How to plan for the future after job loss

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It is now been just over one year since the UK government announced a total lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. It’s been a funny year. The world has felt like it has both sped up and slowed down at the same time. Everything looks different now.

You can’t go shopping unless it’s for essentials, lots of people haven’t been able to spend time with their friends and family, and when you do go to places you have to sanitise everything and wear a mask as protection. The saddest thing of all is that people have lost loved ones and their jobs as a result.

Lots of people are feeling incredibly hopeless right now, and when there may not seem as though there’s a light at the end of this long, dark, tunnel--it is still worth thinking of planning towards your future- especially if you have lost work. 

Look at Your CV/ Resume 
There’s going to be a lot of competition for people applying for work right now. Recruiters will be busier than ever making their way through all of the CVs and resume's that come to their inbox supporting an application for a job that they have advertised. You don’t want yours to be at the bottom of that big pile. Find someone to look at your CV or resume, and ask them to tell you honestly what it says about you as a potential employee. This could be a work colleague, your boss, or a professional writing service like ARC Resumes (https://www.arcresumes.com/). Would they employ you based on your CV? Chances are that this interview ticket is selling you short. ​

Consider Changing Career Path
If you’ve lost a job then the first thing you’re going to do is to start looking for jobs with the same title. However, why should that always be the case? If you’ve had several years of experience in one industry, the chances are that you’ve developed some pretty impressive transferable skills that can be used all over the place. 

Changing career path is not an easy thing to consider, especially in the current market--but now is as good a time as any to do just that. Discuss your previous experience with recruiters and let them do some of the hard work employment matching for you. 

Use This as an Opportunity to Upskill
During the first lockdown, lots of course providers started to provide their content online. This is great news as it means that there’s plenty of opportunities for you to learn more skills to make you more employable. 

One of the benefits of this is that you can complete the work in your own time and at your own pace. So whether you’re interested in doing either coding,  business administration or health and social care courses, there are plenty of options for you. 

The best news is that being out of work is the perfect opportunity for you to reassess and take the time to figure out exactly where you want to be in life.