The Truth About Job Searching During the Holidays: Why It’s the Best Time for Your Ministry-to-Marketplace Transition

Read Time: 5 minutes

LAUNCH YOUR JOB SEARCH

Overview

Welcome to the Ministry To Marketplace Minute! Today, I’m debunking something I’ve heard five times in the last two weeks. The holidays are a bad time to be on the job search. I disagree. And I’ve got data to back it up, with three main things you need to consider to help you. So let’s dive in.

Today's Ministry To Marketplace Minute:

Mindset Shift: Transitioning from ministry during the holidays.
Strategy Shift: 3 considerations for your pastor career change during this season.
Do This Right Now: Where to focus your time.
Who Will Hire Me?: 5 ministry friendly organizations with jobs for ex-pastors.

Overview

Today's Ministry To Marketplace Minute:

Mindset Shift: Transitioning from ministry during the holidays.
Strategy Shift: 3 considerations for your pastor career change during this season.
Do This Right Now: Where to focus your time.
Who Will Hire Me?: 5 ministry friendly organizations with jobs for ex-pastors.

🧠 MINDSET SHIFT: Transitioning from ministry during the holidays.

It's the holiday season. The worst time to be job searching.

Let me just come out with it. THAT IS BALONEY.

In fact, it is the best time to be on the job search, and I’ve got the data to back it up.

And it has nothing to do with the budget cycles; no one is working during the holidays, everything is delayed, etc.

Here’s the data from LinkedIn:

It's the holiday season. The worst time to be job searching.

Let me just come out with it. THAT IS BALONEY.

In fact, it is the best time to be on the job search, and I’ve got the data to back it up.

And it has nothing to do with the budget cycles; no one is working during the holidays, everything is delayed, etc.

Here’s the data from LinkedIn:

This graph represents the data from LinkedIn on when candidates apply vs when companies hire.

The teal line represents the percentage of applications submitted throughout the year, month by month. The purple line represents the percentage of hires throughout the year, month by month.

This graph represents the data from LinkedIn on when candidates apply vs when companies hire.

The teal line represents the percentage of applications submitted throughout the year, month by month. The purple line represents the percentage of hires throughout the year, month by month.

There are 3 important trends to notice each month:

When the most hires happen within a month.
The difference between applications and hires.
The 3-month window of hiring.

When the most hires happen within a month.
The difference between applications and hires.
The 3-month window of hiring.

♟️ STRATEGY SHIFT: 3 considerations for your pastor career change during this season.

Let’s talk about these trends and what you should do about them.

When the most hires happen within a month.

This is the most obvious and first thing we can see. Obviously, January is a much higher hiring month than all the others.

Also, May, June, August, and September are higher hiring months.

But this doesn’t mean that you should apply in those months. It means that you should be preparing and networking in the months leading up to those higher hiring months.

If you are on a shorter timeline, you want to be ramping up right now.

Spend time…

Figuring out clarity on the type of job that you should do next
Going in deep on translating your ministry experience so that it makes sense to hiring managers
Building out your resume and cover letters
Figuring out which organizations are most likely to see your ministry background as an asset rather than as a liability
Starting conversations with the people who will actually help you get a job.

(All of those hyperlinks go to other newsletter posts in which we go deeper on that subject).

All of this and more is what we focus on in the Interview Accelerator. Getting you to be the most attractive candidate possible for jobs that fit you and support your family. We’d love to have you.

This is the most obvious and first thing we can see. Obviously, January is a much higher hiring month than all the others.

Also, May, June, August, and September are higher hiring months.

But this doesn’t mean that you should apply in those months. It means that you should be preparing and networking in the months leading up to those higher hiring months.

If you are on a shorter timeline, you want to be ramping up right now.

Spend time…

Figuring out clarity on the type of job that you should do next
Going in deep on translating your ministry experience so that it makes sense to hiring managers
Building out your resume and cover letters
Figuring out which organizations are most likely to see your ministry background as an asset rather than as a liability
Starting conversations with the people who will actually help you get a job.

(All of those hyperlinks go to other newsletter posts in which we go deeper on that subject).

All of this and more is what we focus on in the Interview Accelerator. Getting you to be the most attractive candidate possible for jobs that fit you and support your family. We’d love to have you.

The difference between applications and hires.

This is also important to show competitiveness in the job market.

Just because August and September are times when companies hire more, that doesn’t mean that it is easier to get the job. The lines are even here.

