Losing your job is a very intense experience. Even if you suspected a wave of layoffs was coming at your company or you were already looking to change jobs, being laid off can be devastating.
If this is your situation and you're overwhelmed by pessimistic thoughts, to help you avoid despair in your job search, we'll share a series of tips and suggest a tool that will be of great help in this challenge.
Before publishing or updating your profile on various job websites, perform these simple exercises:
This acronym is well-known in the analysis of a company's, institution's, or project's situation, but it is also applicable to individuals and very useful for exploring your characteristics. It stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
Opportunities and threats are external aspects that you cannot control, but it is very good to analyze and understand them well to know what ground you will be moving on when you go job hunting.
What concerns you are your strengths and weaknesses. Thinking about them involves an exercise in self-exploration to get to know yourself.
- In what tasks or projects have you excelled?
- What are your achievements?
- Have you felt like a leader in any aspect?
- What do you like and dislike about a job?
- What do you need to improve?
- In what aspects have you failed?
It is vital that you dedicate time to analyzing these points. Marta García Quijada, an HR expert and entrepreneurship technician at Fundación Mujeres, says that "they are a very powerful basis for writing a good resume, preparing for an interview, and knowing where to look for employment."*
Start with your friends, acquaintances, and former colleagues. Tell them you're looking for a job because they might know about a vacancy before it's published, as the first thing a boss does is ask their collaborators for recommendations. Up to 80% of hires are made through networking.**
Cultivate your network with coffee meetings and chats, which will also help you explore what's happening in the market where you're looking for that new job. Always thank them for any information they give you and don't make them feel used to achieve your goal.
Only send your resume to offers that match your SWOT and the job you want to get. Don't waste time or energy applying for positions that don't fit what you do best or where they will notice in the first interview that you lack the necessary experience.
You're unemployed, struggling to find a job soon, and you receive rejections or don't even get a response. Yes, it's depressing, but don't despair because
there's nothing against you. Marta García Quijada explains that "in the professional world, rejections are not usually due to a personal issue or because 'I didn't have a good feeling with the interviewer.' There are well-known people who, before succeeding, were rejected for many jobs. And they succeeded because they didn't give up. Simply try to improve what you're weak at and never take it personally!"***
All of this can be found in FREED's Professional Career Planner. Its more than one hundred pages contain self-exploration exercises to identify your achievements and skills, reflect on what job you want to have, and create your Personal Canvas.
It will also teach you how to write an effective resume, build your network, and face a job interview, among many other activities that include examples and tips developed by experts. And, of course, it provides the necessary motivation to face the challenge of finding your new job.
( * and ***) Marta García Quijada, Tips for finding a job and not despairing. Page consulted on September 25, 2019.
(**) Capital Humano, How to do networking? Page consulted on September 25, 2019.
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Matt Hoffman) and FREED.
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