The fourth quarter is the quietest hiring quarter of the year. After New Year, the number of new vacancies in the Netherlands rises by about 12% on average, while the number of people who change jobs stays flat or falls. Hire now and you compete with fewer employers for the same candidates. That is the finding of IPMERC research on figures from CBS, the Dutch statistics office.
43,000 extra vacancies in one quarter
In the fourth quarter of 2025, 331,000 new vacancies opened, the lowest number that year. In the first quarter of 2026 there were 374,000, 13.0% more. The pattern repeats. Since 2014 new vacancies rose in eleven of twelve year-end transitions, by 9.3% to 22.1%. The only fall came with the first covid measures in 2020.
Candidates don't grow with it
Over the same New Year, the number of employees who changed employer fell from 325,000 to 303,000. Permanent employees, the group most employers want to hire, don't move more in January either: 116,000 switches in the fourth quarter, 114,000 in the first. Competition for each candidate rises. The number of candidates does not.
Mid-sized companies add the most
At companies with 10 to 100 people, new vacancies rise by 22% on average after New Year, almost three times as much as at large companies (8%). Hospitality rises 37%, construction 28%, business services 14% and information and communication 12%. Education follows the school year and opens fewer vacancies after New Year.
Count back from the notice period
Under Dutch law an employee resigns to the end of the month, with one month's notice, unless the contract says otherwise (Civil Code, article 7:672). A candidate who signs and resigns by the end of November can start on 1 January. One who signs in mid-January can only start on 1 March. A longer notice period in the contract pushes everything further.
What you can do
- Open the vacancy now. In the fourth quarter you stand out in a quieter market.
- Aim for a signature before 1 December if the new colleague has to start in January.
- Plan interviews close together. At the end of December hiring stops at most companies.
- If you are a mid-sized company, start first. In January companies your size add almost three times as many vacancies as large ones.
Sources: IPMERC, The New Year adds vacancies, not candidates (October 2026); CBS StatLine 80472ned and 85390NED; Dutch Civil Code, article 7:672.
Pearson & Partners is locating and qualifying candidates now who can start in January.