It is October. The jacarandas are out, the year-end function is being planned and someone in the office has already mentioned Christmas. (There is always one.)
It is also the month when many SME owners look at the busy season ahead and realise: “We are going to need another pair of hands. A good one.”
Here is the slightly uncomfortable truth: if you need a new manager settled in before December, October is not early. It is just in time.
Hiring a manager is not like ordering a pizza. Even when everything runs smoothly, there are a few steps you cannot skip:
1. Finding and screening candidates takes time, especially for experienced people who are currently employed.
2. Interviews have to fit around your diary and theirs.
3. Notice periods are the big one. Good managers are usually employed, and most will need to work out their notice (often a month) before they can join you.
4. Settling in means a new manager needs a few weeks to learn your systems and team before the pressure is really on.
Add it up and a manager you start looking for in late October may only walk through your door in December, or even January.
| When | What should happen |
| Mid to late October | Brief the role: job spec, salary range, start date |
| Late October to early November | Advertise, search and screen candidates |
| Early to mid November | Interviews and reference checks |
| Mid November | Offer accepted; candidate resigns and starts their notice |
| December | New manager starts and settles in |
Not every busy season calls for a permanent manager. Ask yourself:
Is the extra workload seasonal, or has the business simply outgrown the current team?
Will we still need this person in March? If the answer is yes, it is a permanent role in disguise.
Who will lead the team when I am on leave? If the honest answer is “me, on my phone, at the beach”, you probably need a manager.
Often, a festive season scramble is a sign that a permanent role has been missing for a while.
The best candidates are rarely on the market for long. If you wait until the rush has started, you are recruiting while stretched, rushing decisions, and competing with every other business that left it late.
And once December arrives, much of South Africa slows down. Candidates go on leave, decision makers disappear and your search quietly stalls until the second week of January.
Let us do the running
This is exactly where a boutique recruitment partner earns their keep. At Proactive Recruitment, we move quickly without cutting corners: we brief, search, screen and shortlist while you keep the business running at full speed.
There is still time
