Worst time of year for jobseekers

[Anonymous]

Dh and i BOTH just got laid off. Going into a 2 week stretch where nothing happens in the working world, kids are off school, older relatives want to be entertained and holiday stuff needs to happen, but all I can think of is desperately needing to fix career is SO stressful. The financial issue is real.
why why why people think it's ok to lay people off right before the holidays is beyond me.

[Anonymous]

I’m sorry! Use this time to take care of yourselves and try to enjoy the break from work. I know it’s hard when you’re stressed about money but, to the extent you can, make lemonade out of lemons. Also, this gives you to spruce up your resume and put your game plane in place, making you ready to spring into action in the new year.

[Anonymous]

Oof, sorry OP. I hope you can find something easily.

DH will be job hunting in the new year, his contract ends on the 1st but it's almost impossibleto get ahead of it because people are out for the holidays. It's tough.

[Anonymous]

I agree that the job market may not be as robust over the holidays but I once interviewed for a job between x-mas and new years because I was around and could and the manager really needed help so was motivated to use some of their holiday downtime to try to fill the role. I got the job. Don't check out these next two weeks. Good things can happen.

Fingers crossed for you and your husband!

[Anonymous]

Sorry to hear OP. I was out of work this time last year and it was so hard. Best wishes to you.

[Anonymous]

I'm so sorry, OP! It's fine if you don't want to do all the Holiday things you usually do. No one is going to die, and you need to cut back on spending anyway.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry. I've been in your shoes...I was looking for a job in December and i remember how frustrating it was since nobody really got moving until after the holidays and I felt like I was just sitting around sending out applications into thin air. The good news is one of the jobs I applied for in December eventually did call me back for an interview in February (I actually forgot I applied by the time I heard from them) and I started a new job in late March that I really love and pays better than my last one did. So hang in there.

[Anonymous]

I am so sorry. we just went through lay offs as well and with the looming govt shutdown, we are terrified.

[Anonymous]

And people don't even really start working until the 3rd week of January because the 2nd week of January will be a catch-up week.

I'm getting lots of OOO notifications today that tell me the person's office will be closed until Jan 6.

[Anonymous]

Work the phones and peruse LinkedIn. Make contact with former colleagues and business contacts to put feelers out.

[Anonymous]

I think I posted this on another thread of yours, but my corporate outplacement firm recommended having a list of 20 target employers at all times. Then working to contact those companies.

Have you developed a concrete list of target employers? If not, do that.

My MBA alumni association recently had a program by this guy below. Get up to speed with AI because that's the new hotness in corp HR. If you are doing online apps, you need to know some new tricks. In mamy cases, bots are pre-screening.

Best wishes for you to speedily find a new job.

"Join Jeremy Schifeling - one of OpenAI's first GPT-4 partners and an early LinkedIn leader - for a deep dive into how to put AI + LinkedIn to work in your job search.

You can get a taste for what to expect here: https://www.thejobinsiders.com/welcome

Jeremy Schifeling | Founder, The Job Insiders
Author of the #1 ChatGPT for Careers Best-Seller on Amazon"

[Anonymous]

Make lists of whom you will contact on Jan 6 and plan what you'll say. Gear up interview outfit for those in-person ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dh and i BOTH just got laid off. Going into a 2 week stretch where nothing happens in the working world, kids are off school, older relatives want to be entertained and holiday stuff needs to happen, but all I can think of is desperately needing to fix career is SO stressful. The financial issue is real.
why why why people think it's ok to lay people off right before the holidays is beyond me.

What do you guys do? Same company? Separate?

[Anonymous]

DW just got laid off and you're right, not a lot of job postings now. She got a 60 day WARN notice period so she has a little runway but it's stressful not being able to start the process now.

[Anonymous]

They don't want to pay your holiday benefits or invite you to the holiday party. They get holiday bonuses from the extra money from laying off people because they don't know how else to increase profits.