Career Building while in Lockdown

When you're looking for a job, or are in the process of changing your career around, the current world situation has thrown you quite the curve ball. Where under ordinary circumstances it can already be quite the challenge to manage job hunting and re-education while keeping your life in order, things have become even more of a chore with social distancing, events being cancelled and companies slowing down on hiring and re-/upskilling as they might be waiting for better circumstances.

Your world has changed; but you're not alone

Jobhunting, career building and getting yourself educated are all social activities, and as such heavily impacted. But since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, massive leaps have been made to facilitate the job market as people foresee a lengthy time of preventative measures, lockdowns of daily life and even quarantine.

Wherever you would normally check in with a company or department, check on their website if they have changed their normal operations because of Covid-19. If you are currently unemployed, perhaps there have been changes in the requirements to maintain your unemployment status or support, or how to check in with them. Being informed takes away a huge chunk of stress, and being prepared means you are more confident in finding a new job.

If you are trying to change your career, now is the time to turn your attention to those Linkedin Groups you may have been neglecting. There may be an increase in your themed groups of job offers that might normally be distributed through other channels. Additionally, there will be a lot of people from your target companies taking part in those discussions, who might not be present there otherwise, as they try to find connections to speak with about their professional topics, now that they can't meet people face to face. Take this opportunity to learn and forge new connections for later!

Where you might be trying to find information or educational material, you will find plenty more being offered via Linkedin, Facebook or dedicated forums. Once they set up a virtual course for their own people and those in their direct orbit, the effort to make it available to a broader audience is often minimal. People want to share, especially now, and you can take advantage of it by learning a new skill or deepening knowledge you already have.

When you find a course or video that was helpful, get in contact with the maker, and give them your thanks and feedback - they are the people who are in the middle of what you want to be doing, and there's no better time to get to know them than right now. And in turn, they are also looking to connect with enthusiasts who they can build up new connections with as they are becoming more digitally involved.

Putting the focus back on relationships

I have written posts more often on Social Selling from the perspective of job hunting rather than a sales methodology, and it remains true today; in order to have benefit from relations you need to connect, grow and give to your network before you can receive anything back.

Quite often you see people eager to connect to people close to their next job position, and then hope to gain benefits or an introduction from that. It's an issue when sales people do it, and it's no less a bad habit when expanding your career opportunities.

When you make new connections where you would like to benefit from their expertise, take them time to learn of their industries and career paths through their profiles. See what groups they are in, and actively monitor the discussions and take part in them if you can. Show interest in them, and when you have the chance to help them first, do so. Relationships are built on mutual trust and a history of mutual benefit, not on short touch-and-go cycles of need and greed.

Remaining productive with your time

Even if you find yourself out of a job, or being reduced in work hours because of reduced workload or because your employer needs to tighten their finances, treat this time as work time nonetheless; just like working from home can lead to the line between private life and work life to be blurred, having all this time available can do the same.

Rather, spend those hours at improving yourself, and taking care of yourself physically, mentally or emotionally.

The pressures of career building right now are high, and when finances are tight they build further. Take time to focus on yourself and perform mental hygiene and physical maintenance; when you look professional, well-dressed and groomed, you will feel healthier and fitter, and are much less likely to get into a slump. Exercise, take a walk if you can, air the house - keep the air fresh and yourself moving.

Dig into your bookcase, or perhaps find an app where you can read books online. Feeding your imagination and exercising your reading will keep you creative and prevents you from falling into the trap of the daily routine. Rather than your world shrinking to the size of your living space because of isolation, you can keep your mind open by reading fiction.

Start an online course, or invest in a productive hobby like DIY or gardening. It allows you to focus on small, actionable and achievable projects. Celebrate what you achieve, and feel happy with any product you can enjoy afterwards.

Upgrade your career

When you seek to change your job around, think about what it is people are looking for right now that they weren't a few months ago. Being up to date with modern communication technologies sounds like a good start, as would be having a stable fiber connection at home so you can reliably work from home.

Showcase your habits as a homeworker, and you provide tangible proof that you are capable of working independently while at home, without falling into the potential traps of losing focus or motivation, or blurring work-life balance. Show employers that you can already work in the circumstances needed today, and they need to spend less effort getting you up to speed, and you will increase your chances greatly.

You will also need to think about preparing for job interviews which are more and more likely to be handled over the phone or webcam. Your presence there might be different from real life, so it might be good to test out some video calls with family and see if you can record them and play them back for yourself. When you do, it might reveal glitches, bad lighting or positioning, the effects of an unstable connection, or habits that you might not show in real life, but do while you are on camera.

Conclusion

Your career growth might take a hit as a result of Covid-19 and the consequences for our society and economy, but the doors are open now to your improved digital presence. Have a powerful online profile, show that you can handle yourself independently while working from home and that you have even more to offer once this crisis is over. Get involved with topics of your current or future career, connect with people discussing it, and show that you are at the heart of the discussion when it's time to hire someone new.