EMPLOYMENT GAP: 5 KEEP Steps for Career Comeback

Employment gap has become quite a norm nowadays. Some people have a break due to family matters like caring for an ailing family member, further study, been laid off, having medically treated, even serving time in prison (not me) ??.

No matter for what reason you are having career break, potential employer will have concern on hiring you. I am someone with 3.5 years of employment gap, and I did not wish or expect potential employer to overlook that, while they are searching for the right candidate to fill in the position. I understand that there are concerns on the competencies level, regression productivity, personal attitude towards responsibilities, etc.

However, I personally do believe people with years of employment gap, are also able to make a significant comeback (in a positive way) in their career. I am not a career coach but this is my personal experience, and I would like to share it.

To all #jobseeker that have employment gap in their career, mind that our situations may not be the same, hence the circumstances might be different too. Everyone has unique situation that brought them to where they are now. But, I hope by reading this article, you may have some ideas on how to revive your career from the downfall.

Lets start with Step no.5 ?? ;

5. KEEP INVEST

BEST INVESTMENT IS TO INVEST FOR YOURSELF. After quite some time, if you still have not land any job interview; it might be something amiss with your resume/CV. Recruiters, head hunters or human resources personnel received hundreds even thousands applications for one post opening. Your CV must stand out from the crowd in order to land you just an interview invitation. Did your CV has what it takes?

Get your CV checks from professionals and if you had extra budget, you could invest in getting your CV upgraded. If you have none, invest your time instead. Google and read on how to establish an outstanding CV, what to write, which latest format to use, useful keywords to be in your CV, etc.

These are very crucial nowadays as most job or career portals have filter systems that if your CV did not specifically stated exact key responsibilities, your CV might not be chosen and ended up being filtered out. By having more accurate keyword and updated CV, you raised your chances of getting selected for interview.

4. KEEP YOUR PRESENCE

BE VISIBLE. You have been off the radar for quite some time, and now decided to make a comeback in your career. In hundreds even thousands candidates, you have to find a spot for yourself. Make sure this Job Hunting process will not become Job Haunting nightmare. You need to be visible and actively looking for opportunities to rise up in recruiters', head hunters' or HRs' circle.

Try to attend all Career Fair that is held nearby. Even if the career fair seems not offering you much, be there if possible and find any good side of it. Sometimes there will be booth for CV checking, image consulting, and mocking interviews which are beneficial too in sharpening your skills and preparing you towards your career comeback. Polished your communication skills by talking to the person in charge of the booth. You may get some industry insights, next job opening date, or even new opportunities; who knows what you will earn.

Other than that, sometimes there are companies that held Open Day, Drop CV/Resume or Open Interview event. Suit up and go with top preparation. Do not worn down if the outcome is not as per your expectation. Keep your mind open and always view in a way that you have nothing to lose. All of these actions will gained you experience and perspective that will be useful somehow someday.

Build up your personal branding with updated LinkedIn profile. Be an active connections. Not just another silent reader and liker, you too must post out something that beneficial to others. You may start with your working experience that other people may find it interesting. Remember, sell yourself out by portraying what are you made of and capable to contribute. You are a job seeker, you need people to notice you. Do not feels like you are bragging, you just stated the fact.

Next step that I will recommend is to apply job everyday. At least 1 job per day. And if you do not found any related job vacancy, then take some time to update your CV in every job portal or companies' career website. Also submit your updated CV to recruiters and head hunters if they might happened to have any job related to your background and experience.

Did you know? Our government also recognized this issue of 'Career Comeback' especially for women by establishing a programme with TalentCorp. For women career comeback, you may refer here, and for more general application (fresh graduates, experience, students, employers, etc.) you may refer here.

3. KEEP YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS FRESH

KNOWLEDGE (AND SKILLS) IS POWER. Lets admit that the gap will somehow take a toll on you. But no worries, knowledge can be polished and skills can be gained. It is attitude that will make a different in a long run.

