There are some key things to keep in mind though. COVID-19 was just the beginning of the disruption to the workforce. As covered by Business Insider, over 30 percent of the initial people laid off from their jobs lost their job again after returning to the workforce.
Contrary to popular belief, diving back into the workforce right away after losing your job isn’t actually the best thing to do during this pandemic. What is the best choice for the current moment, however, is to use this time to update your skills for the future of work.
Technology is changing everything about the workforce and how jobs are performed. With this in mind, using technology to your advantage and identifying the sources you can use to update your skills is the best course of action now.
Attend a Trade School
One of the first things you should do after losing your job is to attend some form of an educational institution. Though it may surprise you, a standard graduate program is not the best path for someone who just lost their job. The first reason is that it is too expensive and time-consuming. The second reason is that graduate courses can often be vague.
On the other hand, trade schools prepare students for specific careers using specialized courses. An added benefit for anyone who just lost their job is that certain high-rated trade schools, such as Thinkful, offer deferred tuition until you are capable of paying. This flexibility means you don’t have to live off your savings while trying to obtain the education needed to launch a new career.
Research Tech Trends
Even after obtaining new education, it’s important that you take the time to research the current technological trends in the world. For perspective, those who learned how to code at the beginning of the decade set themselves up far better today than those who thought it was a passing phase.
Coding is just one example in the vast ocean that is the tech industry. There are numerous trends occurring constantly that have the potential to be heavily involved in the future of work. Using the time you now have on your hands to identify these trends and pursue opportunities involving them is a great use of this period of lack of work.
Follow Interview Preparation Tips
Perhaps you’ve obtained all the education you needed and discovered a trend that lines up with that education. Actually relaunching a career is different today than it was in the past. As discussed by The Washington Post, interviews have changed to involve new technologies that identify your talents early on. Interviewers themselves use the in-person interview to discover new things about you and learning how to ace such an interview should be your first priority.
Research the interviewees who came before you for that particular job and study what they stated were the common questions asked. Fortunately, the Internet is a great resource for finding such information.
Conclusion
As mentioned, it’s never a fun experience losing your job. There are options you can take now online to restore your career and potentially land yourself on a new path that is far better than the one you were on. In that spirit, make sure you constantly look for new opportunities and aren’t trying to get back into the workforce right away after losing your job. Use this as a chance to better yourself and your opportunities in the future.
By Artur Meyster