How to Manage Your Career When Unemployed

Have you been out of the job market for awhile? Are you wondering what are the necessary steps to take in order to get your career back on track?

As some of you may know, there was a period of time after I completed my studies for my Master’s in Social Work that I was unable to take on a social work position for personal family reasons.

Some of you may have also needed (or wanted) to take a break from employment for a variety of reasons: pregnancy, birth, adoption, death or illness of a family member, personal illness, being let go etc.

Regardless of the rationale, there are some things that you can do to demonstrate your career commitment while being out of the workforce.

8 Tips to Managing Your Career While on Hiatus:

1. Attend trainings, conferences or webinars – this is a way of illustrating not only your continued interest in the field but also that you are making sure to keep up with the latest learnings.
   

   For example, I attended:
   *Annual Addictions Institute: Trauma and addictions across the life cycle
   *Marsha Linehan on DBT: Where we were, where we are and where we are going
   *Dr. Daniel Siegel: How Psychotherapy works

• Take continuing education and/or credit/non-credit university courses – this is another way to show that you are maintaining your skills and and knowledge in topics relevant to your profession.
  

  For example, I had taken the following (post) graduate classes:
  *Clinical Practice with Substance Abusers and Their Families
  *Creative Arts Therapy in Clinical Social Work

• Work part-time in a position that will allow you to maintain or further develop your portfolio of skills within your area of interest.
  

  This is what I did as soon as my schedule allowed for it.

• Volunteer part-time – this can be a great alternative when you are unable to work full or part-time; this is a positive item to list on your resume and the position can lead to new networking contacts and occasionally even a paid position.
  

  If the part-time work option would not have panned out, my plan would have been to seek a volunteer position in a mental health related capacity.
  

• Update your linkedin account with the above mentioned steps that you are engaging in to manage your career during this hiatus. In this manner, your connections will know that you are keeping up-to-date and are more likely to keep you in mind should an appropriate position open up when the time is right for you.
  
  

  Aside from updating the resume type areas of your linkedin account, you may also choose to update the summary portion.

  For instance, I inserted the below verbiage in my summary. I’m not sure whether all career experts would agree with my disclosure but I opted for transparency over mystery. “For personal reasons, I have had to put my career plans on hold since I graduated. However, I have made sure to keep up with the mental health field by attending various trainings/conferences and taking some (post) graduate classes.

  Now, as I am starting to have more time, I will be pursuing a Post Master’s certificate in Advanced Clinical Practice at XX and my plan is to find a part-time position within the mental health field that will ultimately serve as a stepping stone to a full-time position.”

• Keep in touch with your network of friends and former colleagues – by picking up the phone from time to time, emailing them an interesting article etc. In this way, you will feel more comfortable asking them for help once the time comes when you are ready to re-enter the job market.
  

  I have not been as good as I should have. Regretfully, when you have been derailed by personal reasons, you may have been unable to maintain those vital ties despite the fact that your friends and former co-workers are important to you.

  My suggestion is to slowly reach out again to your friends and reconnect by explaining, showing an interest in their lives and seeing how you can be of help to them. I think most of your friends will understand.

  For some helpful networking scripts, see What I Learned 1st Month of Job Search Journey.

• Engage in social media – start a professional blog to convey passion about your industry; engage on twitter, google+, facebook, pinterest and/or one of the relevant linkedin groups for your profession. These are all activities that will help you develop a social media profile, meet and build a new professional network and potentially help you find your next position (be it a volunteer or salaried one).
  

  Below are a few excellent career management gurus who are generous in sharing some of their expertise on twitter, as well as on their blogs/articles in the press:

  Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter, a professional resume expert, addresses provides wonderful guidance on how best to focus your attention so as not to get overwhelmed in her article Are You Everywhere–Yet Nowhere–on Social Media?

  Before you start interviewing, make sure to read Do You Shine During Your Interview? by Hannah Morgan. You want to incorporate STAR type stories in your responses.

  Miriam Salpeter is the author of the book Social Networking for Career Success and in it she offers loads of advice to both newbies and experienced social networkers on how best to use LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook for jobseeking.

  Finally, find some face-to-face networking opportunities in your area thanks to Jacob Share‘s (another career expert author) post 20 Tools to Find Local Networking Events Quickly.

• Last but not least, update your resume with the results of all the above mentioned proactive career steps you are taking so that it is reflecting you at your best.

What do you think of this list? What are some additional activities that you would suggest doing in order to build up your portfolio of skills during a period of unemployment? 

Photo credit: City to Sea Texture by Scott Symonds