I talked to a lot of candidates this week who said that they had put their search on the back burner because they figured no one was going to make hiring decisions until the fall.
Wrong.
I see lots of action happening this summer. It would be a mistake to write off the next four weeks.
It used to be that people, especially senior leaders, took two weeks off every summer and really checked out. They went on a big family trip or they spent time at the cottage. No calling in, no messages, nothing. All you needed were two stakeholders doing this back to back and the whole hiring process got derailed. Now that isn't as common. My clients are going for a week at a time and then its usually over one of the long weekends.
The other current trend that helps the hiring process is stay-cations. This is where someone is out of the office for a week but they still check in once or twice each day. I did this myself and really enjoyed it. It was kind of like having nine Saturdays in a row. Productive and relaxing for sure.
The best part was that there was no Sunday night panic about what I was coming back to. I arrived fresh and aware on Monday morning. This allows projects, like hiring people, to keep rolling and promotes smooth handovers between stakeholders.
So don’t turn off the networking machine. Don’t stop applying and sending inquiries. More people are paying attention than you think.