Whether you’re looking to re-enter the jobs market, or you’re aiming to get your first role at a company, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a nuisance for employees on a global scale. As businesses and workers alike adjust to life in the wake of the pandemic, finding work has become more complex in some industries.
You may be scouring job boards for your dream role, or finding a position to help make ends meet as we fast approach the age of the ‘new normal’ away from the health crisis. Regardless of your intentions, the task of applying for jobs and interviewing virtually can be difficult for anyone, and it may lead to you feeling as though you’re a little bit stuck in a rut with fewer positions available and more applicants competing for the same role.
Have you found yourself back on the job hunt? As employers look to make cutbacks on promotions, training opportunities and their employees, you may feel bewildered by the process of looking for work in a post-pandemic jobs market. However, it’s vital that you look to avoid allowing negative feelings about your situation to manifest and affect your morale.
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(Image: Office for National Statistics)
While you may not want to see that unemployment has unsurprisingly risen in recent months since the arrival of COVID-19, it’s certainly worth noting that you’re not alone in your suffering - and that many other employees have unexpectedly found themselves out of work and in a difficult jobs market.
It’s also worth noting that the UK has suffered from significant periods of severe unemployment before, which the country has previously managed to recover from. With an increasing number of businesses adapting to more remote processes, the future looks brighter for those looking for work.
As we move away from the pandemic, your motivation could be key in keeping your job hunt productive while avoiding the prospect of negativity. Let’s take a look at three key ways to stay motivated while looking for work after lockdown:
1. Never Fear Rejection
The first and perhaps most important way of keeping motivated is to remember to never fear rejection.
In the US, around 55 million Americans have filed for unemployment since the start of COVID-19, and this doesn’t count all of those who were previously unemployed and people who have been underemployed. You’re certainly not alone in the jobs market and so you should never take a rejection email personally because of this.
In this job markets, it’s not unusual to see some roles to have thousands of applicants who have invested countless hours in adapting, reviewing and critiquing their own CVs to increase their employability by 0.01%. In such a competitive market, there’s absolutely no shame in being overlooked, and you should never think negatively about missing out on a role. The sooner you learn that rejection is a part of hyper-competitive jobs markets, the sooner you can channel your energy into exploring the things you could change for next time. Some employers offer interview feedback, and using your energy to look at how you can act on their advice could be the perfect way to brush yourself off from a knockback.
When you’re looking for a new job, focus on the things you can control. Try to avoid working yourself up over all the parts of the process that are too far from what you can work on. Just cut yourself some slack and focus on your avenue back into work one step at a time, on a one day at a time basis.
Your route back into work is a marathon, not a sprint. It will take strength and endurance to get back into the world of work. This means that it’s perfectly natural to feel run down by it all, but you should never let yourself become adversely affected by rejections.
2. Adapt Your Environment to Encourage Productivity
If you can, take the time to create a space in your home where you can block out your distractions and focus on your journey back into employment after the end of lockdown.
If you’ve been living on furlough schemes since early 2020, you may have become accustomed to home life. As the many workers who have spent some of the year working from home may have found out, it can be tricky to psychologically cut out home distractions and focus on productivity.
Our brains are hardwired to associate home with rest and relaxation, but we can snap out of this comfort by creating more regimented schedules that can trick us into subconsciously believing we’re readying up for work. Instead of sleeping in until the last minute, aim to wake up earlier, have a shower and breakfast as a means of replicating the start of a working day. After this, you’ll feel much more energised and ready for a productive day of job hunting.
This sort of set up can benefit you even after you’ve found your new job. With more jobs moving remote following on from the pandemic, the act of preparing yourself for a new day of work at home may help you to better slip into work patterns later on too.
3. Make Every Day a Learning Experience
Just because you’re looking for a job after the lockdown, it doesn’t mean that you can’t continue to learn, upskill and develop yourself on a daily basis. While you may not necessarily be achieving skills that can get added to your CV, you can undergo some significant personal development that can help you become more knowledgeable and confident in interview situations.
Surround yourself with people that you can learn from. Whether you enjoy listening to podcasts, watching TED talks, or simply reading books, there are plenty of ways to learn new things.
An excellent resource can be found in LinkedIn Learning, which can help to prepare job hunters by offering various courses designed to improve employability and help individuals to prepare for interviews.
By setting out to learn something new every day - whether it can directly improve your employability or not - you can build more confidence in yourself and provide more value to prospective employers.
Fundamentally, immersing yourself in your development can be a great way of staying happy and sane at a time that could be extremely stressful for job hunters. Remember that it’s perfectly normal to feel negative emotions when looking for work, and if you’re having a bad day, it may be worth talking to a family member or friend. Getting help with your mental health at such a difficult time may be important.
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