Early Start on Q3 Hiring

It’s normal to see a burst of hiring and recruiting activity as many departments get new or expanded budgets for the third quarter of the year. I’ve seen this in the first half of July in each of the last three years in spite of a sluggish job market. This year it is starting earlier. From what I am seeing and hearing, the Q3 recruiting started in the middle of last week, two weeks early. Recruiters and hiring officials are trying to get ahead of the competition by getting an early start on their Q3 hiring — or they just want to get off to a quick start with their new hires. Either way, it is a sign of a tightening job market. The job market has been “frozen” for the last seven years, with extraordinarily soft wages and low worker mobility, but if the job market continues to improve, we could see a return to normal wage growth and turnover in two or three more years.