If you're looking for a job, the holidays can feel like a dead zone blanketed by out-of-office replies. Yet that hush can bring opportunity: Instead of putting your professional aspirations on hold till January, the holiday slowdown can be a great time for networking, job-market observers told Business Insider. One reason is that wishing someone a happy holiday is a great excuse to send an email, text, LinkedIn message, or a card - virtual or physical.
Don't say bah humbug to applying to jobs during the holiday season. It's easy to feel like a Scrooge about the job market these days. At this point, you might think you'll need a Christmas miracle to get hired in the waning moments of 2025. But unlike Santa Claus, your chances of getting hired in December are real, writes BI's Sarah E. Needleman.
Applicant tracking systems (ATS) are now the gatekeepers. They screen, score and sort resumes before a human ever reviews them, and most never make it through. With cold applications showing a success rate as low as 0.1% to 2%, and requiring roughly 32-200 applications for a single offer, the odds aren't in your favor unless you tailor your approach. Here's how to stop ghosting your own job search and start working with the algorithm instead of against it.