Lost your job? Are you sick of hearing bad news about the economy?
Well, these are changing times and in order to succeed during such times, it is important to keep yourself flexible and active. The time frame between leaving your last job and finding a new one is crucial as it requires you to be organized, positive, goal oriented and focused.
In fact, hiring managers will often ask these questions:
- How do you spend your free time since you last worked?
- What did you do to help your job search?
- What did you learn from the process of looking for a job?
Here are a few tips to help you make the time count.
Remember it’s not all bad news: there’s life between jobs.
Getting Back to Basics
Start by Reviewing and updating your résumé. Make additions with regards to your last job held - skill sets developed, goals achieved as well as targets met. Specifically lists skills and accomplishments under each job held. What are your goals with regard to promotions/moving up etc? Practice your interview skills.
Expand Your Network
Don’t just job search. This is the worst time to stay at home, since you don’t have the same interaction with people built in to your day. Attend every party you’re invited too; they’re also great ways to network. Continue going to the gym and spending time with friends.
It is important to keep in contact with those in your network but also to expand your network and associate with those who are successful in their professional fields.
Join a Professional Association; Get involved in committees and planning events so you’re visible to other members who might be in the position to hire.
Research - A Chance to Reengineer Your Career
Now is the time to study the market and the hiring trends of those companies you’d like to work with. In addition, this is your chance to reinvent yourself and select a career that you enjoy. Start visiting all the company websites and as well as job portals like www.chennaijobsite.com to apply for suitable jobs.
Take a Class
This is the ideal time to either refresh your skills or learn a new one. Once you’ve become an expert on the new topic, add it to your résumé. Employers value people who teach because it shows that you have expertise and that you can communicate your knowledge to others, an invaluable skill. Not only that, but it is a great way to network too.
Occupy Yourself Constructively
Now that you have a lot of time on your hands, it is a good idea to discipline yourself and use this time in a positive manner.
Expand your skill sets by joining a new professional course.
Cultivate a hobby or simply make new friends.
Learn how to operate a new software application.
Read the latest business books.
Volunteer at a charity or school.
Become more active in a professional association.
Write an article, book or screenplay.
Complete research and publish your findings.
Learn a foreign language.
…While out of work, get into a healthy routine of goal oriented job search, analysis of your priorities and realistic goal setting to progress in your professional and personal life.