However, though that is true, in reality you just cannot convince people that you just met, on your attitude. So you will still be judged on how sharp is your knowledge and skills to fit in the role you are looking for, right? Do not fall short on it, it is still do-able. All you need to do is refresh, refresh, refresh!

How to Do That?

It is very easy nowadays to refresh your knowledge. Thanks to the technology, there are plenty of forums, blogs, and youtube channels for you to keep up to date on the knowledge. For engineering field, the best practice would be verifying back all the information to international standards that been used in your field. Sometimes what have been shared is common practice or project basis specifications. You may also start to read books, paperwork, or journals that are related to your field to keep you fresh and updated.

Other than that, revisit all your previous work and try to study them. You might be surprised that you may actually achieved more comprehension of your work than you ever did before.

In order to verify that you understood what you read and study; I would recommend you to share what you have been gained or discovered. It does not have to be on big issue or topic. Start something small and very basic that you are confident to write and share. Believe me, it was not easy at first but worth it.

If you happened to have budget, register for classes or seminars that are related to your field. This will help tremendously because not just you got to refresh your knowledge, you may gain new one, get some insights in the industry, and get to mingle with the people within. The certificate that you earned will be very helpful in your interview, as your potential employer will at least know you have the enthusiasm towards the job.

2. KEEP YOUR NETWORKING

REACH OUT. RECONNECT. REBUILD. Even you are unemployed for so long, always keep your professional network up to date. Keep in touch and ask around for any vacancy available that you might not come across. Let your circle know that you are looking for a career comeback. You might be surprised who turned up offering you hands.

If during your unemployment, you are busy being sad ?? and somehow withdrawn out of the circle; reconnect and say Hi again. You have nothing to lose. Sometimes, it is not that people did not want to help you out, but they are unsure what kind of help do you required. Ask around and be clear.

Along the way of finding the right job, if you happened to know any vacancies as well, share it around. Kindness do contagious and got ripple effects. By knowing the right people, you may be in the earliest pool of people that know certain job opening or even a vacancy that is not publicly advert. This will increase your chance to land an interview.

Next thing to do is to boost your network circle by building up new networking. These days, we are so lucky to be able to connect with strangers professionally in instance. Use social media like LinkedIn to establish your profile and create new connection of networking.

Other than that, get yourself involve in professional groups available in Whatsapp or Telegram. I would recommend this group (for MALAYSIANs ONLY) for engineering background; https://telegram.me/MyInspectors and https://lnkd.in/f2U4a2p for more general background.

And finally, the MOST IMPORTANT step is;

1. KEEP IT POSITIVE

ATTITUDE. It is always been said that attitude is the most important thing in life. That is why this step is at number 1. Keep your attitude positive does not as easy as I typed it. People that are jobless (especially in the long run) normally will suffer with low self-esteem due to feelings stagnant and incapable of growing, withdraw themselves from social circle and lead to depression.

But those actions are not going to help and not doing any good to yourself nor your career. Know that, job hunting process will definitely drain your energy with all the applications, preparations, negotiations, rejections, and restart the process all over again. The choice you had is only keep trying and never stops, because when you hit the rock bottom, the only way you could go is UP.

However, I rather not being in denial, sadness and despair do exist and you have to acknowledge that in order to manage the feelings. I found myself stumbled so many times along the way in finding a comeback route.

I failed a lots of interviews, few friends getting cold (maybe because I was not fun to be around anymore or simply because I was just super sensitive), and I was totally shattered into trillion pieces when I lost my father at the moment I was still just another job seeker who failed to secure a job. It feels like a truly ultimate loser when I kept losing (things, people, battles, happiness) and gained nothing back in my life.

Many times, I felt I just wanted to give up. It will be so much an easy option rather than falling, gather strength to get back up again, and just to face another fall. Repeating process of the joy getting an opportunity, but then the opportunity doors slammed and shut in front of your face. Another NO, another rejections; just breaks your heart even further. And I felt so hopeless, as the heart just can't take it anymore.

