5 Ways To Stay Productive When Looking For A Job

If you’re taking a break from your career, unemployed or have been made redundant, it can be exciting, daunting and "5 Ways To Stay Productive When Looking For A Job"

If you’re taking a break from your career, unemployed or have been made redundant, it can be exciting, daunting and possibly a scary time if you don’t know what your next step is. You might want to crawl into bed and not get out everyday till 11am, watch Ellen, eat ice cream and do absolutely nothing. And sure you can do that on day one, but it’s definitely not a pattern that you should get in.

Keeping up your productivity is important for your brain functionality and emotional wellbeing. Plus you might learn a new skill, get more in-tune with yourself and make new connections.

Here are 5 ways to remain productive when you’re looking for work:

1. Lean new skills
Now that you’ve got the spare time, some experience under your belt, it’s time to juice up your resume with some new skills. It could be in your current area, or maybe something a bit different, either way it’s important to always keep the mind challenged. Plus any extra courses will look great on the resume.

So what can you learn? Many colleges and Universities offer short courses if you know you are taking off a longer amount of time. However if you’re money conscious and not wanting to sign up to a longer course, look at courses offered by General Assembly or online with Skillshare. These companies offer anything from coding to typography and digital marketing.

Just give them a go, you might discover a new passion you never knew you had.

2. Stay in contact and network
It’s important to stay in touch with past work collegues and mentors who can not only help you with possible career opportunities, but also help guide you to meet others and keep you in the loop with industry news.

Remember, it’s not what you know, but who you know.

3. Keep the money rolling in
Just because you’re not employed doesn’t mean you can’t keep earning money and support your lifestyle. Whether it’s walking someones dogs, cleaning a house or using your professional skills on Airtasker there are hundreds of tasks uploaded daily. Some Airtaskers even earn up to $1,000 a week.

4. Look after yourself
While indulging in TV box sets of your favourite show and eating out for every meal can be fun, it’s not exactly the best for your health. Giving a bit of extra focus on getting fit and healthy can be great for the body and mind, might even give you a new perspective.

Make sure you set goals and challenge yourself to cook a new dish that you normally don’t have time to attempt, or try a new activity a week such as stand-up paddle boarding or boxing with a friend.

5. Pursue a passion
Do you have a hobby or a passion that you already dedicate a lot of your spare time to such as photography or cooking? Maybe it’s time to invest more time into it, who knows it could turn into your next career…

What’s most important is to keep your chin up, make sure you have the best resume and apply for as many jobs as you can and you’ll be back in the workforce better than ever soon.