Being unemployed is tough at the best of times, but being unemployed during a pandemic only makes finding a new job even harder as you jostle with several more candidates than usual for the same role.
If you are out of work, the government has announced two different stimulus payments – the $550 Coronavirus Supplement to the JobSeeker payment and the $1,500 JobSeeker wage subsidy – that you can apply for.
But with the details of the wage subsidy still to be worked out, what can you do about your situation?
Understand the personal impact
According to careers and networking specialist Janine Garner, acknowledging the potential loss to yourself personally, professionally and financially is the first step.
“Owning the loss is incredibly empowering, bringing it immediately to the present versus trying to hide it in the recesses of your mind,” she told Yahoo Finance.
After that, it’s about understanding the habits that keep up your resilience, positivity and motivation, and sticking to that. “Set yourself a daily habit tracker and with focus look after yourself,” she said.
The third step is to remove anything in your world that makes you feel negative, whether that is the media or certain people that fuels fear or self-doubt.
On top of that, make every single day count, and have at least one thing to check off your to-do list.
“Every day, do something productive: make that phone call, reach out to five new people on LinkedIn, have a virtual coffee, or read a new piece of thinking in your specific area of expertise. Quit the negativity and embrace positivity and productivity.”
Finally, surround yourself with people you know you can lean on, Garner said, and ask for help.
“Set up regular Zoom catch ups with your inner circle; listen carefully, follow-up on introductions made and ideas presented, embrace feedback and ideas and ask for accountability.”
Be loud
While this is an incredibly stressful time for many, there are ways you can take control of the situation, said time management coach Kate Christie.
“Reach out to your network to let them know of your circumstance and to see if there are connections your network can make for you,” she told Yahoo Finance.
According to US-based consumer intelligence research platform CivicScience, 31 per cent of people find their job through their network.
“Share your knowledge and [intellectual property] in posts on platforms such as LinkedIn to engage a wider community of people and get your name out there; now is not the time to go quiet,” she said.
Don’t be afraid to pitch yourself to the “big players in your space”, either. “Many businesses will have an eye to the future and they will be looking to pick up talent right now.”
Use your time to up-skill
Christie also recommended using this period to finally pick up or brush up on a new skill or course that might give you an edge over your peers.
“Continue learning. Now is the perfect time to upskill and consume as much new information as possible,” she said.
“We will come out the other side of this and those who use this time now to set themselves up for success will position themselves to be picked up first.”
Echoing Christie’s sentiments, LinkedIn Australia career expert Shiva Kumar said certain industries were still hiring.
“Job seekers should look at using their network who can help with providing introductions or information on opportunities that might be relevant to them,” he said.
“They should also be looking to invest in developing skills via online learning so they can diversify their skillset and gather more transferable skills which could be useful to companies that are currently hiring.”
At the beginning of 2020, Yahoo Finance asked three experts about the one thing they should do for their career, and the answer from all three was the same: up-skill.
Since the coronavirus pandemic, a number of online learning platforms have made some courses free to the public, or have provided additional free resources or discounts.
SOURCE: https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/lost-job-coronavirus-202633220.html