How to make the most of unemployment
As many people have found themselves with a little too much and perhaps unwanted downtime recently, I thought it would be a good idea to explore some of the ways of making the most of this ‘free time’.
I think the responsible, career professional thing to say here would be to suck it up from day one, maintain your regular routine and schedule activities for yourself.
Screw that. As far as I’m concerned, you get at least a week to lie on the couch, wake up at noon and spend the day eating chips on the couch watching terrible daytime television. Call it a mini creative sabbatical.
So – that’s out of the way. It’s been a week or two, there are no job offers in the works yet, and you’re getting a little restless. What to do now?
Let’s ask Lucy:
There’s a great Lucille Ball quote:
“If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it. The more things you do, the more you can do.
These are words of wisdom indeed.
It’s important to keep your mind or body busy while you’re unemployed. First off, if you spend too much time completely idle, then you’ll stagnate. You won’t be sharp going into interviews and may not be as on the ball as you should be when looking for new opportunities. Employers can smell self-loathing and dejection – don’t let yourself go there.
Secondly – you would be wasting a great opportunity!!! We spend so much of our lives working away at the behest of others that most of us have hobbies or skills that we’ve always meant to get around to picking up but never have. Sudden, unexpected cessation of work-related duties gives us the time to pursue some of these.
Finally – and this is a good one, it will make it easier for you to get another job!!! You now have an answer to the dreaded “so what have you been doing since you were laid off?” question. Even if you’re not doing something that’s specifically related to your vocation, it shows initiative and work ethic. Employers like that.
So – what can we do here? Lots and lots. I know it seems dire – because for most people the options are going to be limited to things that are either free or cost next to nothing, and don’t require the removal of your pajamas.
That’s OK – there are still tons of options.
Learn a new language
This can be done from the comfort of your home for relatively cheap. Go online and learn some basics. Download a program that can help you learn. Go and rewatch your old DVDs that are dubbed into different languages in that language, with the subtitles on (trust me – Family Guy is way funnier in Spanish). Find a social group in your neighborhood where you can practice speaking. Or even see if you have a neighbor who speaks the language and invite them over for coffee. Go to a local restaurant that serves that region’s food and see if the staff will let you practice on them.
Even if you have no actual need for a new language in your profession, it’s a great thing to have in your bag if tricks. Potential employers LOVE language skills, even if they will never come into play. And they are a great personal achievement as well. Don’t know which language you’d like to work on? My suggestion – either pick a something related to your favorite sport (i.e. I’m learning Spanish because I’m going to Mexico to watch the lucha libre), or pick the language that goes with your favorite food (my lifelong obsession with dim sum has unwittingly resulted in some ability to speak very bad Cantonese).
Learn a new software program
Pretty much any fancy new computer program you can add to your resume will be a boon. There are great services like Lynda that can give you step by step instruction right from the comfort of your couch. If you have the basics out of the way (word processing, spreadsheets, etc.), then pick something fun and go play with it. Graphic design software or video editing are always fun, and even if they aren’t actually relevant to your profession, hey, at least you can also try for YouTube stardom.
Start a blog
With all that extra time on your hands, wouldn’t you like to subject the unwitting masses to your opinion and expertise? Write about something you have experience in, or use a blog to showcase your portfolio. An interesting, well written blog can be included in your applications and can demonstrate to employers that you are engaged, motivated, and knowledgeable, as well as proving soft skills such as communication, creativity, and general online saavy. Just remember not to use a pic of yourself flipping the bird in your profile…
Or pretty much anything else…
There are a million options – learn to knit, create a secrete identity and go fight crime, write a complete biography of your pet dog…whatever works for you. Just make a point of choosing something and sticking with it.
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