How to Continue Your Job Search During This Time

Were you in the midst of a job search before this crisis? In many sectors, job recruiting has ground to halt or has significantly slowed down. Combined with the big spike in unemployment, the thought of continuing to search for your dream job can seem even more daunting than usual.

Despite the slowdown, this is the time to continue making progress on your search by focusing on what is in your control. 

In Stephen R. Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” one of the habits is to “Sharpen the Saw,” which means to take care of and improve yourself to remain productive. Just think about a dull blade and the experience of sawing wood with it. Now, imagine that you’re using a sharper blade to do the same task. How much more efficient and effective are you?

You are usually so wrapped up in doing things and completing tasks, with your attention drawn to the “urgent” and “producing.” This is a time to prioritize the “important” – planning, strategizing, researching, and developing new capabilities to increase your productivity and knowledge.

Covey also said that being proactive and shifting our attention to what we can influence, as opposed to being reactive to everything that concerns us, brings us from being at the effect of things to being at their cause. It is also the key to driving lasting change and impact. 

Now is the time to sharpen your saw. Do the preparation and important planning work that you might otherwise delay or avoid doing. 

Three key behaviors, while always important as part of a successful job search, are vitally critical today because they are squarely in your control. Take these actions now:

Stay in Touch 

If you were interviewing for a role, and it’s been some time since last heard from the company, send a follow-up note to keep things warm. Let them know briefly what’s going on with you and keep the tone of the message friendly and sensitive to the current situation.

Simply reiterate your continued interest in the position, inquire about their sense of timing for when the hiring process will resume, and state that you look forward to meeting again when it’s practical to do so. Check in periodically and keep the opportunity warm by “stirring the pot.” Maintaining regular contact will help you to stay in the front of the recruiter or hiring manager’s mind when activity begins to normalize.

For people in your network who’ve been responsive or helpful to you in this or prior searches, this is an excellent time to let them know how appreciative you are for their assistance. Ask if there’s anything you can do to help them in return. 

You can extend this to current and former colleagues or classmates as well. Check in with people, with your only agenda being to see how they’re doing. Inquire about the challenges they’re facing and what’s worked or hasn’t worked for them. What ideas can you share with them? What best practices do they have for you?

Sharpen Your Skills

There is an abundance of free and discounted courses online right now, across a wide range of fields. 

If there’s something you wanted to learn but always lamented that your company didn’t offer, now is the perfect time to go out and find it. This can be an inexpensive (or free) way to invest in yourself! 

When you look at job listings, what skills or certifications can you develop or acquire to strengthen your candidacy for a role? Take the time now to find, enroll in, and complete an online course to raise your game or otherwise qualify you for a new position. You will be an even stronger candidate when the job market rebounds. 

Here is a link to 14 sites that offer online classes to boost your skills

Do Your Research

This is a great time to learn a lot about the culture of a company.

Look into what their response has been to the pandemic. This is a chance to see how companies are responding and reacting to an entirely unprecedented crisis. How closely do their values align with yours? What kind of press have they been getting? What kind of support are they providing to their employees or their community, and what kind of commitments have they made? 

Start with online research and set up media alerts for yourself. Whenever there is news on that company, it will give you additional insights into their crisis management strategy, and how they treat their employees. 

Perhaps this information will solidify and increase your interest in working there, or it can rule them out as a future landing spot. 

When you land an interview with one of these companies that you researched, you’ll have plenty of knowledge and intel on it. You will also have a connection to that company and go into your interview prepared to demonstrate with conviction your own fit with the company’s culture. 

Focusing on staying in touch, sharpening your skills, and doing your research will build strong momentum for a quick restart when hiring activity begins to rebound.