even before they made the changes they still had monies left over, they need to spend it before the end of the year or, you know, the leaders assume that they don't need that money to operate because they were able to operate all year round without it, and therefore a lot of managers are told, "Use it or lose it." And so don't assume that companies are just shutting down and closing up for the year. They want to be making hiring decisions and buying decisions in the month of December to make sure, one, they spent the money and they are using monies that they know they're gonna need. More also that they want to be staffed properly properly come January 1st. Now, could they be, you know, staffed properly on January 15th or February 15th? Sure. But the smart companies are also looking at the fact that that year starts ticking, and those results have to start ticking come January 1st at 12:01. So don't think that December is just everybody shuts down. Now, do, you know, decision makers Do they shut down at a certain point? Absolutely. But I'll tell you what, the one thing, if anything, I learned from corporate is you have the powers to be, especially when it comes to closing deals. You have the powers to be working 24/7 to get deals closed and to get paperwork submitted and to get a lot of things done all the way up until that last minute of the year. So, you know, ask questions. Don't make assumptions is what I'll tell you to do. So what else could you be doing knowing that? Well, you could be submitting resumes and reaching out and, um, and applying for jobs. You could be going on to LinkedIn and updating your profile and making sure that it says, uh, rich and, and, um, specific to what it is that you're looking for. You could be doing research on LinkedIn. They've made it tremendously beneficial for you to do research on the type of companies that you're gonna wanna work with and, and the type of jobs and roles that those companies specifically have. And then you can even track down who the hiring managers are, who the direct report manager is, and you can be reaching out and building your network and, and doing a lot of networking right there online. December is a great month because of the kind of the quieting down of business. It's a great month to really get your act together, make sure your resume is up to date, make sure you're— like I said, your LinkedIn profile is up to date, make sure you're out on, you know, hiring, Indeed.com type of sites, search for a recruiter. You know, if you're at a certain level and there's executive recruiters out there, there's technical labor recruiters out there. You could be doing a lot of things right now, and you could be finding work right now. Uh, let me see what else I put on here just so I don't, um— oh, this is also a great time of year, especially if you were just laid off recently, which the Monday after Thanksgiving, um, was recent. This is also a good time for you because you probably didn't take any time to do it for— to reach out to people that could be writing you recommendations and testimonials. That can be right there on LinkedIn, and do the research as to how to go about doing that. But you could be also enriching your resume and your profile and your business case. Go back and listen to the other conversation that we had on the question around how to build an effective request for a promotion or a raise, or in this case for this person a request for a job. Again, you want to be effective in how you go about pursuing a job, and maybe we'll do that at another time. I'll kind of give you some insights on what makes a really great applicant and what a hiring manager is looking for, and not only in kind of the, the person, but also how they present themselves and how they submitted their application and what was stayed in that, and, you know, what differentiators did they create for themselves apart from just the basic, um, I'm looking for a job type of, um, application. All right, so those are some things that you could be doing, uh, despite being laid off. And I'll wish you well and hope that you, uh, have a kind of quick turnaround. The economy is great, There are some, you know, there are a lot of competitive industries and companies right now, but based on your skill set, based on what type of role and job you're looking for, there may be competition, there may not be, and even when there is, you just need to create a differentiator for yourself and not hesitate going after anything that you want despite how heavily competitive it might be. All right, so hopefully that, that helped, and happy holidays. It will all work out if you put your head down and you do the things that need to get done. All right.