For Graduates · 6 min read
Companies hire in December: the BLS numbers and a December plan for new grads
Last updated September 24, 2026 · Career First Nexus
Short answer
Companies hire in December. U.S. employers made about 3.9 million hires in December 2025 before seasonal adjustment, down from about 4.6 million in November, and had about 6.0 million open jobs on the last business day of December, according to preliminary BLS JOLTS data. Replies slow down around the holidays, so December is the month to apply steadily, tighten the résumé, and line up interviews for January. Career First Nexus is a free app with a 40-day daily plan and tracker built for that kind of stretch.
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What the BLS data shows for December
- Hires in December 2025: about 3.9 million, not seasonally adjusted, compared with about 4.6 million in November 2025 (BLS JOLTS, preliminary).
- Seasonally adjusted, December 2025 hires were 5.3 million, little changed from November.
- Job openings on the last business day of December 2025: about 6.0 million, not seasonally adjusted.
- Professional and business services made about 680,000 hires in December 2025, and health care and social assistance about 565,000 (not seasonally adjusted).
What slows down, and what keeps moving
The unadjusted numbers show fewer hires in December than in November. Plan for longer gaps between an application and a reply in the last two weeks of the month, and for interview loops that pause over the holidays and resume in January.
Hiring for college graduates also runs past the fall. In NACE's Job Outlook 2026 Spring Update, employers reported that 37% of full-time college recruiting now happens in the spring. Applications and interviews you start in December feed that spring cycle.
A December plan, week by week
- Dec 1 to 6: pick two or three target job titles and ten employers. Rewrite the top third of your résumé for the first title.
- Dec 7 to 13: send three to five tailored applications a day and log each one with a follow-up date.
- Dec 14 to 20: follow up on every application older than a week. Write three STAR stories and practice them out loud.
- Dec 21 to Jan 3: keep a light schedule of one or two applications a day. Use holiday gatherings to ask two people for one introduction each.
- Jan 4 onward: go back to full volume as offices reopen and follow up on anything from December that went quiet.
Watch the jobs reports on your calendar
BLS publishes the monthly Employment Situation report at 8:30 a.m. ET on Oct. 2, Nov. 6, and Dec. 4, 2026. The November report on Dec. 4 is the last one before the holidays. The headline numbers cover all workers, so read them as background and keep your own weekly numbers as the measure that decides your next move.
Career First Nexus is free for new grads: the 40-day plan, ATS-safe résumé templates, the application and follow-up tracker, interview drills, and a free read-only parent view. No card, full access.
People also ask
- Is it worth applying for jobs in December?
- Yes. Employers made about 3.9 million hires in December 2025 before seasonal adjustment (BLS JOLTS, preliminary). Replies slow down near the holidays, and applications sent in December set up January interviews.
- Is December a bad month to look for a job?
- December has fewer hires than November in unadjusted BLS data, and replies slow down in the last two weeks. It is still an active hiring month, with about 6.0 million open jobs at the end of December 2025.
- When does hiring pick up after the holidays?
- Plan to return to full application volume in the first full week of January, when offices reopen, and follow up on any December application that went quiet.
The system behind these answers
Career First Nexus is a free job-search app for recent graduates and the parents helping them: a 40-day daily plan, ATS-safe resume templates, an application and follow-up tracker, and weekly check-in scripts. Full access, no card required.
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