From a purely statistical standpoint, November and December are not the friendliest months for job seekers. Interviewers take time off. Budgets are frozen. Decision-makers are harder to pin down. But that doesn’t mean you should throttle back your search entirely.

In fact, pulling back too far now can sabotage your momentum heading into January, when the hiring engines start to rev again and you’re still trying to remember your LinkedIn password.

Hiring is picking up this September, as it reliably does, but not in the way most job seekers expect. The so-called “fall surge” isn’t a myth. It’s real, cyclical, and backed by data: hiring typically spikes between Labor Day and mid-November. But in 2025, it’s arriving with new rules.