How to Be Productive in Your Next Job Search.
This is a guest post by Luke Smith. Thank you, Luke for taking the time wotire this for me.
The widespread quarantines that took place in response to the coronavirus pandemic created tens of millions of unemployed Americans. At first, it seemed to be a temporary situation, with the likelihood being that most employees would head back to work after the virus “blew over.”
However, as the weeks turned into months, the reality of the situation began to come into focus: many people would never get their old jobs back. How many people? It’s estimated that a staggering 17.6 million unemployed Americans will likely never return to their previous place of employment.
With so many people suddenly looking for work, finding a job can feel more daunting than ever. However, if you keep your head on straight, take a deep breath, and set yourself up for success, it’s possible to conduct a positive, productive job search even in the midst of a pandemic.
Take a Step Back
The first thing you want to do is to take a step back and breathe. Seriously. It’s cliché and maybe a little cheesy, but it’s genuinely one of the best ways to gain some perspective.
Before you send a single application or brush up a resume, take a moment to consider your circumstances. It’ll be much easier to present yourself in a confident, competent manner if you aren’t panicking internally throughout the entire application process.
Build Your Job-Hunting Toolkit
The next step in creating a productive job hunt is setting yourself up for success. There are many different tools that you’re going to want to gather and familiarize yourself with before you’re asked for them on the spot. These include:
Your resume or CV: It’s essential that you update and generally get your resume in order so that it reflects your current experience, skills, and education.
Cover letter template: Along with your resume, you’re going to want to get a good cover letter template for your industry to help you sell yourself in the best manner possible.
Other templates: You’ll also want to familiarize yourself with follow up, thank you, and acceptance letters (or emails) to help you maintain professional communication throughout the application process.
Referrals: Tap your professional network in order to brush up on your referrals. Contact past employers, professors, and coworkers who are willing to vouch for you and then record their contact information in a separate document to go along with your resume.
Interview prep: Finally, go over what it takes to nail an interview, whether it’s on the phone, via video chat, or in person.
Remote work gear: Make sure you have a computer, headphones, a video, a microphone, and a smartphone in good working order for any remote work situations you may find yourself in.
If you take the time to gather your tools first, it will make the job-hunting process infinitely easier.
Look for “COVID-Proof” Work
While it certainly isn’t the time to be picky about the work that you accept, it is important to consider if any jobs that you apply to are “COVID-proof” or not. In other words, could they survive if another quarantine is put in place?
The two factors that you want to consider are:
Is the business you’re applying to either essential or able to function remotely if physical offices or stores are shut down?
Can you work remotely if you can’t physically be at the office?
If you can find a job that is safe from the effects of a pandemic, you’ll be able to enjoy greater job security in the future.
Beef Up Your Experience
If you find that you aren’t getting any traction in the job market at the moment, you may want to consider adding to your experience to give you a leg up over the competition.
One of the best ways to do this — especially if you can’t get on the job experience — is by building stackable credentials. That is, certifications and coursework in addition to your degree. These should give you further experience and knowledge in an applicable area. For instance, if your degree is in Human Resources, getting stackable credentials in entrepreneurship or management or even further credentials within the HR field could increase your chances of standing out in a pile of candidates.
Hone Your Skillset
Along with formal training, it’s also wise to work on your skillset. Soft skills are particularly coveted by recruiters as they parse through a sea of identically qualified candidates — academically speaking — in search of anyone with the soft skills that make them stand apart.
Some professionally applicable soft skills to address include:
Mastering time-management.
Working on your ability to communicate within a workforce.
Maintaining a positive attitude through hardship or challenges.
Staying organized and on a schedule.
Fostering problem-solving and creativity.
Enhancing your soft-skill repertoire is an excellent way to give yourself a cutting-edge over candidates with similar hard skills to yourself.
Conducting a Job Search in a Pandemic
Whether you’re honing your job-hunting toolkit, beefing up your professional experience with some stackable credits, or working on improving your professional soft skillset, there are many ways to stay productive when conducting a job search during a pandemic.
Throughout the experience, it’s crucial that you strive to maintain a positive, optimistic attitude. The truth is, you will likely be rejected at times. You’ll often fail to hear back from applications. Recruiters may leave you hanging after you thought an interview went well. None of these are abnormal situations, and there are millions of others experiencing them alongside you.
However, if you can keep your chin up, prepare beforehand, and stay focused throughout, you can absolutely execute a productive job search that, sooner or later, will find you gainful employment.
Luke Smith is a writer and researcher turned blogger. Since finishing college he is trying his hand at being a freelance writer. He enjoys writing on a variety of topics but leadership and digital marketing topics are his favorite. When he isn’t writing you can find him traveling, hiking, or gaming.
Thank you for reading my stories! 😊
My purpose is to help 1 million people by 2020 to live the lives they desire. To help people find happiness and become better organised and more productive so they can do more of the important things in life.
If you would like to learn more about the work I do, and how I can help you to become better organised and more productive, you can visit my website or you can say hello on Twitter, YouTube or Facebook and subscribe to my weekly newsletter right here.