There's No Gift Like a New Job for the Holidays
If youve found yourself in the market for a job post-Thanksgiving, you may be tempted to wait until the New Year to truly dive into your search. Why bother pounding the pavement when no ones hiringor in the case of restaurants, when a chef/owner is too slammed with holiday business to interview or train you properly?
Here are 5 reasons why theres no time like the present to get out there:
1. The fact that youre signing up during the busiest, most stressful time of the year shows a potential employer that youre not afraid of hard work. Better yet, If youre coming to their rescue by filling in for an inconsiderate, no-show cook, youve already added bonus points to your application.
2. This is the most social time of the year! Youre getting together with friends and family, and if youre actively engaged in a job search, chances are that will come up in conversation. The more people who know what youre looking for, the more ears to the ground youve got out there. This is particularly good advice to keep in mind for some of the non-traditional areas of the food industry, like food media or marketing, which rely heavily on networking for the recruitment of candidates.
3. The pool of available, qualified candidates is much smaller this time of year, because any cook who wants to use their current chef or manager as a reference in the future would never jump ship during the holidays! Those are looking for a chance typically stay put through the holiday rush and reevaluate options in January/February. Available openings right now should be seen as mission-critical positions, and your resume is much more likely to get consideration when not buried in a flood of applications.
4. Some positions will be listed as temporarycreated simply to keep up with the demands of the season. If youre a savvy jobseeker and make a point of getting to know the ins and outs of the business during your time there, youll be first in line for a permanent position once one opens up.
5. Getting out there now gives you a psychological advantage over other job seekers who fall in to the New Years Resolution camp, vowing to get serious about a new career once the Times Square ball drops. If youve already taken care of resume writing, interview preparations, and arranging meetings/trails, youll be the candidate with a job offer firmly in hand. So resist the trend to wait until the holidays are overbecause a new career is the best gift anyone could ask for.
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