I remember sitting for lunch with some job hunting friends back in September or October, just before I left my last position. We were all discussing our job hunt, which, at the time, felt more daunting then ever.

We had been asking each other if anyone else was noticing a dwindling number of positions posted, which was something none of us were expecting to see. Eventually, someone looked at a calendar and pointed out a “Truth Of The Job Market,” one which, a few months later, I feel might be inaccurate.

Someone said, “You know, we have to get interviews in before Thanksgiving, because no one will hire us until 2010 if we don’t.”

Thinking about the amount of time that goes between the fourth Thursday in November, or really the third Thursday in November because if you follow their logic, who’ll be around to interview and hire Thanksgiving week, and the first work day in January 2010, this was a chilling thought. I don’t know how true that is, and since I wasn’t entirely sure then, I moved forward with reckless abandon in my job hunt. I didn’t treat a day as “two days before Thanksgiving” or “three weeks before Christmas,” I treated it as any old Tuesday.

I’d follow my job seeking agenda: make my to do list for the following day during Gossip Girl, watch some news before bed, and wake up ready to start the “work day” at normal “work day starting times.” I’m a big believer in optimism and positive thinking, and WHY would I tell myself, “Based on the day and month, you’re not getting a job. Time is stacked against you” before I even set down with my computer to search and send out my resume. I don’t believe in that, and I refused to let that job seeking myth impact my Holiday time job seeking mentality.

I knew my industry has been plagued with hiring freezes, is dominated by internal hires and essentially shuts down during the week between Christmas and New Years, so I knew, realistically, I had less days to get my name out there than I would have liked. The thing about me, though, is that I don’t shy away from a challenge. In fact, it actually energizes me.

By treating late November and December as “just any other day,” I’ve found the best reasons to be optimistic in my entire job seeking history. This time last year, people were worried about just how bad the recession and job market would get. Companies didn’t know whether they’d weather the storm, let alone when they’d be able to hire again. This year, it seems to be a totally different mentality.

The end is in sight, and if companies aren’t already on their regular hiring practices, they’re feeling positive and optimistic about returning to them (or close to it) in 2010. And as such, people seem to be very proactive with their recruiting, and I really feel as if real people are reading my resume, as opposed to my arch-nemesis, the BrassRing keyword searching recruiting robot. And the more I thought about it, this makes plenty of sense.

It’s important tying up the year - there’s a lot of things that need to be done to “close the books” so to speak at any company, and especially any human resources department, but at the same time, it’s also totally important to look toward the future, because hey, in a few short weeks it’s already 2010. Just as we as job seekers must plan ahead appropriately, companies need to do as well. And if they want to have new workers starting in January, when’s the best time to start looking for them? December.

Seriously - even from my own perspective as a freelance entertainment writer, as many articles as I’ve had to write recently regarding the “Best Music of 2009,” I’ve sought out more pieces and have had more fun writing about “The Most Anticipated Music of 2010.” It’s just optimistic and exciting to look to the future with good talent, which is exactly what human resources departments are doing now. In not wanting to believe the job seeking myth of this being a dead time, I have made what currently feels like great progress in my job search.

I’ve applied to plenty of jobs, some just to “Get my name in the pit” and let HR know how interested I am in joining their team, and to my excitement and surprise, have heard back from several. For that lunch hour with my friends a couple of months ago, I was not expecting to be applying to any jobs in December, let alone hearing great words of encouragement and scheduling interviews for this month. I was not expecting to hear, especially because of the amount of waiting I have done this job search, “It’d be great to have someone start around Christmas.” And hey - that shows me defying another job myth I’ve heard from disillusioned job seekers: I was told after I sent a resume to the HR department of a company I’d love to work for nearly blindly that “Hiring doesn’t work like that. You know, you can’t just ‘throw your name into the pit’ and let people know you’re interested. No one will get back to you.” I’ve proved that wrong. Just do it - what’s the worst that happens? No one gets back to you and you’re in the same position you are now. Anything else is a positive lead, and it’s worth the risk.

And I’m willing to believe that I’m not a rarity in this situation. Better yet, I don’t want to believe that I’m the exception to the rule, because I’ve seen some of the most talented, accomplished people I know job seeking this month. But if anything, I’ve learned not to believe myths, and not to alter your day to day practices because of something that may have been true in the past.

If you think there’s a ticking clock with job hiring in 2009, then this should be motivation to send out more resumes each day and make more positive professional contacts than any other month since you’ve been job seeking.

It wouldn’t be called a “challenge” if it wasn’t challenging, but just think, in a few weeks you’ll have the holidays to relax, and maybe, just maybe, if you push hard this December, you might have some great news to celebrate at the end of the month.

-By Catherine Fuentes, Contributing Writer, 405 Club Member and actively seeking freelance entertainment writing opportunities

Read More from Catherine here.