HRevolution

When work goes flat. Everyone in the office still comes in as early but with the appearance of Christmas cookies in the lounge and holiday invitations things start to tail off. Not for everyone, mind you, but the place slows down.

In recruiting, you have insiders and outsiders. The insiders - recruiters & hiring managers - tend to behave as though nothing changes during the holidays. Business as usual, no stopping this train. Outsiders, however, feel the slowdown in a big way. It's hard to jobhunt during the holidays - scheduling an interview can be tricky when the interviewers are trying to use up their remaining vacation days. And if you think scheduling an interview is tough, try getting to a hiring decision. For whatever reason, hiring decisions are avoided during the holidays. Jobseekers pick up on this. Nothing much is going to happen during the holidays, so unless you're in retail, why work hard? Just keep coming in at the same time.