Career Coach, NGO president, TEDx speaker, Interviewed on The TODAY Show, Fulbright Scholar, Author, University professor.
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We are currently awash in cicadas in the Washington, D.C., area. This is a once-in-17-years event where the insects burrow out of the ground, molt, reproduce and then die. All of this takes place in a matter of a few weeks. From mid-May through the end of June, they will be an ever-present unwelcome guest at our picnics, outings and face-to-face graduation celebrations. After our own 17 months of pandemic isolation, we shouldn’t fail to miss the irony of a grand finale of clicking locusts in a big hurry to distract us from getting back to normal.
Similarly, as we reemerge, we also might feel the urge to get on with it. There might be the impulse to act with abandon to get resumes out, complete applications and produce, produce, produce! (No comparison to a cicada’s reproductive frenzy here.)
Though cicadas might be biologically programmed to pack everything into a short period of time, humans are not. We need to slow down. The urgency to get something done quickly can mean we sacrifice quality and thoughtfulness in the approach.
As a career coach, lately I’ve seen an uptick in calls from job seekers. Am I seeing more inquiries because individuals are awakened from their pandemic stupor? Or do they have renewed energy and hope because the pandemic is ending and the spring has arrived? Whatever the motivation, the best time to take action is always now. But action must be cautious and deliberate. Here’s how:
Assess your current conditions.
With the end of the pandemic in sight, living and working conditions are changing. With the ability to travel and congregate, people will consider moving and relocating. Some people cobbled together odd jobs and gigs to maintain an income during the pandemic. Will these jobs continue? If people are now going into the grocery store, will there be a need for as many delivery people? How might these changes impact you?
In addition, what are things you can count on right now? Do you have predictable income? Support — emotional and financial — from family and friends? What about strong skill sets that might be back in demand now? A secure place to live? Are people who depend on you — children and elderly parents — safe and secure? Doing a “360” assessment of the current conditions you are living under is a priority before you jump into the job search.
Understand the landscape.
Predicting the future can be a perilous task. With so much shifting going on now in terms of work prospects and requirements, it might be hard to get a sense of what your expectations should be. Should you expect to telecommute in a new job? Or will you have flexibility in a work schedule?
Reading sources of employment trends, including reports on working conditions in the local newspaper and online, can help. SmartBrief is a good source of industry trends and conditions. It might be difficult to predict that this or that job will be in demand in six months. But recognizing the need for certain skill sets could be possible to predict. For example, I don’t think we will need less aptitude in coming months in terms of communicating virtually by Zoom and other means. Reflect on what you have learned during the pandemic, both in soft skills and hard skills, and consider how they might apply in the future.
Decide your order of priorities, create a plan and follow it.
More and more employers are combing social media for candidates, so tending to your LinkedIn profile might be the first order or business right now. Do you have a clear and current headshot? A summary that intrigues prospective employers?
Consder your resume, too. Simply dusting it off may not be enough. Don’t resist the need for a complete overall and rewrite. Too many people merely fix parts of their resume, adding here and there. The resulting document looks like a house that has gone through one too many exterior renovations without a thought given to the aesthetics.
Maybe now is the time to go back to school because of the emergence of new fields and careers during the pandemic. Or you should reconnect with colleagues you have lost track of. Whatever it is, think about what needs to be done right away. Often these preliminary tasks help build confidence for the heavy lifting that needs to follow in looking for work.
We can enjoy the presence and fascination of cicadas knowing it will be many years before they visit again. But don’t follow their lead. As they speed up, we should slow down and think carefully about next steps.
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