January 9, 2005 | Read Time: 1 minute
Q. I was job hunting last summer and there seemed to be more openings advertised than there are now, in the winter. Are some times of year better than others for seeking nonprofit jobs?
A. You’re right, the nonprofit job market is chillier during the winter. In part, that’s because many organizations plan for new hires to start work on the first of the year, says Deborah Sawyer, a partner in the Atlanta office of the recruiting company Morgan Howard Worldwide. “As organizations begin budget planning, ” she says, “they anticipate the need for new hires to be on board the first of the year, and therefore gear up the hiring machine in late summer.”
Scarcer job openings in the winter are also a result of the way that organizations often run their fiscal years concurrent with the calendar year, says Kristin Mannion, senior client partner at the recruiter Korn/Ferry International, in Washington. As the holiday season draws near, she says, “organizations review their goals and evaluate how close they are to realizing them. This leads to discussion, internally and at the board level. These discussions act as a catalyst for change and often trigger the need for new management and direction.” That in turn can translate into a job posting, but by the time everyone signs off on the decision, the weather’s already thawing. You’ll likely see an increase in job postings beginning in the spring.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that all nonprofit employers hibernate during the winter. Jobs crop up that must be filled immediately — such as when a staff member leaves unexpectedly. And some organizations don’t peg their fiscal year to the calendar year, so new job postings can pop up at any time.
