Job hunting over Christmas and January in New Zealand

What the seasonality data shows about when people move into work

The Ministry of Social Development publishes, month by month, how many benefits end because the person found work. It counts only people leaving a benefit, not every hire, but it is published every month and shows the same seasonal pattern each year. In each of the last five years, December has been the lowest month and March the highest.

The pattern fits how hiring usually works here. Many decisions are put off until after the break, managers take leave, and new budgets and roles open in the new year. An application made in December can become an interview in January and a start in February or March.

So a quiet December says more about the calendar than about you. The NZ job market right now shows the month-by-month figures and the latest public employment data, so you can see where the year is up to.

Which sectors keep hiring

Some work is busiest at exactly this time of year. Retail and hospitality take on extra staff for the Christmas and summer trade, and usually recruit for it well before December. Tourism, events and summer seasonal work, including horticulture and harvest roles, follow the season. Health, aged care and other services that run every day of the year keep recruiting through the break.

Professional and office roles are the most affected, because the people who make the decisions are often away. Even so, ads keep appearing, and a role advertised in mid-December may have fewer applicants than the same role in March. If an ad is open, apply to it.

Seasonal and temporary work can also bridge the gap while the permanent market is quiet. It pays, it is recent experience, and it sometimes leads to a permanent offer. If you are on Jobseeker Support, declare what you earn each week; our article on temping while job hunting explains how.

Using the quiet weeks for prep and contacts

The weeks when fewer ads appear are good for the work that makes the rest of the year easier:

• Update your CV and LinkedIn profile, so they are ready when the new-year roles appear.
• Prepare your answers to the common interview questions, and a short summary of yourself for a phone screen.
• Get back in touch with people you know. Christmas events, catch-ups and end-of-year messages are a natural reason to say what you are looking for.
• List the employers you would most like to work for, so you can approach them early in the new year.

Take real time off too, though if you are on Jobseeker Support, your work obligations continue over the break. A few days away from the search over Christmas leaves you in better shape for January than a fortnight of refreshing job boards. Our guide to getting a job in New Zealand covers the routes that work best when the ads are thin.

Applications that sit over the break

An application made in the second half of December may not be read until January. Many workplaces close between Christmas and the first week of the new year, and the public holidays add to it: Christmas Day falls on Friday 25 December 2026, New Year's Day on Friday 1 January 2027, and Boxing Day and the day after New Year's Day fall on Saturdays, so for many people those two holidays move to the following Mondays, 28 December and 4 January.

So silence over the break is normal and says little about how your application was received. If you are on Jobseeker Support, check Work and Income's Christmas payment dates and declaration deadlines when it publishes them, because they usually move around the public holidays.

Resetting the follow-up clock in January

The usual rhythm of following up at about a week and closing an application at about three weeks does not fit the holidays. Treat the period from about 20 December to the second week of January as paused, and count from when offices reopen.

In the first full week of January, go through every open application. Send a short, friendly follow-up where it has been two weeks or more since the closing date, and close the ones that were already quiet before Christmas. In jobtracker.co.nz, each application shows how many days it has been quiet, counted in calendar days, so over the break that count will run ahead of reality; use it as the list of who to check with. Our guide to following up on a job application has the wording.

Carry the hunt through the break