Applying in a time where the teal line is below the purple line (February) might actually be better than in September.

So even though the summer months represent close to 40% of the hiring, they also represent 40% of the applications.

January through March represent 29% of the hiring, but only 21% of the applications.

This is also important to show competitiveness in the job market.

Just because August and September are times when companies hire more, that doesn’t mean that it is easier to get the job. The lines are even here.

Applying in a time where the teal line is below the purple line (February) might actually be better than in September.

So even though the summer months represent close to 40% of the hiring, they also represent 40% of the applications.

January through March represent 29% of the hiring, but only 21% of the applications.

The 3-month window of hiring.

While the job offers might have come in one month, many interview processes last longer than one month.

So if January represents 15% of hires, it also could represent close to 15% of interviews as well! And that would just really be in a 3-week period, so that would likely be creeping into November.

That means that (and this is just an estimation from me), 25% of all hires are being interviewed in the months of November and December (if you look at hiring percentages from November to January.

That’s 25% of the interviews in that 25% of the year.

While the job offers might have come in one month, many interview processes last longer than one month.

So if January represents 15% of hires, it also could represent close to 15% of interviews as well! And that would just really be in a 3-week period, so that would likely be creeping into November.

That means that (and this is just an estimation from me), 25% of all hires are being interviewed in the months of November and December (if you look at hiring percentages from November to January.

That’s 25% of the interviews in that 25% of the year.

An additional note on the graph.

This is comprehensive data from LinkedIn. Industries differ in hiring practices based on fiscal years and busy seasons. While this trend can be applied to many jobs that you might be interested in, it won’t be true for all.

For example, I was hired in my HR job coming out of church on December 3. That’s the “lowest” hiring month of the year.

The company I worked for has a fiscal year starting in July. December was their May.

For example, I was hired in my HR job coming out of church on December 3. That’s the “lowest” hiring month of the year.

The company I worked for has a fiscal year starting in July. December was their May.

QUICK WINS

✅ DO THIS RIGHT NOW: Where to focus your time.

Use this time to focus on what’s going to set you up for success to be hired in January.

Clarify what jobs you’re looking for next.
Translate your experience effectively and build your resume.
Start having conversations with people who can influence you to get interviews at organizations you want to work for.

Use this time to focus on what’s going to set you up for success to be hired in January.

Clarify what jobs you’re looking for next.
Translate your experience effectively and build your resume.
Start having conversations with people who can influence you to get interviews at organizations you want to work for.

🚀 FROM THE COACHING GROUP

I applied for a role this morning… with a salary beyond my dreams, and they called back an hour and a half after I sent in my resume asking for an interview!

🤝 WHO WILL HIRE ME?: 5 ministry friendly organizations with jobs for ex-pastors.

Because of the time sensitive nature of job postings, we post these in the newsletter only.

Get the newsletter, along with 794+ others, every Friday morning.

Subscribe here.

Because of the time sensitive nature of job postings, we post these in the newsletter only.

Get the newsletter, along with 794+ others, every Friday morning.

Subscribe here.

Rooting for you! 🚀

Todd Linder

Founder and Head Coach // Connect with me on LinkedIn

Todd Linder

Founder and Head Coach // Connect with me on LinkedIn

How we can help you:

The Ministry To Marketplace Interview Accelerator: Join 104+ others that have successfully transitioned from ministry into marketplace jobs that value their experience. The Interview Accelerator will give you our proven step by step process, coaching, and community to getting more interviews for jobs that value your ministry experience and support your family. Let's hop on a call!
The Ministry To Marketplace Quiz: Join 700+ other ministry to marketplace job seekers that have taken our 60-second (FREE) quiz to find out what is hindering your job search. You'll get a video and PDF results report straight to your inbox that will identify where you are, and what you need to focus on right now to get results. Take the FREE quiz here.

The Ministry To Marketplace Interview Accelerator: Join 104+ others that have successfully transitioned from ministry into marketplace jobs that value their experience. The Interview Accelerator will give you our proven step by step process, coaching, and community to getting more interviews for jobs that value your ministry experience and support your family. Let's hop on a call!
The Ministry To Marketplace Quiz: Join 700+ other ministry to marketplace job seekers that have taken our 60-second (FREE) quiz to find out what is hindering your job search. You'll get a video and PDF results report straight to your inbox that will identify where you are, and what you need to focus on right now to get results. Take the FREE quiz here.

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