Mindset is everything.
During Covid-19, and the economic chaos that it has encouraged, I can only imagine who easy it is to be negative about the job market and how you can easily spiral into a whirlpool of despair.
A negative mindset, can easily crack into a depressed focus, which can result in trauma for your mind. Perspective can be hard to gain, and the world can seem a dark place.
When the world is a dark place, it is hard to find joy in anything.
I speak from experience, after a rather nasty encounter with anxiety last year, I now work exceptionally hard to make sure my mind is always dialled into happy and my positive pants are always tightly secured.
So, lets shift our perspective, and hopefully I can draw on my recruitment experience to help you understand how you can still find the sunlight whilst job hunting during a pandemic.
If you have found yourself not working because of the current world we reside in, then as of today, you are now a recruiter. Your product is simple: it is you. No one knows you better than you, so believe in yourself and focus on your goal of securing your next job!
I have 22 years’ experience as a recruiter and I know that it is hard work looking at job sites all day, careful constructing CV’s to make them perfect and never hearing back after emailing in your work of art.
Searching for jobs all day is soul destroying. Therefore, before doing anything else today, decide your working hours in your new role.
Are you going to be a full time recruiter, part-time?
What days are you having off work?
What are you going to do with that time?
This is likely to be your only period of unemployment in your life – ensure that you do something good with the time, not just hunt for new roles!
Plan your plan, plan your time, and stick to it.
As a recruiter / job seeker – there is much more that you can do daily than just read the job sites.
- Have a daily plan
- Break your day into bite size chunks
- Ensure your CV is on relevant sites and searchable
- Make sure your LinkedIn profile is working for you (check out our podcast on this!)
- Network, network, network – talking to people is key
Then, I would focus on the fun.
- Plan in lunch breaks
- Take walks
- Spend time with friends and family
These breaks will pay dividends on your mental health. A morning of focused positive job hunting will be far more effective than a 12 hour shift of staring at the job sites and making volume applications!
For more info on how to stay positive whilst job hunting, please listen to my podcast on the topic here.
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Jane Pettit
Signet Resources