“Let’s aim to have someone in by January.”
It’s one of the most common things we hear in October.
It sounds like plenty of time. January is three months away. Christmas is a distant concept involving tinsel and a team lunch. Surely a finance hire can be sorted well before then?
Here’s the uncomfortable truth.
If you want your new finance hire sitting at their desk in January, the process needs to start now. Not in November. Not “after the budget is signed off”. Now.
Let’s work backwards and show you why.
The Maths Nobody Does in October
Most businesses think about how long it takes to find someone. Very few think about how long it takes to get them.
A realistic finance hiring timeline usually looks something like this:
- Briefing and market mapping: 1 to 2 weeks
- Shortlisting and first interviews: 2 to 3 weeks
- Second interviews, tasks or presentations: 1 to 2 weeks
- Offer, negotiation and references: 1 week
- Notice period: 1 to 3 months, depending on seniority
Add that up and even a smooth process takes somewhere between two and four months from first conversation to first day.
For a Financial Controller or Finance Director on a three month notice period, an offer accepted at the end of November means a start date at the end of February. At the earliest.
We explored this in more detail in How Long Should It Take to Hire a Financial Controller in the UK? The short version: longer than most people plan for.
Then Christmas Happens
Now factor in the most disruptive fortnight in the recruitment calendar.
From around the middle of December, things slow down dramatically:
- Hiring managers take annual leave they’ve been saving all year.
- Interview panels become impossible to coordinate.
- Sign offs wait for someone who is “back on the 5th”.
- Candidates are reluctant to resign just before Christmas.
- Everyone, briefly, forgets what day it is.
Realistically, you lose two to three working weeks. If your process isn’t well underway by the start of December, it will almost certainly roll into the new year. And a process that restarts in January is competing with every other business that had the same idea.
Why January Starts Are Won in October
The businesses that welcome a new finance hire in January aren’t lucky. They started early.
In practice, that means:
- October: agree the role, brief your recruiter, benchmark the salary and start conversations.
- November: interviews, decisions and offers.
- Early December: offer accepted, resignation handed in, notice period running.
- January: new starter in the seat (for one month notice periods), or a firm start date in February or March for more senior roles.
Even for senior hires with longer notice periods, starting in October means the offer is secured before Christmas. That puts you in a far stronger position than starting from scratch in January.
The Candidates Are Looking Right Now
Here’s something that surprises a lot of employers.
Autumn is one of the busiest times of year for finance professionals thinking about their next move. Summer is over, the year end workload is coming into view and plenty of people are quietly asking themselves whether they want to spend another year in the same role.
The best of those candidates won’t wait for your January plan. They’ll be in other processes in October and November, and they’ll accept the offer that arrives first and feels right.
If you’re still finalising the job description in December, you may find the person you wanted has already handed in their notice. Just not to join you.
“We’ll Wait Until the Budget Is Approved”
We understand. Nobody wants to start a process for a role that isn’t confirmed.
But there is a lot you can do while the final sign off is working its way through the business:
✅ Agree the scope and level of the role.
✅ Benchmark the salary so the budget is realistic from the start.
✅ Map the market so you know who is out there.
✅ Line up your interview panel and diary dates.
✅ Have early, confidential conversations with your recruiter.
That way, when approval comes through, you’re ready to move the same week. Not the same quarter.
Our free We Do Benchmark service is a good place to start. It gives you independent salary data for finance and accounting roles based on your size, sector and location, which makes the budget conversation a lot easier.
What Waiting Really Costs
An empty finance role is never just an empty desk.
Somebody is covering the work. Month end slows down. Reporting gets patchy. Your Financial Controller starts doing the job of two people during the busiest quarter of the year.
Push the hire back to Q2 and you’re asking your team to carry that load through year end, audit and budget season. That’s how one vacancy quietly becomes two.
We broke down the real numbers in The Real Cost of an Unfilled Finance Vacancy. It’s worth a read before you decide to wait.
Five Things to Do This Month
If you want your next finance hire in place early in 2027, here’s your October to do list:
1️⃣ Confirm the role. Be clear about the level, scope and reporting line.
2️⃣ Benchmark the package. Make sure the salary reflects today’s market, not 2024’s.
3️⃣ Tighten the process. Fewer stages, quicker feedback, decision makers available.
4️⃣ Book interview dates now. Before diaries fill up with Christmas parties and year end.
5️⃣ Talk to a specialist. A good finance recruiter can tell you within one conversation how realistic your timeline is.
Final Thoughts
January feels a long way off in October. It isn’t.
Between interviews, notice periods and the Christmas shutdown, the window to secure a Q1 finance hire is already narrowing. The businesses that act now will start the new year with a stronger team. The ones that wait will start it with a job advert.
At We Do Group, we help businesses across the UK hire finance and accounting talent, from Assistant Accountants to Finance Directors. If you’re planning a hire for early 2027, let’s talk now and build a timeline that actually works.
Because the best time to start your January hire isn’t January.
