Fall is a Peak Hiring Season – Are You Ready?

Re-Blogged From The Goodwill ® Blog by Randy Wooden

As we approach fall, it’s back to school time and the end of summer vacations. Fall also marks one of the top two “seasons” for hiring. Are you ready to make the most of this peak hiring time?

Yes, fall and the first quarter of the year are typically the most active in terms of hiring. Let’s take a few minutes today to ensure you’re ready.

Do you have a resume? If not, put one together and be sure to customize it to make it match as closely as is truthful to the job for which you’re applying. Instead of having a family member review your resume, try to get a recruiter or hiring official look it over. Family members mean well, but often times either don’t want to challenge you or, possibly, they really don’t know what constitutes a good resume in the first place.

Are there certain companies you think you’d like to work for? Even if they aren’t presently listing openings, that’ll change. You’ll want to be front of mind when that happens. Showing interest in a company by getting to know people there – before they advertise an opening – goes a long way toward standing out when there is an opening.

If you’re a professional – or desire to become one – are you on LinkedIn? More and more, companies are using LinkedIn to source candidates… candidates who might not otherwise know about that company’s opening. Once you’ve put together a good resume, then focus your attention on building a solid LinkedIn profile page.

What about staffing companies/headhunters? Make them aware you’re looking. Quite often employers will use a staffing company as the entry point to eventually getting hired full time. In other words, the employer wants to “try you before they buy you.” For many positions, you have to go through the staffing firm, so get to know them sooner versus later.

If you’ve set up your resume on sites like Indeed, Monster, etc., double check them to ensure your information is up to date. Do you have additional duties or accomplishments to list? Even if it is up to date, make a simple edit or two so that your resume is now pushed back up very high when companies conduct a search for resumes based on ‘most recent.’

We’ve all probably heard the term, “Make hay while the sun shines.” Well, the period between Labor Day and mid-November is your chance to make some real headway. Hopefully today’s checklist will help ensure you’re doing all you can to land that next job. Good luck!