During these unprecedented times, many of us have found ourselves unemployed. Yea, it can suck. It can be tough on your mental health. If you don’t take control of the situation in any way you can, then you can lose sight of your game plan for job hunting. To go all-in on finding a great job, it’s imperative to get in the right mindset. Unemployment doesn’t have to be the worst thing that ever happened to you. The trick is to see unemployment as an opportunity to launch the next phase of your career. Here are 3 ways you can build out your resume while you’re unemployed.
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU’RE UNEMPLOYED: Invest in Yourself
When you lose your job, you don’t lose your experience or your knowledge. After determining what type of role you’re seeking, evaluate your resume to see what’s missing when compared to job listings for those roles. Take a continuing education class (for attorneys, we call them CLEs) or an online course in something that will boost your resume. As in-house corporate attorney, I joined multiple roundtables and CLEs that were specific to my field. Not only was I developing my resume, but I was also networking with people who knew where the jobs I wanted were.
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU’RE UNEMPLOYED: Volunteer Your Time
As busy professionals (and parents!), we sometimes lack the necessary time to volunteer our time. And that’s okay–we all go through seasons of life like that. Job searching can be time consuming. If you have extra time, however, find a worthy organization and volunteer. You can then list volunteer work on your resume (but don’t volunteer just to buff up your resume–bad look!). If you’re a mom lawyer, MothersEsquire is a wonderful organization to get involved with!
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU’RE UNEMPLOYED: Focus on Your Side Hustle
Nowadays, it’s all about diversifying your income stream so you’re not reliant on just one source of income. You don’t have to find a job to make money. Instead, you can CREATE a job to make money through a side hustle. My side hustle is this blog. It has became a steady income stream, as I’ve worked with both national and local brands on social media campaigns. While I was unemployed, I did a redesign on my website. If you don’t already have a side hustle, then now’s the time to create one. You can then list that side hustle, or your skill set from your side hustle, on your resume.
Whatever you do while unemployed, don’t just sit around or get lost in the job search process. Use this time to further develop your skillset and thereby further develop your resume. Remember, unemployment doesn’t have to be a negative–it can be a new opportunity!
Photos by Shawna Henery Photography. She is now booking for mini sessions this October.
