Why Now is the Best Time of Year to Job Search 2025-2026

Last week, we spent five full days together building and fine-tuning your résumé.

You now have a marketing document that’s designed to get you noticed.

But here’s the #1 mistake most job seekers make right now… they slow down.

They assume the holidays are dead time.

They think no one’s hiring until January.

They coast into the new year.

That couldn’t be further from the truth.

November through February is THE BEST time of year to land a new role.

Companies evaluate their budgets.

They make sure to spend the current year’s budget so they don’t lose it.

They prepare next year’s budgets and identify the resources.

Then, they hurry to start recruiting because people aren’t teleported on January 2.

They panic because employees who didn’t get the promotions or raises leave. And then they have more seats to fill.

All these employee mobility spikes mean opportunities for you.

But only if you’re in the game! 

If you step off the gas now, you’re handing those jobs to someone else.

That’s what I cover in today’s podcast…

If you'd like to build a great career and lead a rewarding life, check out some of these other places where I share my teachings:

1. Check out the milewalk Academy, my coaching and training site, for freemiums and premiums.

2. I have hundreds of educational and inspirational videos on my YouTube Channel.

3. Grab any of my four books related to career development, interviewing, hiring, and goal setting. All can be found on my Amazon Author Page.

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
November hits, which is really peak hiring season. And if you do not understand this, let me explain
this to you. Generally, not always, but most of the time, many companies follow a fiscal year.
They follow a fiscal year where they run January to December aligned with the calendar. In October,
a lot of organizations, they take a look at all the projects that they're they're doing for the

(00:25):
current year. They start planning to complete those and they start planning for the following
year to get their budgets in order and their projects in order. A lot of times this goes
on in October. And so what they're what they're often doing is they have budgets they're going to
lose if they do not spend them by the end of the year. So they want to spend spend spend.

(00:46):
If their projects are going on track and or they've created some some cushion, they want
to spend those dollars otherwise they're going to lose them. So, they want to hire people and get
people in earlier. And if they don't, if they're still just trying to to stack up for January,
new projects, new budgets, new inspirations, and I need people to get rolling right when

(01:06):
the new year gets going. Well, we don't we don't Star Trek you or time warp you on January 1st,
right? The interviewing process takes time. The hiring you and getting you in takes time. On
boarding you takes time. And while people are yes taking some time off during the holidays,
organizations do not shut down. They a lot of them hurry up after October, they start to panic that

(01:30):
they don't have enough time to get the people in to get the projects rolling as soon as they can
in January. And then not to mention a lot of these are leadership positions. Those leaders then need
to hire additional people that where they build out their teams. So I as an executive recruiter,
I told you well first off I was a corporate practitioner. I went through this every year
in October when I would run business and business units as an executive recruiter. Cara and I and

(01:55):
the team, if all we worked was November through February, we'd never have to work the rest of the
year because we made hay in those months because of the number of placements that we made. Believe
me, it doesn't matter what the market is. And not only are there new projects, new budgets,
new inspirations, but also because of the mobility that occurs around the end of the year

(02:17):
and the beginning of the new year, organizations that didn't even plan on hiring some people are
losing people to these other organizations who are pulling them away. People are tick they didn't get
their promotions. They're tick they didn't get their payraises. They're they've had it. They,
you know, they don't feel appreciated. They want to move on to a new employer. Well, there's a
position I have to refill that I didn't even plan on on having to to fill as a growth position. So,

(02:41):
there is a high there's a high level of mobility during these months. I do not want you to mail it
in while everybody else is falling asleep at the wheel and taking time off for the holidays. I want
your job search in high gear. Any career coach who tells you, "Oh, I know you're hurting. I want you
to slow down. Enjoy time with the family." They should lose their career coaching license. Yes,

(03:03):
I want you to spend time with your family. Yes, I don't want you to stress, but I don't want
you to miss the highest traction time that you're likely to have. October is one of the dead months,
and I know even people in my programs are are getting hired right now. So don't