Hiring or Not for 2010?

Since it is a week before Thanksgiving, many would think that hiring for 2010 would be, for the most part, done. And with an economy bouncing up and down, many companies would seem to be wise to halt hiring for the time being. But judging by the amount of new job postings floating around the interwebs, it would seem that the opposite may be the case. More and more companies are listing for positions and looking to hire "immediately". So where is the disconnect here?

Well it seems that while many companies are posting for jobs, and some are even interviewing candidates, very few are actually hiring. Some companies are just using this as a "feeling out" period, trying to figure out what type of candidate pool they have to choose from and about how much it would cost them if they wanted to actually hire the candidates. Other companies want to get candidates in the door so they can have their names and their interviews taken care of so when the 2011 budget dollars get released, they can go ahead and spend.

But there is yet another class of companies that just seem to be interviewing for the sake of interviewing. I have spoken to more than one person who said their company has instituted a hiring freeze, but still continue to list jobs online and even bring in people to interview knowing full well they can't hire them.

One of the questions hiring managers, human resources, and even the candidate being interviewed need to ask is: when is this job for? Is it really immediate hire or is the budget there for sometime in 2011--or is this just a fishing expedition? An understanding between all parties in this process will make for a much more effective and trustworthy hiring process.