Tips to Improve Skills While Unemployed

Many folks in the tech community are going through something I’ve experienced many times in my career: a layoff. I've faced the unexpected storm of layoffs four times❗️in my 26-year career. And yet, I've managed to keep my time unemployed to mere weeks (about six weeks, I think). Before I get into my tips on what to do when you find yourself suddenly looking, please know that none were easy. Each layoff was unique and had differing levels of difficulty. I struggled with these tips, too. First and foremost, give yourself grace! I found the following to be extremely helpful: 💪🏼 Embrace Reality: Treat the situation as a neutral event. It can be hard to do, and you are always allowed to feel the emotions. Recognize it’s now time to move your career forward. 🎯 Reflect and Define: Write down your strengths and be clear about what you possess. What's your ideal next role? Clarity here is probably the biggest strength you’ll have going forward. 🧑💻 Bridge the Learning Gap: Identify skills you may need to polish or acquire. Online courses, webinars, mentorship – choose your learning focus. ✍️ Tailor Your Resume: Customize it for the role you’re eyeing. Generic resumes don’t perform as well, for obvious reasons. 📣 Be Open About Your Job Search: There's no shame in being open about your job search. Use LinkedIn and other social platforms to your advantage (Network, network, network). 📋 Organize Your Opportunities: Keep track of job leads and interviews. I used spreadsheets to weigh factors like mission and personal alignment, salary and benefits, and when to follow up. 🏓 Practice Makes Perfect: Are your interview skills rusty? Taking time to sharpen them pays dividends. 💭 Remember, You’re Not Alone: Open conversations can be a game changer. There's immense power in community support. I’m cheering for you!!! 🙌🏼 👉 Your Turn: Have you experienced a layoff and bounced back? How did you navigate through them? Let's share experiences and tips in the comments below – your story might be the beacon someone needs today! #CareerResilience #JobSearchStrategies #LayoffLessons #LinkedInCommunity

Yesterday we had a great session in the Talent Development Think Tank job search group on upskilling on a budget. It's critical to make sure you're skilling up and staying relevant in the marketplace so you're competitive with other jobseekers. 1️⃣ 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐧. To determine the skills you need most, identify 5-7 of your ideal roles. See what the most common skills are for each role, and focus on those. Some of these may be completely new skills to you, and others may be just sharpening the axe on skills you already have. 2️⃣ 𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐝. When's the last time you've been to your local library? Beyond the standard checking out books for free, libraries have other resources that can help jobseekers. In many areas, your library card will get you access to LinkedIn Learning courses and Libby. LI Learning regularly adds new, relevant courses from industry experts. You can search by topic/skill to hone in on the courses you should be taking. Libby is an app that lets you download ebooks and audiobooks from your local library. So that giant book list you've been wanting to tackle is now doable for no cost. Bonus tip from a group member: Another great resource to get low cost ebooks and audio books is the Kindle Unlimited membership through Amazon which is $12/month, but has more and different offerings than the library or Libby. 3️⃣ 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭. Podcasts, e-conferences, webinars, articles, and more. There's no shortage of free content available. Focus on industry leaders or vendors, and see what content they have available. 4️⃣ 𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. For many, the best way to learn, is by doing. Often times, non profits or trade organizations will let you volunteer and try your hand at something new, even if you have limited experience. All experience is relevant, regardless of whether it was paid or unpaid. Use volunteering as a way to step outside your comfort zone and try new things. Register through Catchafire to be connected to nonprofits looking for volunteers or get involved with the local chapter of your professional trade organization. What other ways have you upskilled on a budget? #learninganddevelopment #upskilling #training #talentdevelopment

So how do you sharpen a skill for a career transition or to just advance your current career? I was recently listening to the famous comedy writer Michael Schur speak about his early days as a writer on Saturday Night Live on the excellent Freakonomics podcast. He said he watched the veteran writers he admired and he "became a forensic scientist. I would look at their sketches and I would break them down and I would try to understand what made them good and what made them successful. And eventually, through a combination of observation and genuine mentorship, I kind of got to the point where I could do the job." This resonated with me because of its universal applicability. Here is my condensed version. 1) Talk to people who are actually doing the job you want. Get advice from them. This advice will be far more valuable than anything else in your pursuit. 2) Develop skills using that advice. No matter what your skill is, start working those Malcolm Gladwell 10,000 hours on that skill. You will get better. 3) Make friends with others with your skill set. Just surrounding yourself with others that are continuously talking about your skill, will make you better. As Schur states, "Be a forensic scientist." 4) Read everything you can on your particular skill by the experts in the field. Implement the stuff they say that makes sense, forget the stuff that doesn't work for you. 5) Tell everyone you know about your skill. Even if they can't help advance your career, it will only build your excitement. Any other tips or tricks from those that have recently honed a new skill?

🤔 How do you divvy up your time when on the job hunt? Between applying for jobs, networking on LinkedIn, learning new skills that are desirable, maintaining old skills, and interview practice, it's hard to split your time up effectively. 👇 Here's how I've spent my time so far on the job search 👇 1️⃣ Treat this like a job Searching for a job IS a job. Showing up consistently is key. Work when your clients (recruiters/hiring managers) & competitors (other job seekers) are working. 2️⃣ Apply Apply to jobs that fit your skills and experience levels. Don't waste your time on EasyApply's or jobs that you don't fit. My rule of thumb here is to apply if I know the major parts of their stack and my YOE are close. If a job lists Ruby, which I've never used, I won't apply. Same with roles requiring >5 YOE. 3️⃣ Network It's hard to stand out from the rest of the job seekers. I try to personalize every contact I have, whether that's a comment on a post or a note in a connection request. I'm also making an effort to post content consistently. _Everyone_ is looking for a job right now and hiring has slowed to pre-pandemic levels. Making one post saying you're open to opportunities and listing your tech stack isn't going to cut it. 4️⃣ Hone your current skills There are several things you can do to make sure you keep your skills sharp: - Practice leetcode - Work on a new project - Refactor or build upon old projects - Learn something new (new language, new framework, AWS hosting, etc) - Contribute to open source (I'm trying to find OS to contribute to, hmu if you have recommendations) 5️⃣ Stay positive Looking for work is mentally exhausting when you aren't employed. There's plenty of negatives, you _need_ to find a way to celebrate the small wins or you'll burn yourself out. Land an interview? 🎉 Celebrate! Move to the next round? 🎉 Celebrate! Those are all my tips from my job search. Let me know if you do the same, or if there's anything you'd add to the list! #opentowork #jobsearch #interview #coding #softwareengineering