First and foremost, Project Job hopes you and yours are safe and healthy. These are highly unusual times wrought with anxiety and stress, and the continuous stream of headline news does not help.
For job seekers like yourself, the cancellation of job fairs, the delays in response to your resume submissions, the postponements of interviews only feed into insecurities and exacerbate a fraughtful process. However, the disruption to the flow of your employment search, and the added loneliness in a world that is temporarily working remotely, can be used to your advantage today to get a job tomorrow. Here’s a few ways to grab the gloom and doom by the horns and start making lemonade out of lemons.
1. Catch up. How many times have you felt you didn’t have enough time to for your job search “chores?”
- Review and update your resume
- Create or polish your LinkedIn profile
- Create that excel spreadsheet and enter jobs you’ve applied for
- Reconnect or stay in touch with former colleagues
- Research a new list of prospective employers
2. Get curious. Learn a new skill, listen to a TED talk, check out a new podcast. Here are some suggestions: LinkedIn learning, Grow with Google, TED talks, How I Built This podcast with Guy Raz.
3. Stay connected with your circle of support and friends, by using the phone, facetime, google hangout, skype, or other modes of communication that you’re comfortable with. Network with professionals by connecting and communicating via LinkedIn.
4. Exercise your mind and body, go outside, do a crossword puzzle, take pictures, listen to music.
5. Reflect and hear yourself think. Jot your thoughts down.
Yes be mindful of your surroundings, be safe and careful, wash those hands, embrace the solitude to tackle your “To Do” list, and please stay in touch.
Best, Mariko