It's the most wonderful time of the year... for TA

I'm writing this while listening to Hannah Grace with a very relaxed version of 'Merry Christmas everyone'. I know it's early December, but the holiday feeling always starts very early with me, the dark outside, the lights and candles inside. Cold winter mornings and warm winter coats. Although I love the sun and beach, the winter has something magical. While summer brings a lot of energy around in and around me, winter brings me a feeling of inner peace, of thoughts. Extravert vs introvert. I'm a seasonal beast that uses these natural changes for benefit. planning vs execution, building foundations vs iterations, architecting vs operations.

Anyways... It's the start of the holiday season in a big part of the world and that's good news for the Talent Acquisition / Recruiting world.

In December people start looking back at the last year, the years before and basically, they look at their life. Maybe not this early in the month, but as a big part of the world is going into the holiday season they are taking a break from work life and then it happens.

Family and friends! Even during these unprecedented times we live in, we still heavily rely on family and friends. Although we shifted to meeting people in smaller groups, spreading out our social behaviour or taking it to virtual video calls, we are still people and people bond, talk, share, laugh, cry and feel.

Sounds nice, right? Especially around Christmas and the western New Year celebrations, we tend to talk more to people. Family, friends, colleagues, it's a time of being together, sharing, caring, giving and receiving and that's great. But.. There is always a but!

While business life is slowing down and people connect more, people will start asking you 'hey, how's work?', 'Have you received that promotion yet?', 'what is in store for you next year?', 'How's your job.. still happy?'. All questions with good intentions and suddenly that cousins, friend or (ex-)colleague starts to talk about how well they are doing, or what is in store for them and you think.. hold on?! And that's when it happens! That's the moment where it becomes 'the most wonderful time of the year'.

You start to reflect on your personal life, your professional life, your accomplishments and your ambitions. But also on happiness in where you are at the moment. Now 'You' can be a professional in the TA/Recruiting world, but 'You' can also be that professional in tech finance, healthcare, aviation etc etc. 'You' can be the hiring party and the (maybe) available to hire party.

December is the perfect time to listen to all those people around you and listen. Not just talk but listen. Are they happy? Why are they happy? What are they doing to be so happy? it all comes down to 'Why'. Or, when they are not happy ask the question 'Why?'.

Why? Well, by talking to people, by listening to them you learn what you want. It's pretty simple. If you stay in your bubble either at work or personal life, you just do not know what is going on somewhere else and that somewhere else can be better or worse.

When reflecting on where you are in life, you can't do that without looking at other people. Sometimes it feels like you have a crappy job, but then you relate it to other people and actually think, hold on... my perspective might be wrong. Or, you learn that you have been undervalued, overworked and underappreciated. It can go both ways, and that's where December shows it's magic.

A lot of people in the Talent acquisition / Recruitment world say December is the slowest month in hiring. But while it might be harder to get people in the hiring process due to vacation etc. It's the PERFECT time to reach out to all that talent around the world because this is the season where people are thinking about their past, present and future. This is when they reflect on where they were, are and want to be. This is when you might show them an opportunity that wasn't interesting to them a month ago but suddenly became very interesting and relevant.

It's like Scrooge's ghosts but nicer. It's all about perspective.

So TA/Recruiting professionals: Spend your time sourcing for that amazing talent, because around Christmas and New Years they might change their mind about where they are. Branding/TA marketing teams, get your content out there. Companies, show your worth because this a time where people are thinking about their lives and 'You' can have a positive impact on their life.

And "You' the professional outside of TA/Recruiting: After some reflecting... are you happy? Because this is the time the TA/Recruiting world would love to talk to you. This is the time for you to reach out. Forget about 'companies are slowing down hiring due to budget at the end of the year', forget about 'It makes no sense to apply now as they will be on vacation or wrapping up the year'. Think about being on top of mind, being pro-active, being present. Oh, and if you are happy, share that as well. People need to know why so they can learn from it, maybe even join your team.

December is a magical month. It brings us together and makes us reflect. and that reflection brings another magical thing called 'change'.

Guess what.. with winter slowing down everything, the new year can bring the change you want, that you needed because YOU took action in time.

December... It's the most wonderful time of the year, for TA

(These are my own personal views)