Is it possible to do a deal in the Christmas party season?

As December’s festivities kick in with a vengeance, it is easy to feel like giving up the ever increasingly difficult job of getting any one to make a decision about a candidate or a job. It can feel as though all your decision markers are so immersed in the revelries of office parties, networking and planning their shopping, that placing your candidate is clearly low on the priority list. But take heart, learn a lesson from my experience of dispute resolution work during this period, and don’t relax and throw in the Rudolph patterned tea towel just yet.

We all know the run up to the Christmas Holidays can be immensely busy with parties, lunches and networking events. Sometimes it is easy to feel that you are in the whirl of pre Christmas drinks with out really achieving a great deal. Promises to ‘get back to you on that one’ seem even more forlorn that usual when they are made over another glass of mulled wine and a mince pie. But do not under estimate the power of the imminent Christmas break. The overwhelming wish for most office workers by 24 December is to have cleared their desk and made as many tough decisions as they can before the (hopefully) long Christmas holidays. That means in the days of that last week before Christmas Eve many people are up for doing a deal. That’s not just in recruitment terms but in all respects. Long running litigation and bitter disputes can be compromised in that week just on the basis of “lets get it all done and dusted before you go off for the Holidays” I know it sounds like a lame reason to capitulate but it is true. You can achieve a great deal in that last week and I have settled many a long running dispute in that basis.

Recruitment is of course not litigation. It should not be the burden that I’m describing to most candidates, nor indeed clients. However the theory that many will want to have done their part in a decision making process – be that as a candidate saying yes to an opportunity, or a client setting you off on an assignment – still applies. Even if you don’t get the candidate to say yes and hand in their notice to their employer on Christmas Eve ( “..and the very best of the season to you too!”), you might get a client to sign off on a role to fill that will give you a great kick start on 2 January.

So take a deep breath as we start the run up and try to make the most of this ‘end game’ mentality. No other time of the year offers this opportunity to concentrate the minds of your contacts to make decisions before the entire county packs up shop for the Christmas break. Try it – it does work!

I hope you all have fantastic Decembers, restful and recuperative Christmas breaks and a truly energised New Year.

( and my apologies for any recruiters in retail who are currently screaming ‘if only’ at their computers…..)

Happy Christmas.

For more information on this subject, please contact dispute resolution specialist Heather Stanford or join the debate on in our eForum on Linkedin