Why You Shouldn’t Pause Hiring Over the Holidays
November 3, 2026
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5 min read
Every November, talent and HR leaders field the same request from the executive team: decide whether open roles wait until January or keep moving through the holidays. Waiting feels like the safe call, but national and Michigan hiring data point the other way. Teams that use the quiet weeks of December to prepare are interviewing in January while other employers are still writing job posts.
December slows down, but January moves fast
The case for pausing starts with something true. A 2025 LinkedIn analysis reported by Fortune found that hiring and job moves fall sharply in December before picking back up in January.
Then January arrives, and the picture flips. Indeed’s Hiring Lab found that job searches on Indeed ran up to 31% higher in January 2026 than the early-December 2025 average, while job postings stayed at or below their early-December level the entire month. LinkedIn’s data points the same way, with applications running highest from January through May. For employers, that means more candidates looking at roughly the same number of openings.
Interest in a move is building, too. A Robert Half survey released in June 2026 found that 46% of U.S. professionals planned to look for a new job in the second half of the year, up from 38% in the first half and 27% a year earlier. Among technology workers, it was 49%.
What waiting until January costs
SHRM’s 2026 benchmarking data puts the median time-to-fill at 39 calendar days for nonexecutive roles and 45 days for executive roles, weekends and holidays included.
On a calendar, that adds up quickly. A nonexecutive role opened on December 1 reaches an accepted offer around January 9 at the median pace. Hold that same role until January 5, and the offer lands around February 13. That’s five more weeks with an empty seat, and on a plant floor or an engineering team, someone else is covering that work the whole time.
Specialized roles tend to run longer than the median. We walked through where that time goes in How long should it really take to fill an engineering role?
The national market adds pressure. Indeed’s Hiring Lab found roughly 0.7 hires in August 2026 for every job opening at the end of July, using Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Employers are posting more roles than they can fill.
HR teams feel it. In SHRM’s 2026 Talent Trends report, 68% of HR professionals said they struggled to recruit for full-time roles, and about half of that group said it had gotten harder over the past year.
Michigan’s talent pool is shrinking
The state’s labor force fell by 158,000 people, or 3.2%, between August 2025 and August 2026, according to the state’s latest jobs report, and labor force participation dropped to 58.8%.
Michigan’s unemployment rate was 5.0% in August, 0.9 points above the national rate of 4.1%. A higher jobless rate can look like more available talent, but fewer people working or looking means fewer candidates for each opening. The job picture is mixed: statewide payroll jobs grew by 8,000 over the year, while manufacturing posted the largest monthly loss in August.
For manufacturers hiring engineers and technical specialists, a shrinking pool makes a narrow search even harder. We dug into why in Why manufacturers struggle to hire for specialized engineering roles.
Keep hiring moving through the holidays
Four moves make the difference.
- Get approvals done before the break. Requisitions approved in November are ready to post the first week of January.
- Write and approve job posts now. A finished post can go live on the first business day of the new year.
- Keep interviews moving in December. Book interview blocks around planned time off and any shutdown weeks, and share your schedule with candidates up front.
- Make offers before people leave for the holidays. A new hire who accepts in December gets to enjoy the break knowing what’s next, then starts January ready to go.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do we keep candidates engaged over the holidays?
Give every candidate a clear timeline before the break, including the date they’ll hear back. A short check-in during a slow week keeps strong candidates from drifting toward another offer.
What happens when a key interviewer is out in December?
Name a backup interviewer before the holidays start, and give them the same scorecard. A process that keeps moving with one substitute beats one that waits weeks for the original panel.
Can a new hire start between Christmas and New Year’s?
They can, but a first-week-of-January start tends to work better. Supervisors and trainers are back on site, so onboarding gets their full attention.
How can a recruiting partner help over the holidays?
A partner keeps sourcing and screening moving while your team is out, so you come back in January with qualified candidates ready to interview. At DISHER Talent, our average time from search launch to first qualified candidate is 7 days, and weekly calibration meetings show you exactly who we’re sourcing. For signs your team could use that kind of backup, see Signs your internal recruiting team needs extra support.
Start 2027 fully staffed
The holidays don’t have to stall your hiring plans. At DISHER Talent, we work side by side with your hiring team as an embedded partner, and we hire for culture as much as skill set. When a critical seat can’t stay empty, DISHER can contract one of its own engineers to cover the work while the search for the right long-term hire continues.
Book a consult with a DISHER Talent specialist and let’s get your 2027 hires lined up.
