Which came first, the job or the job seeker?

I've just been looking at the NORAs/alljobsuk.com article from the 5th of February about the volume of vacancies in the UK recruitment market

http://www.norauk.com/2010/02/vacancy-volumes-indicate-steady-recovery/

The top graph in the article shows the volume of jobs being published by the top 10 job boards in the UK. Obviously there's the holiday periods to factor in and you can clearly see Easter, the school summer holidays and Christmas dips for both 2008 and 2009. 

Clearly the credit crunch has taken its toll on the volume of jobs being advertised but the underlying trends between 2008 and 2009 are identical. A rise in vacancies in Jan/Feb tailing off in March followed by a major dip over Easter, recovering until mid July and dipping until September where the volume increases until the end of November tailing off and then dipping dramatically for Christmas there after the recovery begins again in January.

But beyond the trends that are shown for holiday periods, there is a deeper question here.

Comparing these trends with the trends I see on clients career sites for volume of visitors they are remarkably similar, with the same dips in holiday times the trends essentially mirror each other.

Realising this, the question then arises of "Which came first?"...

Is it that the job seekers are following the jobs or the jobs are following the job seekers?

Putting it more plainly, is it that when there is "job seeker" perception of plentiful choice in the jobs market, more people are likely to look at what's on offer? Or is it that there is a recruiters perception that the potential applicant pool is bountiful and therefore it's a great time to advertise a vacancy in the business? Understanding the answer to this question allows us to pose and answer a deeper question...

When is the best time to recruit?

Is it best to engage in the recruitment cycle during the peak periods when there are more jobs and job seekers around or in the off times where you may "get a better deal". In the peak times there will certainly be more people to sort through for recruiters and from a job seekers point of view it makes it more difficult to shine when you are in amongst the crowd.

Clearly, the one thing this does highlight is that we in the UK are all thinking in the same way for our recruitment and employment prospects and I for one am not sure that that is a good thing!