Seasonal hiring trends

When are the best and worst times of year to find a job?

This is an 11/2008 update to our original post in 2006. 

To answer these questions, we looked at the monthly hiring trends, comparing when jobs were actually filled against the monthly statistics for the number of executives actively job hunting.

Here are the results:

1. Overall, the best time of year to look for a job appears to be May and June.
2. Fall is better than average in most industries.
3. December is about average (contrary to myth, legend and rumor).
4. The worst time is January and February (contrary to myth, legend and rumor) because there are lots of executives looking for fewer jobs.
5. The best and worst times vary widely by industry.

Details are available for 22 major industries at http://jobbait.com/a/seasonal.htm.