Hiring Before the Holidays: Why Employers Should Recruit Now for the Year Ahead

For many CPG and manufacturing businesses, the final months of the year are anything but quiet. Year-end targets need to be delivered, production schedules need to stay on track, customers still need to be served, and plans for the year ahead are already taking shape. With all that to juggle, it can be tempting to put recruitment on hold until the holidays help to quieten things down. That tactic, however, can lead to costly delays and even lost talent.

The period between Thanksgiving and Christmas can be challenging for employers looking to move quickly on recruitment. Offices are operating with reduced capacity, with hiring managers and candidates alike balancing professional commitments with holiday plans. At the same time, some candidates who are considering a move may choose to wait until they have received their annual bonus form their current employer before making a change, extending timelines even further.

For employers with critical vacancies, that makes the weeks leading into the holiday season an important time to get ahead of the competition.

The holiday hiring slowdown is real

Holiday schedules can make recruitment more difficult simply because fewer people are available to participate in the process. Research from WorldatWork found that 95% of organizations surveyed provide paid time off for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, while 76% also offer the day after Thanksgiving as a paid holiday. A further 50% offer their staff Christmas Eve as paid leave, too.

For CPG and manufacturing organizations, where hiring managers may already be stretched across operations, production, supply chain and commercial priorities, losing several weeks to scheduling challenges can have a disproportionate impact.

And the underlying recruitment challenge has not disappeared. The 2026 Talent Trends Research from the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that 68% of organizations are still experiencing difficulties recruiting for full-time positions, with the challenge particularly relevant to manufacturing, engineering and skilled trade roles, where SHRM reports that certain positions remain critically difficult to fill.

Waiting until January therefore means entering a busy hiring market at exactly the point when many other employers are doing the same thing.

Candidates may have their own reasons for waiting

There is another factor that employers should consider when considering their hiring timelines: the candidate's calendar. Annual bonuses can be a significant reason for an employee to delay a job move, and for businesses recruiting during the final months of the year, understanding how bonus structures may affect a candidate's availability can be a valuable part of the recruitment conversation.

ADP Research found that 13% of bonus recipients received their bonus in December, with a further 9% receiving it in January, meaning that some employees may have a financial incentive to remain in their current role until early in the new year.

This means that candidates who appear reluctant to make a move in late November or December may not necessarily be uninterested in the opportunity, they may simply be trying to avoid leaving compensation on the table.

Why hiring before the holidays makes sense

Starting recruitment before Thanksgiving gives employers more time and flexibility. Rather than trying to squeeze sourcing, interviews, approvals and offers into a shrinking December window, organizations should look to identify their priorities early and build momentum before holiday schedules take hold.

It also gives hiring teams an opportunity to engage passive candidates. Someone who is not prepared to resign before receiving their bonus may still be willing to have an exploratory conversation, understand the opportunity and enter an interview process.

By starting that conversation now, employers are likely to be in a better position to ensure the right capabilities are in place for the year ahead. Securing critical talent before the holidays can give teams greater capacity to deliver their goals from the beginning of the new year, rather than starting from scratch in January.

How employers can get ahead

1. Identify critical gaps now.

For many U.S. businesses, the planning process for 2027 will already have taken place, giving leadership teams greater clarity on headcount requirements, recruitment budgets and salary expectations for the year ahead. This creates a valuable opportunity to turn those plans into action before the holiday period begins. Review the roles and skills your organization will need to deliver both the remainder of this year's objectives and next year's plans, and prioritize positions where a vacancy is already creating pressure or where recruitment is likely to take time.

1. Start conversations before candidates are ready to move.
   Not every candidate will want to make a change immediately. That's okay. Building relationships with strong candidates now means you are not waiting until January to start the conversation.

1. Keep the process moving.
   Holiday schedules can make recruitment slower, so establish availability early and agree on decision-making timelines. If multiple stakeholders need to interview a candidate, get those conversations scheduled before PTO calendars become an obstacle.

1. Be transparent about compensation.
   For candidates who are waiting for a bonus, employers can discuss the overall compensation package and, where appropriate, consider whether a sign-on bonus or other structure could help bridge the gap.
2. Think beyond the immediate vacancy.
   The best hiring strategy is not simply about replacing someone who has left. Consider where the business needs additional capability to support growth, new product launches, operational improvements or changing customer demands in the year ahead.

1. Work with a recruitment partner.
   A specialist recruitment partner can help maintain momentum by identifying and engaging relevant candidates while internal teams are managing year-end priorities and PTO schedules. For CPG and manufacturing businesses, working with a recruiter who understands the sector can also provide access to specialist talent, insight into current compensation expectations and a broader view of the candidate market. This can help employers move efficiently from identifying a hiring need to securing the right person, without allowing holiday schedules to put recruitment on hold.

Don't let January become the starting line

The holiday period will always introduce some additional complexity into recruitment. But that is precisely why employers should avoid leaving critical hiring decisions until January.

The employers that start planning and engaging talent before the holidays can enter the new year with greater clarity, stronger candidate pipelines and, where appropriate, new team members already in place.

If you are reviewing your hiring strategy for the remainder of the year or planning the talent you will need in 2027, now is the time to start the conversation.

Looking to strengthen your team before the holidays or build your hiring strategy for the year ahead? Get in touch with our team to discuss your talent requirements and how we can help you find the right people for your CPG or manufacturing business, Joe@mackiemyers.com 

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