How to keep your career active in the COVID-19 pandemic

Are you currently stuck at home? You’re certainly not alone and, like many others, you might find that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought your career to a standstill. You might be feeling a little lost right now, unsure of what your next step should be. That’s where this guide can come in handy. Believe it or not, there are some steps that you can take to ensure that your career continues to move in the right direction. Let’s explore some of the best and brightest possibilities.

Stay social

Yes, social distancing is important right now, but that doesn’t mean that you need to let your business connections fall by the wayside. If anything, these are more crucial than ever and you will need them when the economy begins to recover.

One way to keep connections with your business contacts is to remain active on social media. Take the time to update and improve your profiles, as well as regularly reaching out to those in the business world and your industry. LinkedIn provides a great way of doing this and should be on your radar.

Gain new qualifications

You might think that while in self-isolation during the coronavirus times it’s impossible to gain new qualifications or licenses that will make your more hireable. Or, it might feel like you have to wait until the COVID-19 pandemic ends before pursuing your new business venture.

However, neither assumption is correct. Instead, the reality is that you can get the qualifications, licenses, and diplomas that you want to pursue, as well as planning for your next business project while at home.

You could even consider starting an online master’s degree program. It’s entirely your decision on what route or path you want to take here. You’ll find everything you need online too including exam prep materials for everything from contractor licensing tests to the exam you need to pass to become a lawyer.

Freelance during the COVID-19 pandemic

You might be out of work or temporariliy unable to complete your usual job. If so, now could be the perfect time to consider freelancing.

By freelancing, you can make sure that you are able to continue to earn a paycheck and potentially even move towards starting a profitable business. This is going to depend on the skills you have, of course. But some skills are transferable to an environment where you are working from home independent of a company.

As an example, right now a lot of people are highly reliant on tech. It is absolutely essential that it continues to run effectively. So, if you have experience or even just knowledge beneficial for IT support, you’re in a good position to make money.

Setting up as a freelancer involves knowing how to market yourself and gain the interest you need from clients. You’ll also find that there are a lot of online platforms that you can use to your advantage.

When you’re freelancing, you’ll have to use your own tools to take on jobs. Invest in a laptop or desktop computer with decent specs. You can buy top-quality refurbished units that work just as well as brand-new ones do but are infinitely more affordable than them.

It’s important to save money during the pandemic because unemployment rates are higher than ever, and you have other things you need to spend on. That’s why you should look for ways to save when you need to make expensive purchases, like buying a work computer.

Improve your pitch

It’s possible that once the world begins to return to normal, you find yourself on a job hunt, and you won’t be alone. A lot of people are going to find themselves in this position. The important thing is that you can stand out from the others to gain the positive attention of prospective employers.

To do so, you need to think about what is your unique selling point. It could be anything, really. Perhaps it’s your technical know-how that you bring to a customer service role or your ability to use both reasoning and emotion to come to decisions in business.

In other words, make sure you know how to reply to an interviewer who asks, “What makes you unique?” Interview prep is another thing to work on while you are in lockdown so that you pitch yourself as the best candidate possible in the future.

Also, consider that many employers today are looking for bilingual candidates. So, if you know a second language or want to learn one, spend an hour a day practicing your communication skills. Doing this could definitely strengthen your position in the future job market.

More about your career during the COVID-19 pandemic

It’s also important to continue to apply for jobs. You might think that most businesses aren’t hiring right now and that might be true in your location. But you can bet that they are keeping the resumes they receive!

So, when it is time to start hiring again, they already have a solid idea of the interest and talent on the market. They can easily get to work and get the staff that they’ll desperately need once things settle back down.

Hopefully this information helps you to understand the best ways to guarantee that your career does not stagnate while you are in lockdown. By taking the right steps now, you might even find that you can still make money by freelancing and perhaps head down a new career path at the same time.

While there are a lot of negatives to the COVID-19 pandemic, a positive is that you could have a fair amount of time on your hands to use to plan ahead career-wise. It’s worth using this time productively.