As friends, neighbors and family set aside a portion of the next four weeks for shopping, decorating and the other trappings of the holidays this time of year, Ryan Casey will continue to devote himself to a singular cause:

Finding a job.

"It's status quo," said Casey, a recently married technology specialist and marketer from Creve Coeur who has been searching for work since his layoff a year ago. "I'm going to keep networking and looking on job boards and online to see what's out there."

Career professionals say pushing the job search forward during the run-up to Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa is a wise strategy.

"Your worst-case scenario is to stop looking," said Mark Dischert, a recruiter with Accounting Career Consultants in Creve Coeur.

Once upon a time — in the early-1960s-era of "Mad Men," holiday office parties and the monthlong exhale known as December — putting a job search on hold until the new year was pretty much standard operating procedure.

That custom, hiring experts say, is as outdated as Don Draper's office behavior.

"With the advent of instant communication, it's much easier to keep the process moving," said John Maglione, a senior information technology recruiter with SyllogisTeks in Chesterfield.

Although business doesn't come to a standstill in December, the experts say there is a discernible slowdown.

Managers once consumed with meetings are likely to devote more time to incoming communication, including résumés sent their way from the human resources department. Charles Marinaro, president of Marinaro & Associates in St. Charles, suggests the downtime of the employed may be the ideal moment for the unemployed to get their names in front of those who might otherwise be occupied.

"To get a job, you need to put the steps in place to make that happen," said Marinaro. "This is the time to take those steps."

Ashley Williams cautions, however, that December remains a month when businesses often take a step back to evaluate where the company has been and where it is going.

"From a candidate's perspective, there is never a bad time to plant the seed," said Williams, a headhunter with Personnel Connection, also in Creve Coeur. "But as far as the hiring manager's perspective, they are probably just anxious to get out of 2009."

Should a hiring manager accept a call, Williams advises asking about the company's 2010 hiring outlook.

As always, the key to finding a job in December — as in all other months — is networking.

Jan Leuthauser, a vice president with the Chesterfield office of Lee Hecht Harrison, a national recruiting firm, notes that December — unlike other months — carries the potential to network beyond LinkedIn.com and other online sites that connect the unemployed to jobs.

In fact, she suggests the holidays may lead to a job in unexpected ways and places.

"It may be one of the better times of the year, if not the best, to network because there are so many different types of networks," Leuthauser said. "Families, friends, people you see only once a year — think of the associations they have and talk to them about what you're looking for."

Marinaro fell into such a conversation with the guy who sold him his Christmas tree a few years back.

In the conversation about the tree best suited for the Marinaro living room, the salesman revealed he'd taken the job to earn extra holiday cash after a recent layoff as an inventory control specialist.

Marinaro's ears picked up — he had a client looking for someone with an expertise in inventory control. Marinaro bought the tree and slipped the salesman a business card.

Arriving at work the next morning, a Monday, he found a résumé slipped under his door in the dark of night. By Thursday, the tree salesman had a job offer.

"I like to think that came from up above," said Marinaro. "But the more networking you do, the better. You never know where a job will come from."