5 Powerful Reasons For Recruiting During The Summer (Using the “best time” strategy)

Surprisingly, summer months rank in the top 5 of applicant volume. And during 2025, the summer months of August, July, and June literally ranked 1, 2, and 3 in the months with the highest US applicant volume. So the critical lesson that hiring managers and smart recruiting leaders need to learn is… 

When you need access to the largest pool of applicants, then the “best time to recruit” is during the summer months!

The “Best Time” Recruiting Strategy Emphasizes Recruiting When The Supply/Competition Ratio Is Ideal

When you teach business strategy as I have for decades, you quickly learn that the best functional strategies for all highly competitive environments use data to identify and then direct action toward the “best times” of the year when the supply is high, and the competition is low (thus the title best time strategy).

And in recruiting, this best time strategy encourages companies to identify and then execute “a recruiting spurt” during the months with the highest candidate-per-opening ratio.

Unfortunately, most corporate recruiting functions don’t even do the basics, by collecting the data that would reveal to hiring managers the best and the worst months to recruit. 

This timing strategy is especially effective at lesser-known companies that simply can’t effectively compete when the recruiting giants of their industry are the most active in the talent marketplace. Incidentally, outside of the summer months, December is the next most favorable recruiting month. And the month of January (when new recruiting budgets open up) is the month when the recruiting competition is the fiercest, and the candidate-per-opening ratio is the least favorable.

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The Top 5 Advantages Of “Best Time Recruiting” During The Summer Months

There are multiple factors that make summer recruiting an effective strategy. The five most impactful benefits include:

1. The ROI of your “best time strategy” will be obvious – you would think that recruiting for your key jobs when the supply of talent is high and the competition for it is low would be a no-brainer. But just in case it isn’t at your organization, it’s important to work with your COO and CFO’s office in order to build a compelling business case to support this strategy. The elements of that business case that you must include are: the higher percentage of qualified applicants, the better on-the-job performance of new-hires, the higher offer acceptance rate, fewer top candidates lost to your competitors, and the higher retention rate of your new hires. Each of the above metrics should then be directly compared to the same metrics that were generated during your average non-best-time recruiting month. You will find that the cost side of ROI is especially low because this approach doesn’t require any large budget expenditures. And your sourcing and hiring costs will also likely be measurably lower, because of the abundant supply of applicants during best times. 

2. The supply of available candidates is usually the highest during this summer – if you’re curious about the size of the labor supply each month, fortunately Ycharts publishes a chart that covers the number of job seekers each month over the last few years. As I mentioned previously, that data reveals that last year, 3 of the top 4 months with the highest job seeker volume occurred during the summer. The candidate supply is higher each summer partly because summer is often the time when employed workers decide to seek a new job. In addition, recent grads begin a serious job search, new empty-nesters consider moving, and those who are relocating make their move during the summer. Fortunately, I predict that during this particular summer of 2026, the supply of top candidates will be even larger than normal. Due to recent corporate layoffs, RTO mandates, disgruntled government employees, a higher unemployment rate, employees seeking higher pay to offset inflation, and the elimination of jobs due to AI.

3. You will face less recruiting competition because your competitors’ hiring teams will mostly be unavailable – because so many companies have recently instituted hiring freezes and reduced their recruiting staff. Those companies that are still recruiting will face fewer active recruiters this summer. And during every summer, companies that still seek to hire will face strong internal headwinds primarily because most of their hiring managers, interviewers, and recruiters will take their vacations at different times during the summer months. And that lack of vacation coordination has made it difficult for hiring managers to get their requisitions approved, to complete their interviews, and to generate formal offers. Some have even labeled this recurring slowdown the “summer recruiting pause.”

4. During summers, it will be easier for employed candidates to get away for your interviews – because it’s relatively easy for employed candidates to take vacation time during the summer. Some candidates will be able to use a portion of their vacation time for their job search. This extra availability, coupled with the normal overall summer slowdown, will make it easier for your employed candidates to schedule and attend your job interviews.

5. Companies using this best time strategy will have a competitive advantage during the summer – the best outcome from this strategy will be that your recruiting results will measurably improve, while your competitors’ recruiting results will at best remain stagnant. Your company will produce superior results because you will take steps to ensure that your hiring managers and recruiters coordinate their vacations so that the recruiting team remains fully available throughout the summer. As a result, your company will gain a competitive recruiting advantage over your talent competitors that will barely be able to schedule an interview. And maintaining that advantage is important, because executives admire (and fully fund) those that build and maintain a competitive advantage! 

Another part of your competitive advantage will be an increase in team productivity when you practice best time recruiting. Because when you emphasize summer recruiting, your open jobs will be filled in June, July, and August. Months earlier than most companies, which don’t focus on summer hiring and instead postpone most job postings until mid-September. And if your fiscal year starts July 1, intense July and August recruiting will allow you to fill newly funded positions months ahead of your competition, which won’t reach full-strength team levels until September.

Final Thoughts

For years, I have been writing about the importance of timing in recruiting and how precisely timing when you recruit can dramatically improve your recruiting results. And most would assume that any recruiting strategy that produces clearly superior recruiting results would be an easy sell to your hiring team.

Unfortunately, that’s not always true. Because many involved in the hiring process will actually resist it because it interferes with their typical summer routines. So I have found that it is critical that you demonstrate to your executives, hiring managers, recruiters, and your team’s interviewers the precise, direct benefits each will receive as a result of adopting this strategy. Incidentally, you should apply it not just during the summer but year-round. Because in our always shifting world, the candidate-per-opening ratio is constantly changing!

Thanks for reading.

Note for the reader

This is the latest article from Dr. Sullivan, who was called “the Michael Jordan of Hiring” by Fast Company.

Please help spread his ideas by sharing this with your team/network and posting it on your favorite social media.

By Dr. John Sullivan – This article first appeared in the 6/16/26 issue of Aggressive Talent Management