September Surge: What’s Fact and Fiction?

I am in a unique position as a hiring manager, career coach, and journalist to tell you the unvarnished truth about all the crazy career trends that are clogging up your news feed. I just did this with the lazy girl trend, and here we are again to uncover the truth about the hyped September surge. But first, a quick definition of what the surge is all about.

The September surge is a supposed spike in hiring after the slow summer season and right before corporate budgets dry up before the launch of Q1.

I have done some research on this (i.e. I did my Googles) and the most thorough, fact-based analysis comes from the career website, The Muse. In short, not to be a buzzkill, but the editors there say that the September surge is nothing more than a catch buzzword. They analyzed hiring trends data going back a decade and found that September is actually one of the slower months for hiring. Go figure.

Now here’s my piece—the September surge may not be a real thing, but for many, it could be the last chance to secure a new job if your goal is to enter the new year with a new employer. The surge is good motivation if you have been slacking off on your job search. With the hashtag rising in the charts by the day on TikTok and Twitter, now would be a good time to go all in and build off the support of an aligned social media community.

With the September surge’s arrival less than 2 weeks away, you probably need a new strategy now with the thousands of new job seekers that will be surging right along with you. Here are my tips if you plan to apply for a new gig.

Target, Target, Target

I saw a video recently in which the creator recommended applying for 50 jobs minimum per week. That, to me, is an insane volume of applications to submit and it will give you an all-expenses paid trip to Burnoutville. Instead, you should aim to target two specific job titles (ex. Marketing Manager and Communications Lead) and dominate there. You should also create two separate resumes and two cover letters that align with the job descriptions you are seeing for each role. This will help you stand out in a sea of job applicants who are just tossing spaghetti at the wall. Now, I know you rolled your eyes at the mention of a cover letter but done right, a cover letter can be crucial to helping you land an interview.

After you have your targeted materials ready to send out, you want to then begin a search for jobs on LinkedIn that are posted by hiring managers or on smaller job search websites that are focused on a particular niche. For example, Idealist.org is good to search for non-profit jobs and Otta.com is great for technology gigs. A decent volume of applications to aim for is 10 for each job title per week. You can go over this amount, but make sure you aren’t sacrificing quality for quantity.

If you need help with your September surge job search, reach out. I can help you craft an eye-catching resume and a cover letter that hiring managers will love. Book time on my calendar here.

#CareerAdvice #JobSearchTips #SeptemberSurge