Avoid this common year-end trap

You might be holding back, but now's actually a brilliant time to seek out new talent or a new job!

Personally, I refuse to go along with the mindset that now we’ve reached November it’s all done and dusted for the calendar year, and nothing more will happen or change until 2025. There are still six weeks of the year left! And I love the fact that we’ve got more than four months until the end of the financial year. Soooo much happens in six weeks, and as for more than four months, that’s a whole third of the year.

It’s really not all over yet! There’s still time…

At Moxie and Mettle, we have roles with clients who are actively recruiting, arranging first and second interviews, with jobs ready for new people to start in November and December (as well as January), so it’s definitely full steam ahead as far as we are concerned! And we have many recruiter friends in the same situation.

Whether you are looking for a job, seeking new freelance clients or recruiting some people, let’s chat through some ideas and advice.

Expanding your team?

Let’s start with those of you who are recruiting, or planning to, in the next few months. December is a brilliant time to seek out new talent and advertise your roles. Many candidates take time off over the festive period, so they have time to get their CVs up to date, make applications, and search for roles. Loads of people have the goal of a new role in the new year or very soon afterwards. For those clients and employers looking for a new person to start in January, with notice periods to consider, you really need to get started now!

Avoid this common trap

So many people fall into the trap of waiting until the new year to advertise their roles. Instead, get your job posted now and keep advertising it. This way, it’ll get much more attention from the active job seekers using their time off to find a new role.

Remember to be clear in your advertising about when candidates can expect a response and what your ideal timings are for interviewing and appointing. Also explain when you’d like your new hire to start (it’s good practice to put at least a rough guide to all of this in your advertising whenever you are recruiting, but especially around holiday times).

Our fellow recruiters over at Elizabeth Michael have some more ideas and thoughts on this too: https://www.elizabethmichael.co.uk/news/why-recruiting-in-december-is-a-good-idea

Is it really possible to find a new job in December?

Now, some advice for those looking for a permanent job or fixed-term contract - get busy! Bearing in mind what we’ve talked about above, jobs will be advertised all the time until the end of the year, so you need to make sure you have all the relevant job alerts set up from LinkedIn and all the relevant job boards (some ideas on that later on in this newsletter). Are you signed up for daily alerts, not just weekly or monthly? The job market and available jobs change rapidly… using Moxie and Mettle as an example, yesterday we filled two jobs, a client made a direct offer, and we took two new roles. So what was on our website at 9.00 am was very different by 4.00 pm.

These simple actions can help you find your dream role:

Make sure your CV is completely up to date and detailed with all your achievements and successes.

Create a covering letter that can be tailored to each job you apply for.

Tell people in your network that you’re looking for a job. (I realise this can be tricky if you are in employment and your current employer isn’t aware you are looking—that’s where a recruiter can come in handy, too!)

Are you registered with the right recruitment agencies for your particular skills, and have you updated them in the last week or so with what you are looking for in terms of a job role, your salary expectations, and your requirements for working patterns?

Do your recruitment consultants have your very latest CV? It’s not impossible that you can find a new role in December, but you do have to start now, don’t wait.

What if I’m freelance and seeking new clients?

For freelancers, the to-do list is the same at this time of year as any other… and it consists of all of the above, plus my favourite suggestion…

List 50 brands, businesses, organisations or people you’d like to work with. Doesn’t have to be a fancy spreadsheet, just a handwritten list on a piece of paper will do to start with.

Ensure your LinkedIn profile is 100% perfect, especially the information in your banner and headline. (Join our private Facebook group if you would like me to go through that with you).

Find the decision makers in each company you are keen to work with, or the actual person you want to work with.

Send a connection request, There is no need for a message unless you really want to say something very specific, and there is definitely no need for a generic message.

Follow the company on LinkedIn, or their newsletter on Substack (or wherever). Be (virtually or in person) where they are and comment on their posts. Within a few days of connecting with them, send them your portfolio and/or CV, ideally by email, with a short note explaining what you are looking for, your capacity and availability, your day rate and why you’d particularly like to work with them.

You need to get very comfortable with promoting yourself and your skills. I have the same question for freelancers as I shared for job seekers above: does everyone in your network know you are available for new clients? And even more importantly, is it clear in your headline on LinkedIn what you can offer to clients in terms of your skills and experience?

Make it easy for people to book you! Are all your contact details in your contact information on LinkedIn? It amazes me how people don’t have any contact details in there… I'd advise including phone number, email address, links to your website or portfolio, the whole lot.

As always, I am happy to chat and especially up to the end of the year if you’d like some direct advice and tips to keep you active in your people or job search for the next few weeks.

Take care,

Liz

Liz Gadd | 07377 400413 | [email protected] | www.linktr.ee/lizgadd

Recruitment Bootcamp, by Liz Gadd from Moxie and Mettle

The updated version of Recruitment Bootcamp is now available. Written by yours truly, this is a practical and informative online course (which you access at your pace). It takes you through 10 unique modules of learning best practices in recruitment. Designed with the creative sector in mind, you’ll receive in-depth information which will help you shape your recruitment policies and systems, and ensure you save money and time on recruitment for the future.

There are loads of bonuses for Recruitment Bootcamp clients, too, including a guided version and one-to-one training from me! Get ahead for 2025 and sort your recruitment policies and procedures out, will save you time and money going forward.

Happy to have a call to explain how it all works, please email [email protected] to book a time

The Easiest Choice

I’m a big fan of marketing and LinkedIn coach and trainer, Lyndsey Meredith, who offers a unique combination of marketing strategy, positive psychology skills, and LinkedIn expertise. Lyndsey’s style of course content delivery is superb: engaging, interesting, super informative, and giving action points that are manageable and achievable.

About Lyndsey’s business:

“The Easiest Choice is all about helping you to build a personal brand that attracts the clients you love to work with, and I'll be using my unique skill set as a marketing strategist, positive psychology coach and subconscious marketer to help you to build a brand with authenticity and confidence that stands out for all of the right reasons and attracts the clients you love to work with. Because, let's face it... you know you're amazing at what you do and it's about time that everyone else did too!” The Easiest Choice Podcast, book and new website will be launching very soon so watch this space! Lyndsey is running a fabulous four-week course starting 20th November to ensure you finish 2024 on a high with an action plan and lots of new knowledge about how to market yourself or your business.

https://lyndsey-meredith.mykajabi.com/theeasiestchoiceacceleratoroffer and coupon code EARLYBIRD takes the pricing back down to ￡47+VAT

Handy Links

To start or continue your job hunt, here’s a list of job and news sites for marketing, PR, creative, communications, digital marketing, events and social media people.

The Guardian - jobs listings, nationwide

Only Marketing Jobs - jobs and company profiles

Campaign Live - jobs and news

The Drum - source of information and news

PR Week Jobs - nationwide PR and communications roles

Design Jobs Board - international jobs including remote

Creative Access - internships and opportunities

Top tip: if the sites you like to read don’t have job listings, why not sign up for their newsletter and contact some of the people featured in there, if they’re of interest to you for a job or as a new client.

Have you always wanted to write a book ?

Our friend Helen Jane Campbell is hosting a free Q&A with a literary agent aimed at new writers and authors-to-be. You can join them live, online, on 3rd December. The free workshop also includes a taster of Helen’s popular Write The Book group. To grab your free place, visit her website HERE