Don’t follow conventional wisdom when it comes to your job search during the holiday season. The holidays actually present an excellent reason to connect with old friends and former colleagues and build or rebuild your network. Networking is a long and continuous process. Halting it at any time is not a good idea, and, in this tough job market you need to be follow your job search strategy relentlessly.

Despite the holidays companies continue their process of filling open positions. A good company is always interested in finding talented employees. Besides, if more openings occur early in the year then you will be better positioned if you have been reading your resume, setting up and enhancing your Linked-In profiles, and setting up exploratory interviews.

If you are employed and looking for a better job, you have more time during the last slow weeks of the year to spend time on your job search effort.

The bottom line this time of year is simply this: Companies do not stop posting positions. Human Resource departments don’t all close down and take vacation. This is not the time to put your job search in neutral. Keep moving forward. Persistence is omnipotent.

Beware of some job search sites like The Ladders and a few others that offer a “free resume critique.” The purpose of these offers is simply to pitch you their resume writing service. If you send them your resume you will receive a standard “form” critique with an offer to write your resume for close to $1,000. Moreover, these sites don’t hire their own resume writers; they outsource to freelancers so you don’t necessarily know what you will be getting.

If you want a professional resume writer, find a professional writer who can provide you samples of actual work, and references. I always offer potential clients a link to my ShimmeringResumes site and the opportunity to be in touch with previous clients.