5 Ways to Run Effective Recruitment During the Summer

1. Don’t Let Vacations Catch You Off Guard
Just like winter surprises road services every year, summer often catches HR and hiring managers unprepared. While it’s theoretically a quieter business season, recruitment processes can easily stall during the summer. Instead of smooth progress, we see an endless loop of automatic replies: the recruiter is on leave, the candidate is on vacation, and the manager just left town. What normally takes two weeks stretches out and turns into a complex puzzle of scheduling.

How to avoid it? The key is early planning and minimizing the risk of downtime. Sync calendars in advance—both for the HR team and key business decision-makers. Share your vacation plans with each other to avoid “blind spots” and unexpected delays.

2. Be Patient with Vacationers
Plan your recruitment process together with hiring managers and document key milestones in a shared calendar. A good practice is to add extra time—ideally about 50% more than usual—to account for potential candidate unavailability due to holidays.

If you're actively sourcing and directly reaching out to candidates, try calling them instead of just messaging on LinkedIn. This increases the chance of catching them before they go off the grid for vacation.

The worst thing you can do is assume that a candidate who can’t attend an interview due to pre-planned holidays “isn’t committed enough.” Vacation isn’t a lack of motivation—it’s a well-deserved break.

3. Streamline Feedback Flow
One of the biggest challenges in recruitment is collecting feedback from all stakeholders involved. When everyone shares their input on their own schedule, and responsibility is vague, it can take days—or even longer—to relay information to candidates.

From the recruiter’s point of view, things seem to be moving: emails are being exchanged, managers are reviewing shortlists, reminders are sent. But for the candidate waiting on the other end, it looks like radio silence—no email, no call. To them, it feels like they’ve been rejected. They might even reach out to a competing company that’s more responsive.

How to fix it? Before launching the process, agree with your team on how and when you’ll collect feedback after interviews. If you plan to hold interviews, block 15 minutes afterward in your calendar for a quick discussion.

Set concrete deadlines—e.g., “we give feedback within 3 business days”—and assign responsibility for communicating it. Most importantly: treat this agreement as a real commitment, not a wishful plan.

4. Summer – A Great Time to Build Candidate Relationships
While summer is typically associated with rest and relaxation, for HR and recruiters, it can also be a perfect opportunity to build relationships with candidates. Fewer active processes and a slower work pace allow you to focus on what really matters in recruitment—relationships.

Use this time to:

• Get to know candidates better—not necessarily for a current role, but with future collaboration in mind.
• Catch up on responses—reply to inquiries that may have been missed during busier months.
• Stay in touch with top talent—a friendly check-in, an interesting article, or an informal chat can strengthen your employer brand.

Remember: candidates value recruiters who are present not only when there's urgency but also when there’s space for a genuine conversation. Summer is the perfect time to show the human side of recruitment.

5. Should You Really Wait Until Fall to Recruit?
Is it worth putting recruitment on hold during the summer and picking it up again in September? Not necessarily! Although summer requires more coordination and attention—from both recruiters and decision-makers—recruiting during this period often makes a lot of sense and, at times, is unavoidable.

The most common case? Someone unexpectedly resigns—quick action is essential. Also, many candidates intentionally take their vacations outside the peak season, making them more available during summer. Furthermore, a lighter business pace and more relaxed atmosphere can make interviews smoother and less stressful for candidates.

In Summary
Summer can present both a challenge and an opportunity in the recruitment process. It doesn’t have to be a dead season—in fact, companies that stay active during this time often face less competition and fill roles faster.