For job hunters, the summer is not a hospitable time to seek new employment. As workers start taking their vacations and using their paid time off to enjoy leisurely three-day weekends, it becomes exceedingly challenging to interview.
Companies are relying upon hiring decisions made by consensus. The current trend in the hiring process is to make white-collar, college-graduate candidates interview with up to 10 people over the course of three to four months or longer.
As most Americans plan their vacations over July and August, scheduling interviews becomes problematic. The company must have the appropriate interviews and the candidates readily available to conduct an orderly hiring process. The flow is interrupted as the human resources person is away on vacation, then when she returns, the candidate is on the beach in the Bahamas. This turnstile continues throughout the summertime.
The stop-and-start nature of the interview process becomes so cumbersome that both companies and applicants defer to September to re-engage in the job search and hiring.
With the large number of interviewers required, the comings and goings of interviewers and applicants become too much to manage. The flow is constantly interrupted.
Monster, an online job board, describes this period as a “seasonal malaise that seems to have set your productivity levels at a molasses-like state.” Nearly everyone posts their out-of-the-office messages, and decision-makers are not around to make things happen Eventually, there is an unspoken tacit agreement to slow-walk hiring, trying to only focus on high-priority recruitment, or just giving up. The process is sidelined until after the first few weeks in September, which is the adult equivalent of “back to school.”
For young people, blue-collar and frontline workers, it’s a different story. The summer job market is expected to be strong, despite looming concerns of a possible recession. The restaurant industry alone expects to hire 502,000 seasonal jobs this summer, the highest since 2017, according to the National Restaurant Association.
You would think that record-high levels of inflation— increasing the costs of everything from airplane tickets to dining out at restaurants—would discourage Americans from going out and spending money. Despite the extra costs involved, people are leveraging their credit cards, splurging on revenge travel and entertainment, such as sporting events, concerts, and dining out at restaurants. This is good news for frontline and blue-collar workers.
However, there may be a cooldown in internship and summer job opportunities. The labor market for seasonal summer jobs looks like it will be cooler than last year, according to an analysis of job postings by Indeed Hiring Lab. Although listings for summer jobs and internships are above pre-pandemic levels, as of May 19, they were down 10.2% and 14.7%, respectively, compared to last year at this time.
With fewer people in the office, white-collar workers can make the most of their time by using the summer slowdown as an opportunity to catch up and get ahead of their projects. It's an opportunity to network with colleagues, attend conferences, take online courses and visit with clients.
You can also start preparing for September when the job market rebounds. Update your résumé and LinkedIn profile, seek out recruiters who are active in your space, and start applying to job postings that look exciting and lucrative.
