December can be an impossible time for cleared recruiters. While hiring managers and internal talent teams are taking time off for holiday festivities, cleared candidates are usually doing the same to spend time with family and friends. While they might not be active in the job search during the month of December, this can actually be a GREAT time to get in touch with passive candidates.
For defense contractors that are in growth cycles finalizing proposal responses / key resumes and waiting for new contracts to be awarded, workers taking PTO over the holidays can seem to be a disruption. A necessary one for workplace morale, but one, nonetheless.
5 Tips to Beat the Holiday Recruiting Slump
To avoid these holiday recruiting interruptions and make the most of the final month of 2024, here are five tips to beat the holiday recruiting slump.
1. Start early on the planning process.
It’s imperative to ask all your company’s recruiting stakeholders to plan their time off and provide a working schedule to all recruiters, hiring managers, program managers, and even your government contacts! This will ensure your team has visibility when to coordinate interviews, submit candidates, and set realistic expectations for candidates being approved.
2. Be flexible with phone screen and interview times.
While cleared candidates may not be in the super aggressive phase of their job search, candidates outside the SCIF during PTO can be an excellent time to have a relaxed chat about your openings and programs. If they are taking time off, offer a time for a phone call after they put the kids (or fur babies) to bed. While recruiters are no stranger to speaking with candidates in off work hours, flex your time during the weekdays to make more room for interviewing at night and on the weekends.
3. Create high demand, same day offers.
After you plan your December with your internal talent acquisition team, identify positions that are hard to fill – and get the approval from your managers to design same day, max salary offers to secure the candidate who qualifies.
4. Level Up Your employer brand.
Social media scrolling is at an all-time high during the holiday season and into New Years. While candidates take time away from the SCIF, they are playing on their phones. Make sure your company is sharing engaging content during this time, and throw in a hilarious meme or video you come across on the internet (you can steal any of ClearanceJobs’).
5. Kickstart an employee referral program.
Internal referrals are one of the quickest and cheapest ways to bring on a new employee. Offer some holiday incentives to your employees like a higher bonus or shortened time the new employee has to be onboard before they obtain that bonus.
Time to Plan Ahead
Lastly, use the last few days of December to prepare for what 2024 will bring to your staffing strategy. What has worked this year? What hasn’t? Because holiday recruiting is erratic, use this time to work on your backlog of tasks that you might have attached to the hiring process. Balance is key here, so we hope these tips help to keep you motivated during the holidays, while still being able to enjoy the festivities.
THEÂ CLEARED RECRUITING CHRONICLES: YOUR WEEKLY DoD RECRUITING TIPS TO OUT COMPETE THE NEXT NATIONAL SECURITY STAFFER.
