I’ve applied to between 550-600 jobs since December and hardly heard anything back. The past two weeks recruiters started reaching out to me and at this point I’m at least having early round discussions with 5 companies. They’re mostly smaller and somewhere in the health care space, but I went from virtually 0 to having something. Obviously it’s early stages so you can’t count on anything, but it looks like things may be picking up again.
Do note that December is the tail of the budget year. First and second quarter is when many companies execute the year’s strategy and burn budget. Third quarter is a bit late but still active.
For us, our clients came out hot and heavy the first two quarters, more than doubling the order totals for 2025. Hiring was hectic for most of Q1 and all of Q2. Q4 is pretty dead most of the time.
I have yet to work for a company who’s fiscal calendar year follows the normal calendar.
I cannot comment on that but anecdotally I can say that I normally do not see a lot hiring during the holidays and a lot of firings in March and Q2. I have no explanation for the March thing.