Last updated: November 2026
In Australian building products sales, January is the big start month and January to February is the replacement wave. Reps tend to resign once their bonus or commission is paid, which depends on the company's financial year. For a late January start, a hiring manager needs to brief a recruiter by mid-November.
I've recruited salespeople in building products since 2017. BDMs, specification managers, account managers and sales managers across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. The year has a shape. Some years it's busy one month and not the next. It really is a bit of luck. Hiring never stops. What follows is the pattern I see often enough to plan around, read from both sides: the rep deciding when to resign, and the hiring manager deciding when to start a search.
What does the building products sales hiring year look like?
The building products sales hiring year runs on four things: the January start, the slow stretch over summer, the new financial year, and the resignations that follow bonus and commission payouts.
| When | Reps | Hiring managers |
|---|---|---|
| October to mid-November | Interviewing and accepting offers for January starts | Brief now if you want someone in by late January |
| Mid-December to mid-January | On holidays. Applications drop right off | Little moves. Candidates and businesses are away |
| January | Starting new roles | New starters train and ramp up while the year is quiet |
| January and February | Replacing the people who left late last year | The busy hiring wave as businesses ramp up again |
| July | New financial year | New budgets, new headcount, new roles to fill |
| After bonuses and commission are paid | The second resignation window | Timing depends on your financial year and bonus cycle |
Why is January the big start month in building products sales?
January is the big start month because a lot of businesses like new starters beginning after Christmas. They avoid paying for any of the public holidays, and the start of the year is a good training ramp-up time.
January falls well for candidates too. A fresh start means they actually get to take some holiday before the new role, and that's easier to do over the Christmas break. People like it.
Then there's the knock-on. Everyone that's lost staff at the back end of the year is looking to replace them come January and February as they ramp up again. So January isn't one wave. It's the people who resigned before Christmas starting somewhere new, and the businesses they left trying to fill the gap.
And one resignation is rarely just one. I've lost count of how many times I've had two people from the same business in front of me, same role, same week.
When should a building products sales rep resign?
Resign after your bonus or commission has been paid. More often than not, I see reps leaving money on the table. Sometimes it can't be helped, and plenty are happy to because they want out. But if the timing is yours to choose, choose it.
When that is depends on who you work for. An American-owned company can run a different financial year to a majority Australian one. A quarterly bonus lands at different times to a yearly one. So there's no single month that suits everyone. Find out when yours pays and work back from it.
What happens to commission or a bonus owed when you resign is set by your contract and your commission plan. Read both before you hand anything in. If you're not sure how your plan actually pays, what your commission structure actually pays walks through where plans leak, and building products sales pay plans explained covers how the whole package fits together. The Fair Work Ombudsman has the basics on resignation and notice periods.
Sometimes the timing just won't work. The right role turns up three months before your bonus. That's when you negotiate. A guaranteed bonus from the new employer can offset what you're walking away from.
Don't assume your notice period is fixed either. Some businesses are fine about it. Others go cold the day you resign, pull you off your accounts and park you on admin while someone else picks up the area. If that's you, you can negotiate to finish early and give up the rest of the pay. Ask, and get the agreed last day in writing.
Once the timing is right, the resignation itself matters too. How to resign from a building products sales role covers the conversation. What your notice period means for your job search timing covers the gap. And expect a counter-offer. Counter-offers in building products sales covers that. If you're only just starting to look, starting a job search in building products sales is the place to begin.
Does the new financial year release sales headcount?
The new financial year releases sales headcount in a lot of building products businesses. New budgets, new headcount, new roles to fill. A lot of companies are very fixed on team size, so the new year is when that changes, or when a new strategy needs people to deliver it.
There are other drivers. A gap in the team gets filled whenever it opens up. And the resignation side runs on its own clock. Reps move after their bonus lands, and that moves with each company's financial year and whether bonuses are paid quarterly or yearly. An American-owned business and an Australian one can be months apart.
When should hiring managers start a search for a January start?
Brief your recruiter by mid-November for a late January start. Realistically, that's the line. The person you hire needs time to resign properly from their role, and there's nothing worse than it rolling into the new year.
Mid-November gives you plenty of time to make a decision and line someone up. The search is the search, and there might be some candidates available sooner. But there's nothing worse than thinking you'll find someone for a January start and being rushed. I'd rather you had the right person than rushed a decision.
Remember you're always competing with someone. Take ten days to get a first interview in the diary and the candidate you wanted resigns on the Monday, to join a business that moved faster.
Two things help. First, a clear brief. How to brief a recruiter in building products covers what I need from you on day one. Second, sort the budget before the search starts, not after. How to budget for a new sales role and territory covers that.
If your preferred candidate has a bonus owing, a guaranteed bonus is how you close the gap. Want them now? Cover what they'd leave behind. I set out how a first-six-month guaranteed bonus works in designing a sales comp plan for a building products BDM.
And if you've already missed the window and the seat's been empty a while, what to do when a sales role has been open 90 days is worth a read.
What happens to sales hiring over Christmas and January?
Recruitment can grind to a halt from Christmas through mid-January. No one's really looking for a new job, and no one's around to run the hiring process. People are on holidays and organisations themselves are quiet in January.
There's always something to hire. Part of the January pattern is simply when people come back to work. But who doesn't love Australia in summer?
Is a quiet period a bad time to hire a sales rep?
A quiet period is often the best time to bring someone on and the hardest time to get a hiring decision made. To contradict myself, quiet times are often very good times for training and handovers. The new starter gets proper attention. The handover isn't squeezed between customer calls.
The catch is that quiet periods come with concerns around budgets and sales. Those concerns stop people wanting to make hiring decisions. So the best time to onboard someone is often the time a business least wants to commit to a hire. Worth knowing before you put a search on hold.
Is it a problem if a new hire wants a break before starting?
A new hire taking a break before starting is usually fine, and it works out best for everyone more often than you'd think. In October 2026 I placed my first two building products BDMs for 2027. Both January starts, placed in October. The earliest I've ever had two land.
Both candidates are taking an extended break before they start. Their new employers are fine with it. The start dates are locked in, nobody is scrambling, and everything's lined up. Hiring managers, brief early and you get the person you want, and they turn up rested.
When is the best time to hire sales reps in building products?
The best time to hire sales reps in building products is earlier than most businesses start. For a January start, brief by mid-November. For the rest of the year, know when budgets reset and when bonuses land in your market, because that's when good people start answering the phone.
If you're planning a sales hire for the new year, here's how I work with hiring managers.
James Bowesman, building products sales recruiter at Specified Select Group. Recruiting sales talent in building products, lighting and A&D since 2017.