No one seems capable of predicting what final unemployment numbers will be or when this global recession will end. We do know that almost 600 000 more American jobs were lost in January 2009, adding more workers to the unemployment lines. More job seekers are competing for work in a job market where there are currently not enough available jobs for everyone. As the New York Times reports, "losing more than a half million jobs in each of the last three months, the country is trapped in a vortex of plunging consumer demand, rising joblessness and a deepening crisis in the banking system."
If you are an older worker getting back into the job market, here are 6 tips for career reentry.
1. Get your resume ready. You cannot execute a successful job search strategy without it - not in today's market. This is the time to revamp your resume. You have time available and a lot of the resume writing work you can do yourself to save money. Use these sample resumes to get started.
2. Tell everyone you know that you have been laid off. People can offer tremendous support and you will benefit from people "looking out" for you.
3. Network with people you don't know. Visit your local library, scour the internet and find groups to join, meet-ups and job clubs. You will be expanding your circle and hearing about new opportunities.
4. Be willing to cast a wider net, in terms of work you are willing to do. Think about transferable job skills and what other jobs you could do.
5. Stay positive. This is super important. Someone I know who was laid off recently and had visited the unemployment office, talked about how positive people were to each other. I also wrote last week about the possible upsides of being laid off as shared by three mid career professionals who had lost their jobs. You need to know that there is life after layoff.
6. Brush up on your interview skills. If you have been with the same company for years and haven't done a job interview recently, check out all the interview FAQs and career FAQs on all our career blogs.
Photo - Courtesy of New York Times
2 comments:
Hello! Just checking up on you :)
What excellent advice.
And what an important time for a blog just like yours. As if we "olders" didn't need it already! Keep it up, and cheers to you!!
Thanks for stopping by. You are right - blogs like ours continue to be a really significant resources for the unemployed or those fearing the pink slip.
Marcie
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