I’m beginning to hate spring break. And, if I’m correct, this last week was only one that some people took and next week there will be another.
Over the past, maybe 20 years “spring break” has been a part of our society. When I was growing up “spring break” was one day, Good Friday, and instead of going to school, you went to work at any job you could find. If you are out of work and looking for a job I can’t imagine how anybody could even dream of taking a week off, even with your wonderful kids, and miss the opportunity to interview. I know I sound cynical, but twice this week two candidates of mine “went on spring break” and lost job opportunities to two candidates who were here to interview second and third rounds. Each one of these positions paid more than a base salary of $120,000. One of them had the attitude that the company should wait for him to come back from his skiing with his family. The problem was, our client didn’t see it that way. His specific attitude was, “What’s he going away to spring break for, when I think I might want to hire him?” So, he hired another candidate.
Hiring authorities aren’t much better. Two of them, in two different companies went on spring break this week. They told our candidates that they will be back next week and hire them. As of today both candidates took other jobs. Both of these employers are going to be really disappointed come Monday.
So, I’m sure nobody’s going to cancel spring break because of what I have to say. But, if you’re looking for a job, either presently employed or not, I think interviewing is more important than taking a spring break. If you’re an employer and want to run the risk of losing candidates you have in the queue, I guess that’s your prerogative. But this market’s a lot different than it used to be. Good jobs are still hard to find and so are good candidates.
