“Let’s park it until September.”
It’s a phrase heard in boardrooms across the UK every August. It sounds sensible. Practical, even. Holidays are in full swing, key decision-makers are away, and surely it makes more sense to wait until everyone is back before hiring?
Not necessarily. For many businesses, delaying recruitment by just a few weeks can become one of the most expensive decisions they make all year.
The cost isn’t simply the salary you haven’t paid. It’s the opportunities missed, the productivity lost, the pressure placed on existing teams, and the talent that quietly accepts another offer while you’re waiting for September to arrive.
The Cost of Waiting is Often Invisible
Vacancies rarely sit still. Every day a role remains unfilled, someone else absorbs the work. Projects slow down. Decisions take longer. Managers spend more time firefighting than leading.
According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), replacing an employee can cost anywhere from 50% to 200% of their annual salary depending on the role, once recruitment, onboarding, lost productivity and training are taken into account.
For senior finance, commercial and executive positions, that impact is often significantly greater. A delayed Finance Director doesn’t just leave an empty desk. It delays forecasting, slows strategic decision-making, postpones commercial initiatives and increases the workload on leadership teams already balancing competing priorities.
The Best Candidates Don’t Wait for Your Calendar
Here’s another reality many businesses underestimate. Top candidates rarely pause their careers because your organisation is on holiday.
Research from LinkedIn consistently shows that the strongest candidates are typically on the market for only a relatively short period before accepting a new opportunity. The best people are often involved in multiple recruitment processes simultaneously and can move quickly when the right opportunity appears.
If your hiring process doesn’t begin until September, you may discover that your preferred candidate accepted another role in August. It’s not because your opportunity wasn’t attractive. It’s because someone else was ready to make a decision.
September Doesn’t Start in September
One of the biggest misconceptions in recruitment is that hiring begins when people return from annual leave. In reality, September recruitment is often built during August.
Recruiters are identifying talent. Candidates are updating CVs. Hiring plans are being refined. Initial conversations are taking place. By the time September arrives, many interview processes are already underway.
The businesses that secure the strongest talent aren’t necessarily the ones offering the highest salaries. They’re the ones that started earlier.
Delay Creates Competition
Imagine two businesses hiring for the same Commercial Finance Director. Company A begins speaking to recruiters in August. Company B decides to “pick it up after the holidays.” By mid-September, Company A has already completed first interviews. Company B is still arranging diary availability.
Both businesses are competing for the same small pool of experienced professionals. Only one has momentum.
In today’s market, speed doesn’t mean rushing. It means removing unnecessary delays. Candidates increasingly expect efficient recruitment processes, clear communication and timely decisions. A lengthy process doesn’t signal thoroughness. It often signals uncertainty.
Your Existing Team Pays the Price
The financial cost of an unfilled role is measurable. The cultural cost is harder to quantify. When vacancies remain open for weeks or months:
- Existing employees absorb additional responsibilities.
- High performers risk burnout.
- Customer service can suffer.
- Strategic projects are delayed.
- Managers spend less time leading and more time covering operational gaps.
Eventually, the vacancy affects far more than one department. It starts affecting morale. Ironically, delaying one hire can increase the risk of needing another.
Recruitment is Business Planning
The most successful organisations don’t see recruitment as a reactive activity. They treat it as part of business strategy. Hiring isn’t something you do when everyone’s diary is free. It’s something you do when your business needs capability.
If you know you’ll need additional leadership, finance or commercial expertise in Q4, the conversation should already be happening. That doesn’t mean every interview needs to take place in August. It means the planning, market mapping and candidate engagement shouldn’t wait.
What Smart Businesses Do Instead
Rather than delaying recruitment entirely, successful organisations use August to build momentum. They:
- Brief recruiters before everyone returns.
- Identify and engage passive candidates.
- Schedule initial conversations around holiday commitments.
- Refine job specifications and hiring plans.
- Ensure interview processes are ready to move quickly in September.
By the time other businesses are deciding whether to advertise, they’ve already built a shortlist.
Final Thoughts
“We’ll revisit this in September.” On the surface, it’s a harmless sentence. In reality, it can become one of the most expensive decisions a business makes. Because recruitment doesn’t pause simply because it’s summer.
Talent keeps moving. Competitors keep hiring. Candidates keep making decisions.
The question isn’t whether September will be busy. It always is.
The real question is whether you’ll spend September interviewing great candidates, or wondering where they all went.
At We Do Group, we know that the best hiring outcomes don’t happen by chance, they happen through planning, market insight and acting at the right time. Whether you’re looking to secure your next finance or HR hire, or you’re a candidate ready to explore your next opportunity, our team is here to help you stay ahead of the market, not behind it.
If you’re planning to hire this autumn, don’t wait until September to start the conversation. Get in touch with We Do Group today and let’s make sure you’re ahead of the competition.
