New job: How to leverage the Christmas period for career success

Turn the silly season into the smart season, by using the Christmas break to your career advantage.

Never stop applying for jobs – even in the lead up to Christmas.

Business does not stop dead.

Employers will still be hiring and firing.

The competitive advantage of being on the job hunt at the end of the year is that a lot of other people will not be looking right now or during the Christmas break.

For large companies in particular, they will not leave recruitment for three months.

Many are struggling to find people and the smart companies will not leave vacancies there for too long because it is putting pressure on the team.

Don’t stop your job hunt over Christmas. Picture: iStock.

All said and done, in the Christmas break most people only have two weeks off.

It’s not that much.

People go from December 20 to January 2 and they are back – it’s not a three month break.

My advice is to always be applying for jobs and to keep looking all year ‘round, but there are also other ways you can make the most of the end-of-year period.

BUILD CONNECTIONS

This is a good time to focus on your LinkedIn.

Reach out to people you want to build connections with.

They are probably not being emailed as much during this period so you will have more access to them.

GET A TOP-UP JOB

If you have been forced to take annual leave but have energy to burn, now could be the time to do a short stint in a different role.

It could be you have a job but you can get extra work for cash.

You could do a job over the weekends when demand is high because of the Christmas period – for example, in a cafe, in a retail store, in hospitality and tourism.

An employer might need someone to work Saturdays or Sundays just for a while.

People don’t realise you can do that to top up cash if you need it.

Amanda Rose says there are lots of ways to work on your career during the break. Picture: Monique Harmer

WORK ON YOURSELF

While things are slower at work, you may have time to enrol in a course and gain new skills.

You can also review your year and make a career plan for the next year.

Maybe you could even do voluntary work in a new industry that you have always wanted to try.

Don’t waste the time you have.

Be ready to kick off 2022.

It’s a great opportunity.

Amanda Rose is a business consultant, workplace trainer, LinkedIn influencer and founder of six organisations – and now she is tackling your career questions for SMART Daily every week.

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