Advice for the Unemployed

New to unemployment? Don’t beat yourself up, with the economy the way it is, it’s happening to everyone.

Here are some tips to think about:

Don’t waste any time responding to your new situation. Don’t take a week off to mope or to give in to depression — the week will turn into a month, then six months. Sign up for unemployment benefits immediately, the same day if possible. Start your job search at once. Rewrite your resume at once.

Learn everything you can about the unemployment benefits for which you qualify. Employment Development Departments offer many services, often for free, and you may qualify for those even if for some reason you don’t qualify for payments. You may be able to get high-quality, free training in your own field or a new profession. You may qualify for partial benefit payments if you work part-time. And your EDD may have job placement services. Your taxes pay for these benefits — use them!

Work hard on your resume. Is it complete? Easy to read? Printed on nice quality, white or off-white paper? One page, both sides? No images or wacky fonts? Do you tweak your resume for each position for which you apply? Do you include a cover letter every time?

Don’t try to use your “free” time for other pursuits. Everyone says they’ll use their time while unemployed to write that novel, or build an addon to the house, or learn to play bass guitar. Yeah, that’s not gonna happen. You’re just avoiding what you need to be doing — searching for a new job. You need to work on your job search every day. Finding a job is your new job.

Sign up for a temp agency. Even if you don’t want to do temp work, it’s a great way to find a permanent job. But don’t sign up, and just sit back and wait to hear from them. Call the temp agency every weekday.

Good luck with your job search!

Tags: Advice, EDD, resumes, temp agencies, temp jobs, unemployment, unemployment benefits

It’s only temporary!

When we talk about today’s economy, trendy metaphors are everywhere. Here’s a sample:  Weather: stormy, cloudy, dark; Movement: reeling, roiling, turbulent; Health: ailing, sick, aching.

If you think about it, each of these metaphors implies a temporary condition. Weather clears, movement slows down, people heal. During this temporarily tough time, sometimes the best way for unemployed job seekers to handle this is by getting a temp job.

You guys are smart (obviously, since you’re being proactive in your job search), so you probably already know what temp jobs are. But we’ll go ahead and tell you anyways. When employees are out for a bit (with health problems or on leave) and work still needs to get done, companies often hire temporary employees to fill in the gaps. Other companies make it their policy to hire temp workers that eventually become permanent positions.

There may be lots of reasons why you temp. If you’re out of a job, temping helps you pay the bills until you find a more permanent position. Temping also allows you set your own schedule (if you want to take a couple of weeks go see the lovely Vermont foliage with Uncle Morty, go right ahead), add skills to your resume if it needs a boost, and try out different positions if you’re not sure about which industry you might be best suited for.

EmploymentCrossing has over 90 sites listing jobs–temporary, part time, and permanent– in tons of different industries. Project management positions, compliance jobs, even nursing jobs.

So as you weather the storm, brace yourself for the turbelence, and drink some chicken soup for the economy, remember that tempin’ may not be easy. . .but it can help get you where you need to go.

Tags: economy, industry, resume, temp jobs