6/02/2009

How to Apply for a Job After Being Laid Off


I have not seriously examined the application process when job hunting until I was recently laid off. The job market is really competitive right now, so when I became unemployed I then realized that there were a number of things that I needed to do to make myself more employable. On account that I have not had an interview or job hunted for years, I then knew that I needed to do a little research to prepare myself; after applying for a few jobs and not getting a reply.

UPDATE RESUME:
The first thing I did was update my resume; however I did not make it more job specific. After applying for a number of jobs and getting the same results, I realized that my resume looked a little dull. Therefore, I asked someone I knew was good at editing and working on resumes to review my own. I was fortunate to get the feedback I did on updating my resume. Therefore, I not only updated my resume, I pretty much gave it a complete facelift.

I highlighted my strengths and relevant job experiences. More so, I edited my job objectives and kept the resume itself simple. I realized that two pages was a little too much and therefore cut it down to a page.

FINANCIAL ASSESSSMENT:
I then did a financial assessment. I reviewed my monthly expenses and focused on paying all the monthly bills off. Therefore, I can focus on the job hunting process and not the bills.

HIRE A HEADHUNTER:
I then made job hunting a full-time job. If you do not have the time, then it’s important to hire a headhunter.

MAINTAIN A POSITIVE MINDSET:
After job hunting for some time and not getting the results I wanted I realized that I needed to connect with people who were not going to help me network, but also build me up and encourage me. The toughest challenge for me was maintaining a positive mindset after job hunting for months and not getting the jobs that I was looking for.

KEEP YOUR JOB OPTIONS OPEN:
I then became more open to other job offers, because I realized that it was better to have an income than to have half that or none at all. In doing this, the job I really wanted came my way and now I am going through a long, arduous training process for the job that I really wanted.

1 comment: