There are many reasons why you may have to take a break from work. Whether you were dismissed, you've been on a parental leave, sabbatical leave, or even a sick leave, it can be difficult to pick yourself up after a long period of unemployment — especially in this highly competitive labor market.
If you've been in this situation for a few months or years, our article's for you! We give you 6 tips to optimize this period of unemployment and thus put all the chances on your side to get your dream job!
- Tip 1: Take care of your CV 👌
It isn't a secret for anyone: the CV is the first impression the recruiter will have of you. It can be decisive in his or her decision to offer you an interview or not. We recommend you to keep your CV up to date — there are several free websites that will help you to create an efficient and personalized one like Canva, for instance— and to thematize it by skills — so the blank periods on your career won't be so obvious.
Remember, as long as you regularly update your skills and manage to prove your motivation to recruiters, you have every chance!
- Tip 2: Be active (online) 📱
Our first piece of advice regarding this tip is to upload your CV to a CV database (such as Moovijob's one). Then, sign up on professional-oriented social networks, like LinkedIn — if it's not already done — and be active on social media in a professional way. This kind of social media can help you to interact and to meet several specialists in your business sector.
To increase your visibility and networking opportunities, consider keeping a blog or a personal website, for example. Then, you'll be able to mix in the useful with the pleasurable by sharing your hobbies or any other subject you're interested in.
This will also highlight your skills — as synthesis and writing skills among others — and prove you're open-minded. There are many different subjects: a portfolio of your projects, personal tips to cook or discover new places thanks to your travels or even a blog gathering your business sector's news, inter alia.
- Tip 3: Be active (in real life too) 🤝
An unemployment period can sometimes make you believe — wrongly — that you're useless. In order to avoid losing your bearings, you can opt for volunteering work. You'll easily find an interesting project that will make you feel socially useful and valuable.
Charitable organizations, NGOs, trade unions, professional associations, the choice is huge! Have you ever thought that this could be a way of doing your job in a different way? After all, working for an association and helping others will allow you to use your skills differently and get out of your comfort zone. And plus, it can be a highly valuable experience on your CV — don't forget to add it.
The only way to do great work is to love what you do.
Steve Jobs
- Tip 4: Keep a healthy social life 🥳
Even if you're focused on sending your application to job offers or spontaneously, it's important to not spend your whole day doing it. Beware of the consequences on your mental health. You need to spend time with your friends, your family and other people in general.
Therefore, you can grant yourself some time dedicated to your social life and consult our website on your laptop or cellphone at a bar, library or coworking spaces, for instance.
Participating at a recruitment event can be the perfect opportunity to discover several job opportunities and to meet with some professionals or workers from the same business sector as you while having a good time!
- Tip 5: Spark your creativity 🎨
Use this period of unemployment for yourself to regain your balance. Starting an artistic, manual or physical activity will help you to avoid having the blues and — above all — stimulate your creative mind.
Photography, painting, drawing, dance, tennis — among other activities — can help you to get to know yourself better. Thanks to this precious and valuable time, you can also work on your emotions — which will help you to control them during your next interview. And then, you'll create some beautiful memories and build new relationships. So dream, dare and go for it!
- Tip 6: Work on your self-confidence 💪
After a few rejection emails or unanswered applications, you may feel some negative emotions. Loss of motivation, fear of no longer being employable, loss of energy... Who has never felt like this and had their self-confidence weaken after a long period of unemployment?
Even if it's quite understandable, you shouldn't let yourself drown in this negativity and you must fight those feelings as soon as the first symptoms appear: lack of self-confidence. Indeed, it can turn into the major obstacle to your dream job search... Remember, you got this!
Last but not least, don't lie on your CV! Don't try to cheat on dates, but rather reassure recruiters about your motivation to work and highlight the skills you've developed during this long-term unemployment — travels, volunteering, online training or new soft skills (sense of organization, creativity, open-mindedness, etc.).
Our last tip is to consult the job opportunities available on our website. Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any question. Good luck! 😀
