Unless you are in the business of selling Christmas trees, or similar seasonal items, December tends to be a quiet month for many companies, and many professionals as well. Years ago, I worked for a large financial institution. On any given day between mid-December, and early January, about half the people that were needed to move forward a key project, or initiative were not available. Many employees took significant vacation time starting at Thanksgiving, and continue through Christmas, and into the new year. Critical business functions could continue, but other development work slowed to a crawl. This need not be all bad. With a little planning, you can use this slow time of the business year to best advantage. Here are some suggestions on how to augment your day during the slow month of December.
1. Take a mini or online course: Use this time in December to better yourself, and your skills. If you can build the case that the coursework is related to your job, you may get your company to pay for all, or part of it. If money is tight, there are even free online courses available. One example, Class Central offers free classes in management and leadership. See this link… https://www.class-central.com/subject/management-and-leadership . Open 2 Study offers free courses in broader subjects including sciences and languages. See…https://www.open2study.com/courses .
2. Update your Resume: Your resume is up to date, right? If not use this time to proof read and update your resume. This is even a good time to have a colleague, or peer review your resume and provide feedback. They probably have down time now too. Right? Remember it is generally agreed most new job hires happen in January. So, it is a great time to get your resume in shape. Remember too that there tends to be instability in companies in January, if sales, revenue, and profit projections are not met. So be prepared for this instability with a great resume.
3. Set Goals: Setting goals might be part of your annual review, which often also is written up in December. If not, use this time to review how you have done with last year’s goals, identify any gaps, and set goals for the coming year. If you have fallen short on last year’s goals (which often includes taking classes) remember you still have the month of December to complete this. Even making a start on a new class in December shows you are making some effort. It is a great time to discuss goals with your boss, and even your peers, as they will have some bandwidth in December too.
4. Research Jobs in your Field: Even if you have no intention of leaving your current job, this is a great time to see what the market is like in your field. By doing an online job search you can see what skills, and expertise is in demand. It will also tell you what the economy is like. Are you seeing goobs of job listing for people with your skill set, or hardly any. Doing an online job search will answer these questions. You may even want to schedule a couple job interviews to keep your interviewing skills sharp.
5. Organize your Life: This is a great time to get serious about organizing your time. If you have recurring appointments, or meetings, see if they can be better organized to make more efficient use of your time. Schedule meetings around where you will be on any given day, and you will see better use of. your time, and as a side benefit reduce the stress in your life. Are you not making progress on high level goals that are important to you? If so, the Calendar is your friend. Block off a window every week, or every day to work on those goals, and set alarms to remind you. Best case you will start making traction. Worse case, you will be no worse off.
6. Organize your files: Are your work files in a logical order? If not this is a good time to get files in a logical order so you can access them quickly. On your computer, or server, create directories, or folders at a high level that are logical. This might be by project (if so include the project number), or by areas of responsibility in your job function. An example here would be deliverables, forecasting, planning, and supervision. Whatever categories you use, make it logical to you, so that you can create sub-folders that logically flow under the root categories you have designated. Your department may even have guidelines around how electronic files should be organized. If this is the case, try to adhere to these guidelines.
7. Schedule some time off: Since work has slowed, you may want to just take advantage of this and schedule some, even a lot, or vacation time in December. It is the Holiday season after all. What better time to spend some time with family, and friends?
Those in retail, or distribution will look at December as a month with high activity, and little extra bandwidth. But for most of us, there tends to be a temporary slowing of activity for this month. Critical business operations will continue with little disruption, but special projects and development projects will slow to a crawl as many key resources are unavailable due to vacations scheduled around the holiday season. Use this extra bandwidth to your best advantage. This includes activates to assess your progress on current year goals, planning next year’s goals, taking time to organize your calendar, and your life, as well as activities to build your skill set, update your resume, and best position yourself for business changes that often occur in late December, and early January. Remember that most new hires happen in the month of January. So, take time in December to position yourself for opportunities that may appear on your radar in January.
Author: Brian Kail, MBA, CPC is a professional Career and Business Coach. For more information see AscendProCoach.com
1. Take a mini or online course: Use this time in December to better yourself, and your skills. If you can build the case that the coursework is related to your job, you may get your company to pay for all, or part of it. If money is tight, there are even free online courses available. One example, Class Central offers free classes in management and leadership. See this link… https://www.class-central.com/subject/management-and-leadership . Open 2 Study offers free courses in broader subjects including sciences and languages. See…https://www.open2study.com/courses .
2. Update your Resume: Your resume is up to date, right? If not use this time to proof read and update your resume. This is even a good time to have a colleague, or peer review your resume and provide feedback. They probably have down time now too. Right? Remember it is generally agreed most new job hires happen in January. So, it is a great time to get your resume in shape. Remember too that there tends to be instability in companies in January, if sales, revenue, and profit projections are not met. So be prepared for this instability with a great resume.
3. Set Goals: Setting goals might be part of your annual review, which often also is written up in December. If not, use this time to review how you have done with last year’s goals, identify any gaps, and set goals for the coming year. If you have fallen short on last year’s goals (which often includes taking classes) remember you still have the month of December to complete this. Even making a start on a new class in December shows you are making some effort. It is a great time to discuss goals with your boss, and even your peers, as they will have some bandwidth in December too.
4. Research Jobs in your Field: Even if you have no intention of leaving your current job, this is a great time to see what the market is like in your field. By doing an online job search you can see what skills, and expertise is in demand. It will also tell you what the economy is like. Are you seeing goobs of job listing for people with your skill set, or hardly any. Doing an online job search will answer these questions. You may even want to schedule a couple job interviews to keep your interviewing skills sharp.
5. Organize your Life: This is a great time to get serious about organizing your time. If you have recurring appointments, or meetings, see if they can be better organized to make more efficient use of your time. Schedule meetings around where you will be on any given day, and you will see better use of. your time, and as a side benefit reduce the stress in your life. Are you not making progress on high level goals that are important to you? If so, the Calendar is your friend. Block off a window every week, or every day to work on those goals, and set alarms to remind you. Best case you will start making traction. Worse case, you will be no worse off.
6. Organize your files: Are your work files in a logical order? If not this is a good time to get files in a logical order so you can access them quickly. On your computer, or server, create directories, or folders at a high level that are logical. This might be by project (if so include the project number), or by areas of responsibility in your job function. An example here would be deliverables, forecasting, planning, and supervision. Whatever categories you use, make it logical to you, so that you can create sub-folders that logically flow under the root categories you have designated. Your department may even have guidelines around how electronic files should be organized. If this is the case, try to adhere to these guidelines.
7. Schedule some time off: Since work has slowed, you may want to just take advantage of this and schedule some, even a lot, or vacation time in December. It is the Holiday season after all. What better time to spend some time with family, and friends?
Those in retail, or distribution will look at December as a month with high activity, and little extra bandwidth. But for most of us, there tends to be a temporary slowing of activity for this month. Critical business operations will continue with little disruption, but special projects and development projects will slow to a crawl as many key resources are unavailable due to vacations scheduled around the holiday season. Use this extra bandwidth to your best advantage. This includes activates to assess your progress on current year goals, planning next year’s goals, taking time to organize your calendar, and your life, as well as activities to build your skill set, update your resume, and best position yourself for business changes that often occur in late December, and early January. Remember that most new hires happen in the month of January. So, take time in December to position yourself for opportunities that may appear on your radar in January.
Author: Brian Kail, MBA, CPC is a professional Career and Business Coach. For more information see AscendProCoach.com
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