Hiring Permanent Staff in the New Year? How Notice Periods Affect Your Start Date

If you make a permanent hire in the new year, the person you appoint is unlikely to start in January. Most candidates are already employed and must work their notice period first, which their employment contract sets and which is often longer for more senior roles. An offer accepted in late January can therefore mean a start date in March or April.

To have someone in post by spring, work back from the date you need them: allow time to find the right person, then add their notice period, and start the search in early January. Below, we explain how we help employers across Scotland’s Central Belt plan around notice periods, and what to do while a new hire is working theirs.

How long does it take to hire a permanent employee?

A permanent hire runs on two separate clocks, and it helps to plan for each one.

• Time to hire is the time from agreeing the brief to a candidate accepting your offer. It covers finding candidates, interviews and the offer itself, and it’s the part you and your agency can influence most.
• Time to fill runs from the brief to the candidate’s first day. It includes their notice period, which you can’t shorten without their current employer’s agreement.

Typical time from brief to accepted offer for permanent roles with us can be two to four weeks for office and administrative roles, four to eight weeks for experienced or specialist roles.

In our experience, the delays that stretch time to hire are rarely about finding candidates. They tend to come from inside the hiring business: waiting for interview slots, feedback that takes a week to come back, or a second round that wasn’t planned for. Good candidates who are looking in the new year often have more than one option, so a slow process can lose you the person you wanted.

The calendar matters too. In Scotland, New Year’s Day falls on Friday 1 January 2027 and the 2 January bank holiday is moved to Monday 4 January, so the first full working week starts on Tuesday 5 January.

Many hiring managers take extra leave around this time. If you want to interview in the first half of January, book the diaries before Christmas.

Our guide to what makes a good permanent hire covers how we assess candidates for permanent roles.

How do notice periods affect your start date?

A notice period is the time an employee must keep working for their current employer after resigning. For someone who has been in their job for more than a month, the legal minimum is one week, but most employment contracts set a longer period, and the contract is what counts.

That means the notice period you need to plan for is the one in each candidate’s contract, not the legal minimum. One month notice period is common for many roles, with three months more likely for senior, management or specialist positions.

In practice, we suggest employers keep three things in mind.

• Ask about notice early. We confirm each candidate’s notice period at the start of the process, not at offer stage, so it’s never a surprise. You can then compare candidates on when they could realistically start as well as on their skills.
• Don’t plan around an early release. Some employers agree to let a leaver go sooner, but it isn’t guaranteed. Plan for the full contractual notice and treat anything earlier as a bonus.
• Notice starts when the candidate resigns, not when you make the offer. Most people won’t resign until they have a written offer and are happy with the terms. Any delay in issuing the contract pushes the start date back by the same amount.

On a quieter role, a candidate who could start sooner may be the better choice. For a hard-to-fill or senior role, it’s usually worth waiting for the right person rather than settling for someone available now.

How do you work back from a spring start date?

The simplest way to set a realistic timeline is to start from the date you need someone in post and count backwards. When we agree a timeline with an employer, we work through it in this order.

1. Fix the start date. When do you genuinely need the person in the role?
2. Take off the notice period. Use the notice you’d expect for the level of role, which gives you the latest date the candidate needs to resign.
3. Allow a few days for the offer and contract. That gives you the date you need an accepted offer by.
4. Take off the time to hire. That gives you the date the search needs to begin.

Here’s how that works for a start date of Monday 12 April 2027. The six-week search is an example only; your own role may be quicker or slower.

 

Step	Candidate with one month’s notice	Candidate with three months’ notice
Start date	Monday 12 April	Monday 12 April
Latest date to resign	Around 12 March	Around 12 January
Offer accepted and contract issued	Early March	Early January
Search begins (six-week example)	Late January	Mid-November

 

The second column surprises many employers. For a senior or specialist hire with a three-month notice period, a spring start means the search has to begin before Christmas, allowing for the holiday break. That’s why we encourage employers to plan their 2027 hiring in the final quarter of the year, as we explain in our guide, planning your 2027 hiring.

What should you do while your new hire is serving notice?

The weeks between an accepted offer and a first day are when a hire is most likely to fall through. The candidate has resigned, their current employer may try to keep them, and they have heard little from you since the offer. We stay in touch with candidates throughout their notice period, and we encourage employers to do the same.

• Expect a counter-offer. When someone resigns, their employer may offer more money or a new title to keep them.
• Keep in touch. A short call from the hiring manager, an invitation to meet the team, or a copy of the first-week plan all help a new starter feel committed before they arrive.
• Get the paperwork done early. Issue the contract promptly and complete pre-employment checks, such as right to work, during the notice period rather than on day one.
• Prepare the first week. Equipment, system access, and a named person to look after them. Our guide to what good onboarding looks like covers this in more detail.

It’s also worth checking your probation arrangements before new starters arrive. Some Employment Rights Act changes are due to take effect from January 2027, including changes to unfair dismissal rules, so take advice on how they apply to new hires in your business.

When does temporary cover make sense in the meantime?

If a role is already empty, or the person leaving it finishes before your new hire can start, there may be a gap of weeks or months. Temporary cover can keep the work moving without rushing the permanent decision.

We usually suggest temporary or contract cover when:

• the role directly affects customers, orders or compliance, so a gap would cost more than the cover;
• your remaining team is already stretched and relying on overtime;
• the gap is likely to be longer than a few weeks, for example while a senior hire works a three-month notice period.

It’s also worth saying what temporary cover won’t do. A temporary worker can keep things running, but in a senior or specialist role they won’t usually take on everything the permanent hire will. Brief them on the essentials and agree what can wait.

Our temporary recruitment and permanent recruitment teams work together on this, and our article on temporary and contract staffing explains how to get the most from short-term cover.

How can Allstaff help with your new year permanent hiring?

We recruit permanent staff for employers across Scotland’s Central Belt from our Glasgow and Paisley offices, in office support, HR, marketing, accountancy and finance, engineering, manufacturing, and warehouse and logistics. We’ve been doing this for over 40 years.

If you have a permanent role to fill in the first half of 2027, we’d be glad to help you set a realistic timeline before the new year starts. We’ll talk through the role, the notice periods you’re likely to see, and whether temporary cover makes sense in the meantime.

Request a call back or find out more about our permanent recruitment service.

Frequently asked questions

What is the minimum notice period when an employee resigns in the UK?

An employee who has been in their job for more than a month must give at least one week’s notice. Most employment contracts set a longer period, and the contract is what applies.

What is the average notice period in the UK?

It depends on the contract and the level of the role. In our experience, one month is common, and senior or specialist roles often have three months. Ask each candidate about their notice early so you can plan the start date accurately.

What’s the difference between time to hire and time to fill?

Time to hire runs from agreeing the brief to a candidate accepting your offer. Time to fill runs to the candidate’s first day, so it includes their notice period.

When should I start recruiting for a permanent role that begins in April?

Work back from the start date. With a one-month notice period, the search usually needs to begin in January. With a three-month notice period, it may need to begin before Christmas.

Can a new employee start before their notice period ends?

Only if their current employer agrees to release them early. It does happen, but it isn’t guaranteed, so plan for the full contractual notice period.