No matter how you tried to explain yourself, no one could know exactly how you feels. You are drowning into a process that nobody could save you. And yes that is true, nobody could save you except yourself. So, you have to pick up yourself from the fall. Do not let it overwhelmed you. It is okay to be upset, but remind yourself that the hardship will soon pass by and you need to start somewhere, somehow.

Work it out. It does not matter if the steps you have taken might be small and slow. It does not matter if you are not constantly keep moving; that you wanted to take a break to mend your broken heart. The most important thing is, YOU WILL DO SOMETHING when you are ready. Believe that; there will be NO EFFORT that went WORTHLESS. So do not lose hope, nor be sad (for a long time).

What Did I Do?

How do I cope with sadness and keep myself positive? Actually, I don't keep myself positive 24-7! It is more like an ups and downs graph between positivity and negativity. Other than religion practices, I actually allow myself to be sad and let myself accept that I am a human being who full with flaws.

Sadness is not that bad. We have to accept sadness as much as we embrace joy in our life. From my point of view, it is sadness that will strengthened your heart and fills it with determinations.

When I was sad, I will stop, slow down my life, and take time to process all of the things that scattered in my head. In simple word; I just lazing around and let my heart steam off the frustration for few days. ?? I told myself that Hope, Positivity, and Dreams are going for a vacation that I need to stay with Failure, Negativity, and Despression for some times.

When it is time to get back on track, I distract myself doing something I love. I love telling stories online or sharing something through writings. Maybe you like going to gym, take a walk at the park, watch movies, cook your signature dish, go hiking, meditate, or whatever you want as long as it will make you feel on top again, then build up the positive vibes and start the momentum from there.

Sometimes, I watched inspirational true story movies like Pursuit of Happyness, The Theory of Everything, Hacksaw Ridge, Jungle; just to name a few. It is somehow give me the motivation that positive things could happened when you are persistence and have perseverance towards your passion.

Or I rather sing sad songs out loud. Later I would realize that my situation was not that bad, at least not as bad as my singing. ??

For muslims, you might want to watch these religious videos when you felt trapped in sadness, watch here and here.

There you go, all of my personal 5 KEEP Steps for Career Comeback that I have taken. I have 3.5 years of employment gap (starting Jan 2016-2017-2018-June 2019). It took me more than a year to make my KEEP efforts consistent (and many others direct and indirect assistance as well from families, friends, ex-colleagues and even strangers) before it paid off.

Luckily for me, throughout the struggles, I have strong support system in terms of my family, financial situation, and few real friends who would listen to my whining without judging. That really helps in keeping my sanity. My story might not fit in yours perfectly, but I am sharing this with intention to give all #jobseeker an idea and hope.

After few rejections and uncountable struggles, I successfully land a job that I love doing and served my target. The feelings are like winning a million dollars. Always believe if it is meant for you, then it will be. But all you have to do; is giving your best effort in getting it.

I know it is not a work of me alone, but combination of many factors; blessing from parents & family, helps from other people such as friends, ex-colleagues, strangers, even the interviewers who have been super kind and most importantly; permission from the Ultimate Decision Maker, and that is; God to let this happened.

Remember that, the result of your efforts are beyond your control. As long as you did your best, do not hold any grudge too long inside yourself; when you are not getting what you are expected.

Always be thankful for people who be there for you and do not forget to say a little prayer for all of them, as you cannot 'afford' to pay all the good deeds.

And do not undermine people who may looks like not helping you, they might keep you in their silent prayers that you did not even know.

Being unemployed really changed my life point of view and depth of thinking. Though I am not wishing to be in that situation again, I am grateful that it leads to good things; to a better me.

So, that is my long story. I hope you it does not boring you. Share your story too.

All the best and God bless.

#pipingnewb

Credits: theguardian.com, cartoonstock.com, thebalancesmb.com