Why interviewing in August is a smart and effective strategy

August is traditionally one of the slowest months for hiring. The delay is comparable to the December holiday season. The main reason for the usual lull in the hiring process is that August is the last chance for summer vacation. Most families take vacations around Christmas, Hanukkah, and during the summer months, especially August.

A new mood is being created for the unofficial last month of summer. Three-day weekends, summer Fridays, and mental time off from work are common practices. An unwritten rule is that this is the best time for families to take their long-awaited trips to Disney, visit family, fly to Europe, explore interesting destinations in America or relax on a sunny beach reading a silly novel or just in a moment of peace and tranquility.

What to anticipate when conducting an interview

If you’re in search mode, be prepared for more than the usual ghosting, lack of communication, and lack of feedback. As it is the main travel and sightseeing season, there will be a turnstile effect in companies. One by one they will leave the office.

An interview scheduled weeks in advance would be canceled the night before because HR said they had a cold and had to reschedule. They most likely emailed the change from their summer home in the Hamptons or Catskills.

After a miraculous recovery, the HR person is back at work, but now the hiring manager is on a two-week vacation. As soon as the manager comes back, there is a domino effect, all the other parties involved in the interview process say they will be on vacation or away for a few days. You’ve probably been notified about the process, and now the emails, texts, and phone calls have decreased. This pattern will continue for the rest of the month until the first two weeks of September.

There will always be some possibilities

Don’t lose hope and don’t stop your search. You cannot generalize that everything stops. There will always be a small number of roles that management deems essential and need to be filled immediately.

For the crucial open roles, you will have a big advantage if you are actively looking for a job. Fewer applicants will compete for the same job as they are on leave. Even if people don’t leave, they mentally unsubscribe.

A smart counter-plan is to aggressively look for work while there is less competition. That’s how you stand out. With fewer resumes sent out, yours will resonate with the hiring manager. Seasoned HR professionals and long-time managers know that if they neglect to hire in the latter part of the summer, they will be inundated with angry requests from managers screaming, “Why don’t I have applicants for my open positions?”

The forward-thinking people involved in the hiring process recognize that things may be slow moving, but they will proactively build a solid pool of candidates willing and ready to interview once mid-September rolls around. They know that mid-September is like that back-to-school mentality. It feels like summer and fun are over and it’s time to get serious and focused again.

The behind-the-scenes reasons why businesses will hire now

Smart hiring managers know from experience that they will be caught out in September and October if they don’t keep hiring now. If they wait until September to resume the hiring cycle, the time frame can take three to six months to post job postings online, review the backlog of delayed resume searches, retain recruiters to help with hard-to-find prospects, conduct interviews, perform background checks and prepare an offer. The offeree will require two or three weeks plus for their notice period. This would put you at a start date of late November or early December, which causes major problems.

White-collar professionals in sectors like Wall Street and technology rely heavily on their huge bonuses. In a blazing hot market, companies would buy bonuses to entice a person to join their organization. This is not an insignificant amount of money. An investment banker or software engineer can expect high five-figure bonuses.

An August appointment allows someone to qualify for a bonus if they change jobs. The longer time goes by, companies may not want to buy out or give a person a $50,000 bonus just for working a month or so at the new company.

In this current economy and job market characterized by uncertainty, including rapid inflation, recession, possible stagflation, layoffs, rescinding job offers, and hiring freezes, it is more than likely that companies will not want to shell out a significant bonus. Instead, they will pass on the applicant and wait for someone else who does not require a large bonus award.

Look for work, but also practice self-care

Understandably, people don’t want to embark on an extended job search in brutally hot weather. It’s not pleasant to walk into a subway station in New York when it’s 95 degrees and humid outside. The temperature rises uncomfortably as you wait by the railway lines. After leaving the crowded train car sandwiched between two sweaty people, you’ll have to walk about 10 blocks to the in-person interview building. By the time you arrive, you’re already sweaty, your clothes are wrinkled, your hair is disheveled, and you’re starting to get cranky and irritable. This is not the best way to shine on a first date.

Despite the challenges, you should still keep interviewing. After more than two years of relentless stress and anxiety, taking time for self-care isn’t unreasonable. You owe it to yourself to process the effects of the pandemic, try to figure out what will happen with runaway inflation and recession, and ask yourself if job cuts and hiring freezes are the new normal. With the slower pace of the office and the ability to get away while working remotely, it’s easy to just stop for a while and decompress.

What companies should do

After all these years, you’d think executives would see the cycles and take action. It would make sense for business leaders to request vacation schedules that would facilitate streamlining and speeding up the hiring process.

Businesses lose two or more months of interviewing and screening candidates if they don’t take proactive measures. Once companies return to a normal schedule, there will be pent-up hiring demand without enough applicants. Feeling ghostly, some may have given up. The best talent will have already found work at more motivated, candidate-friendly companies.

Management should embrace the summer vibe. With 4 million Americans leaving their jobs each month, if companies fail to hire in August, the least they can do is stem the tide of attrition.

At the slower pace, team leaders need to schedule time to talk with their staff. They could go to an off-site location and the worker could share their goals. The manager, in turn, can respond to their wishes, ask for feedback, provide praise for their achievements, and share constructive criticism that would help them grow and thrive.

The bottom row

August is a great time to both enjoy a relaxing summer and look for a great new job as there will be less competition and you can stand out.