Scary times. I find most people are living day-to-day, coping, caring about others and trying to stay positive. Kudos to all of us, and especially to frontline workers.
We are hanging on, not thinking much about improving our prospects.
Many — 4 of 5 — are still working. And cooking, cleaning, and caring for kids and elders. Up to your eyeballs. This blog may not work for you.
But: if you have even a little time, there are two big things you can do to:
- enhance your chances of staying hired in your current job; or
- improve your prospects for getting hired into another job
Tip # 1: Add to your skill set.
Learn a new skill that will make you more valuable to your current — or future — employer.
Whether you’re employed or not, start with checking out job ads on LinkedIn and Indeed. Note which skills they often say they want that you don’t have. Certification in HR? Proficiency in SPSS? Knowledge of SalesForce? Advanced statistics and data analytics?
OK, you may be doing your current job (or your last job) without the relevant skill that keeps recurring in these job ads.
Should you say “Never mind, my current boss doesn’t require that”? Or “I’ve been laid off, and I can’t afford to go back to school”?
Take a hard look. If you can find even a half hour a day (more is better), push yourself to add the skill.
This doesn’t mean a $2,000 on-line 3 credit university course. But perhaps a $300 course from a community college. Or a free, or $50, or $250 course from Coursera, Udemy, Udacity, or other online sources.
Coursera, for example, offers 3,900 no-grades courses from a variety of universities (think Stanford, MIT, etc). They have an introductory promo of some courses for free. Others start at $39 + and offer additional quizzes and sometimes certificates.
Or use Udemy, Udacity, LinkedIn learning, Skillshare, EdX, etc. Most of these are produced by experts, but are not university based. Investigate a bit before you commit.
Here’s one source: https://financebuzz.com/10-best-sites-for-free-online-education.
These super-affordable courses can help beef up your resumes — and your interviews. As in “I haven’t been doing this (skill) in my current job, but I’m currently taking an MIT certificate on it through Coursera.”
You get extra interviewer points for gaining the knowledge — and for taking action during this tough time.
Tip # 2: Keep up your contacts.
The present situation can isolate us. And make us lazy about keeping up with former colleagues and acquaintances. Zoom fatigue can set in. And it can seem too much trouble to even call someone.
But…whether you are employed or seeking a new job, contacts are critical. Contacts that you’ve bothered to stay in touch with can help steer you to new openings, and recommend you be interviewed.
And for those of you who are employed, keeping them up and learning new things from them can help you do your current job better — and thus be more attractive to your current employer.
Feeling embarrassed? Recall on your last job hunt when you felt embarrassed calling up an old friend who could help you, since you hadn’t talked to them in years? Fix this kind of problem easily now, when you don’t need help. Call or email them to reestablish contact now. It’s a Covid norm anyhow, to reestablish contact with old friends.
Best practice: As you connect, offer to help them or their family in any way you can. Sometimes you might have a contact or a piece of information that might be welcomed by them. A sincere offer will be appreciated and remembered.
Spend a little time on your insurance policy: your contacts. There are few jobs these days that are totally secure.
If you can squeeze out the time, these two actions: learning a new skill and keeping up your contacts — can put you in the best possible position to keep your position — or find a new one.