It’s easy to keep the conversation going when you’re talking about job stress, deadlines, and the meeting you’ve had early in the morning. But when you lost your job, especially when it comes out of the blue, you suddenly forget how to speak. Suddenly, you’re unemployed and scared about your financial status. How will you muster up the nerve to talk about something as dreadful as this?
It’s alright to feel down and to take some time to grieve. After all, losing a job is never easy, and being let go can make you feel alienating. But remember that you don’t have to dwell on it for too long.
As soon as possible, you have to get back on your feet and back to work. You got to get back on the horse that bucked you and find a better job that suits your goals and skills. The moment you start working again will be the moment you’ll begin to recover from your job loss emotionally and financially.
So how do you get back on your feet and start the next phase of your career? Well, here’s how.
1. Start collecting your unemployment compensation.
Now’s the perfect time to collect your benefits. Especially during the pandemic, the government provides extra weeks and payments to unemployed workers. Plus, there are also organizations out there that help unemployed workers start getting self-employed. Although this is no match to your previous paycheck, these payments can help you make ends meet while you’re out of work.
2. Assess your skills and interests.
First, you have to decide whether you want to stay in the same line of work or you want a career switch. If your plan is the latter, you have to identify the transferrable skills you have. These transferrable skills are the skills that qualify you for one occupation but can also qualify you for other job roles.
For instance, skills such as collaboration, customer service, and communication that helped you in your role as a hotel manager can help you in building your own small business as well.
For the record, you can use CareerOneStop’s Skill Matcher tool to assess your skills and match them with different careers.
Then, it is also essential that you explore what you want to do for your next job. Using CareerOneStop’s Interest Assessment, you can identify some career options that might be best for you. All you have to do is answer 30 questions about what you like and don’t like to do.
3. Match your transferrable skills and previous occupation to new jobs.
Your next step is to match your previous occupation and existing skills to potential new jobs. There are a lot of tools that can help you in this process. Feel free to use mySkills myFuture to get a list of matching occupations, wages, requirements, and job listings when you enter your past job. You can also use Skills Profiler to generate a list of targeted careers that match your level of proficiency and skills.
Once you’re able to match job options, you can decide which jobs interest you the most. I suggest that you use the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook to learn about each of your top picks.
4. Get ready to apply!
You can now start looking at job postings so that you can prepare yourself for the requirements, and you can make your resume as relevant as possible. Just make sure that you highlight your most pertinent skills.
Since you want to prove to the hiring managers that you are worthy of the job position, you have to tweak your application materials every time you apply for a new job and a new company. This means that you have to match your qualifications with the company’s requirements to prove that you are a fit for the role.
5. Find job listings.
There are a lot of different job sites available to help you find open positions. From LinkedIn to Indeed, you can use such websites to get your job search started.
You can also use CareerOneStop’s Find a Job Now tool to find employers with current openings. And if you are thinking of shifting to a virtual position, FlexJobs is the best site to help you with that.
6. Ways to get hired fast:
There are different ways you can tap immediate openings. For one, The National Labor Exchange’s (NLx) Need a Job Now offers a list of jobs for displaced workers posted by employers who need immediate employees.
You can also review Indeed’s list of companies that hire during COVID-19 to learn more about those with immediate openings. You will see “urgently hiring” in the job postings on Indeed, so it will make it easier for you to know which jobs are available at the moment. Glassdoor also has a list of Hiring Surge companies that are in demand for employees with pertinent skills.
Lastly, you can try to work with staffing companies. Staffing companies exist to help job seekers identify transferrable skills and train them to help them transition into an industry sector position. They also have access to positions that may not be available at the moment.
7. If you need more help…
Finding a new job can be overwhelming, especially when you’re trying to transition to a new field. If you find this process challenging, some sites provide low-cost career guidance. For those living in the US, you can seek American Job Centers (AJC) for free job search help.
If you are a college graduate, you can consult your alumni office to ask for guidance and see what resources are available. Most universities provide help with cover letters, resumes, and job searching. They can also help you widen your network which is a big help for your career.