The Covid pandemic costs millions of people their jobs. Even those who felt they had tight-knit job security in growing industries found themselves on the wrong side of emails and Zoom calls informing them their position was no longer available. Those who lost their jobs became another terrible statistic in the year that Covid ruined the economy.
Although the economy is slowly coming back to its pre-pandemic levels, job growth is still slow. Companies are becoming more selective in their hiring practices to make efficient use of the resources they have to spare during these volatile times, which are taking a turn for the worse at the moment.
Although losing your job to Covid is not a unique experience, you need to find ways you can turn the devastating loss of employment into a positive experience that shows your resilience and agility.
How Did Losing Your Job Make You Better?
Without using the “blessing in disguise” cliche, how did Covid positively impact your career path? Losing your job is never ideal, but there are always positive aspects that come out of a negative experience. You need to be able to tell interviewers how you rebounded and kept your head up after losing your job. Did you volunteer, spend more time with your family, or re-discover a passion? These seemingly trivial responses to losing your job will give hiring managers a sense of your grit and perspective.
Going back to school is a great way to show future employers your tenacity of turning losses into positives. Adding new skills to your arsenal during a period of unemployment not only increases your chances of landing a job but prepares you to excel from the get-go. People are using the pandemic to learn web development and data science skills to impress hiring managers. General Assembly is a coding bootcamp that is helping people learn desirable tech skills to get jobs in new fields.
Companies don’t want people who list off complaints; they already know Covid changed the fabrics of our lives and don’t need to hear how you were uniquely affected by the virus (partly because it isn’t that unique). Companies know that Covid is changing everyday interactions and want to know how you are combating the changes and innovating the ways you operate.
Create a Narrative About Your Experience
A good way to highlight your unique experiences is to create a narrative about your journey in 2020 and how you stayed positive during the novel year of 2020 and the pandemic that changed the world.
Even though Covid might be the most pressing issue, start your narrative from the beginning of your career. Your story should highlight your accomplishments from the start of your career. Don’t stop after listing your accomplishments; tell employers how your work impacted the company, customers, and other relative parties. A story is more captivating than a list of figures, not to mention more memorable. A story invites questions from interviewers rather than boring them with numbers and figures.
Apply to Lots of Jobs
There is only one way to guarantee quick success in your job search: apply to lots of jobs. Landing a job is often a war of attrition rather than being the shiny star in a dimly lit sky. Since you don’t know the other applicants, you don’t know how bright your star shines compared to other applicants. You are one among thousands of people in your local market that are looking for employment, so applying to many jobs is the best way to make it to the interview stage.
Don’t be discouraged from applying to jobs where you don’t have all of the qualifications. Of course, don’t apply to software engineer positions if you don’t know the difference between HTML and CSS, but it is still worth the effort to apply to some jobs that might be a bit of a stretch. Many companies ask to keep resumes on file for positions that will become open in the future. A well-crafted application package could land you interviews months after your original application.
Learn a Universal Skill
Every industry is reliant on data. Tech companies are giving companies the ability to analyze more data than ever before, enabling them to analyze all aspects of their business. Like any skill, there are dozens of ways to learn data analytics. Study Data Science is helping people find their way to a proper learning path for data analysis careers.
Conclusion
Weave a story that properly reflects your achievements while incorporating the positive realization you discovered after losing your job to Covid. A good story paired with a can-do attitude and new skills will get you on your way to landing a new job.
