Why you need to start recruiting now

It’s a busy time of year for New Zealand businesses as things pick up pace in the lead up to Christmas. For clients, it might seem like recruitment couldn’t take place at a more inconvenient time — there’s projects to tie off, annual leave to approve, and Christmas parties to organise. Interestingly enough, our recruitment experts here at One Eighty are opposing that notion. Now actually is the best time to start recruiting — and if you don’t begin that process now, you may not have someone until March or even April next year.

If there's a skills gap in your team that needs to be filled in the new year, the contract needs to be signed on this side of Christmas. Think about it — with staff taking annual leave over the summer, it's unlikely you'll have a full team back at work before the end of January. A recruitment process takes around a month, so that pushes you out until the end of February or start of March. Then there's paperwork, training, inductions — it could well be April before your new employee gets stuck in. 

Hiring before Christmas is actually a smart move; your new employee can attend the Christmas party, get to know everyone, training and induction can begin, and they can slowly ease their way into the role. Come January, you have a new employee who is already familiar with the team, the job and is comfortable enough to get started. You might think that having to pay for holidays is a bit of a downside, but remember, the market is incredibly candidate short. Employee retention is a big topic of conversation that our consultants are having with clients, so being able to secure a candidate before Christmas is actually of huge benefit to your company. What would you rather — take on the expense of providing holiday pay to an additional staff member, or deal with the costs of increased pressure on your team, reduced customer satisfaction, and ultimately perhaps, the inability to deliver in the new year? 

Our recruitment consultants see clients face this same predicament each year. Choosing to recruit now is a strategic decision, and we always note that clients are able to achieve their business goals faster when they use this approach. Set your team up for future success right now; when January rolls around, your team will be ready to hit the ground running and can start the year off right. From there, you can carry on this momentum into 2022. If you’d like to find your ideal candidate before the end of the year, please get in touch with us via hello@oneeighty.co.nz. We would love to help you achieve recruitment success.