Every year, right around this time, I have the same conversation with clients. They tell me the summer felt quiet, maybe even discouraging, and they ask if it’s worth pushing hard on their search right now or waiting until the new year.
My answer is always the same: don’t wait. Fall can be one of the most active hiring windows in fashion and footwear, and if you sit it out, you’re handing the opportunity to someone who didn’t.
Why Fall Hiring Picks Up
- New fiscal year budgets. Many companies work on a calendar or near-calendar fiscal year. Fall is sometimes when new headcount finally gets approved after months of planning.
- Merchandising and design teams staff up ahead of seasonal changes and key market weeks, and that ripple effect touches roles across the business, not just those directly tied to the calendar.
- Year-end urgency. Hiring managers want seats filled before the holidays slow everything to a crawl. That urgency works in your favor.
- A post-summer reset. Teams that quietly tabled hiring in July and August come back in September with renewed focus and, often, a longer list of open roles than they started with.
What This Means For You
It does not mean the search suddenly gets easy. It means the door is propped open wider than it was a month ago, and the people who walk through it prepared are the ones who benefit most.
Here are the 3 things I want every client to have in place before applying to a single Fall opening:
- A resume aligned to the roles you’re targeting right now, not the resume you built 6 months ago for a different search.
- A LinkedIn profile that actively signals what you’re looking for and why you’re worth finding, since recruiters are searching, not just posting.
- A short, specific list of target companies and roles, so you’re applying with intention instead of scattering resumes and hoping.
Your Next Step
Over the next 3 weeks, I’ll walk through each of these in detail: updating your resume and LinkedIn for Q4 openings, keeping your momentum once interviews start moving fast, and turning market week and trade show connections into real opportunities.
For now, start with one honest gut check: if a Fall opening opened up tomorrow at your dream company, would your resume and LinkedIn be ready to send today? If not, that’s this week’s assignment.
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