HOW TO BECOME MORE EMPLOYABLE IN THE PANDEMIC

In a world where unemployment has been known to many of us, the pandemic has only made the already bad situation worse.

Many have lost their very hard to find jobs while those seeking employment have fallen into a state of hopelessness as the reality of a possibly long period of joblessness sinks in.

Here are some tips to get you ahead of the park and position yourself for a job opportunity even when the situation around us seems to suggest NO JOBS at all.

1. Learn a new skill. The pandemic has come with new challenges that have called for new solutions. Virtual working has required new skills in technology and networking. There are new possibilities that have come with all this. For example, someone in India contacted us recently to recruit for them some IT professionals FROM Uganda that will be working virtually. Who knew that the pandemic would present employment opportunities in the global village? 

2. Build your digital skills. The new normal is offering opportunities beyond borders that you will not access if you have no digital skill and if your online networks are limited to social platforms. Build professional networks online from which you can be exposed to jobs or business opportunities out there.

3. Explore your transferable skills. Yes, you have a degree in Education and you have always taught Home Science in high school. That’s great. However, for a long time, schools have been closed and you have been at home. Who says you can’t use your transferable skills to work in a bakery, a hotel or a cleaning company? You are a teacher but you are not a prisoner to the classroom. Find ways to utilize your skills to be relevant in the busy sectors during the pandemic.

4. Reinvent yourself. What do you enjoy doing besides your formal training? As people stay away from crowded places, can you find them home and offer safe services such as hair care, manicure, massage, homes schooling, cooking, cleaning? The list of possible services you could offer is endless. All it takes is reinventing and rediscovering you.

5. Look at what industries are thriving. The construction industry for example has continued to operate as property owners take advantage of lockdown to spend some time supervising their development projects. What can you do at a construction site? What can you offer builders? Can you make bricks? Bring young people together and have them make bricks, sell sand, stones, learn to paint or anything else that is required at construction sites? The food industry is also still working well. Regardless of what is happening, people MUST EAT! So look at this sector closely when looking for employment in this season.

5. Look at organizations that won’t be closing during the holiday. Some workers may be taking a Christmas break and that may be your entry point into some of the organizations that won’t be closing. This is an opportunity to showcase what you can do. Take your CV to employers such as hotels, recreational centres and transport companies who will have more work in the holiday and will need more people for short term employment.

6. Don’t be shy to use your networks. People won’t know you are looking for a job unless you tell them. Tell everyone you know who may know someone that may know someone that you are looking for a job. Word may eventually reach the right person and that may be your job opportunity right there.

Finally, stay positive. You have it in you to succeed. If you are resilient, courageous, hard-working and you take the necessary actions, one day you will look back and smile at your own journey because this will pass and you will be where you want to be.