7 Baby Steps To Find A Job Without Overwhelm
Are you looking for a job or a career change at 30? If you’re changing careers in a pandemic, here’s how to take baby steps to find a job without overwhelm.
Changing careers in a pandemic is not easy, especially if you’re planning on starting a job from home. The sudden change and disruption in our lives has taken a particularly heavy toll on women during COVID-19, affecting their health, work, and employment.
According to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the second wave of the deadly Coronavirus has left over 1 crore Indians without jobs while around 97% of households' incomes have declined since the start of the pandemic.
Women, in particular, have been overwhelmed and lack the support they need to cope. Many women have been saddled with additional family responsibilities and been forced to pick up the slack, with other family members falling ill.
Some women have been dealing with the loss of their husbands or family members, while many others have had to manage despite falling ill themselves.
So looking for a job has either not been high on their list of priorities or seems too overwhelming a task while they are dealing with high-stress life situations.
Despite all this, financial constraints have made it necessary for unemployed women to start their job search anew. While some are beginning a new job or career, others are navigating a career change or figuring out a new career path.
But if thinking of changing jobs or starting a job working from home seems overwhelming, the best thing to do is to take baby steps to get back in the game.
As the saying goes, the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. We don’t advise you to take this literally, but the way to deal with any seemingly-mammoth task is to complete it one baby-step at a time.
In fact, this is the mantra that most successful people follow to build a business or a career, and it’s easier to take baby steps than to get overwhelmed doing too much in too short a time.
7 Baby Steps To Find A Job Without Overwhelm
Whether you’re making a career transition, getting a job after a career break in India, or forging a new career path altogether, here are 7 baby steps you can take every day to making a career move in the right direction.
1. Do a career test
In the Glow & Lovely Career Community on SHEROES, you can take a free career test and a psychometric test to learn about careers that match your interests.
Also called a career aptitude test, this free career test will help you answer the questions, “What career should I choose?” and “Which career is best for me?”
In order to answer these questions, you need to know your personality type, as different types of people thrive in different careers.
For example, introverts may do better in freelance writing careers where they get plenty of solitude, while extroverts may thrive in people-facing careers like event management and sales.
Choosing a career that aligns with your personality type will help you find satisfaction and fulfillment in your profession and increase your chance of having a successful career.
2. Think about your career goals
What is your career goal? When considering your career choices, decide on your career goals first. There are two types of goals to consider, primarily short-term and long-term career goals.
Your short-term career goals may involve finding a job fast, so you and your family can pay the bills and survive the pandemic without taking on debts.
Your long-term career goals may involve re-skilling or upskilling by doing a course or two, so you can take a new job better suited to your personality and get into your dream career down the road.
3. Write down a career objective for resumes
What is a career objective in resumes? This is a personal statement of the goals you want to achieve for yourself and your new company through your career path.
Spend a little time (say 30 minutes) working on your career objective statement, which should be no more than 2 to 3 sentences.
In your career objective, you should add a line about what benefits you bring to any organisation you join and mention the job position you believe you can perform best in.
If you need a career objective sample to understand how to write your resume career objective, you can adapt this career objective statement below - written for teachers applying for online teaching jobs - to your own skill set and goals.
I’m a skilled and experienced Mathematics educator looking for a remote job opportunity where I can put my years of training to use, making complex mathematical concepts fun and engaging for high-school children, so they can top the 12th standard board exams.
Also update your skills and describe your new career goals on your resume. If you’re a fresher or need a new resume, you can use this creative resume maker online free to create a brand new resume.
4. Fill out your LinkedIn profile
LinkedIn is your most important tool to network with influential people and find new career opportunities. If you leverage it well, you can use it to look for top companies offering the best career options for women.
Your headline is the part of your LinkedIn profile that recruiters notice first (after your profile photo). According to LinkedIn, you should use the headline field to say a bit more about how you see your role, why you do what you do, and what makes you tick.
Make sure your LinkedIn profile is completely filled out and add a professional profile photo and a background photo.
LinkedIn Skill Assessments are a new way for you to validate the skills you have and showcase your proficiency so you’re more discoverable to opportunities.
Don’t forget to spend a few minutes a day on LinkedIn making connections with influential people and recruiters and sending them a personalised message requesting them to connect with you.
5. Take a free course to learn new skills
Any new skill you learn, even through free online courses, can be added to your resume and LinkedIn profile to boost your employability.
In the Glow & Lovely Career Community, you’ll find many useful resources, such as courses to improve your English or online courses to learn new skills.
When you complete these free courses, you’ll get a certificate that you can display on your LinkedIn profile and other social media profiles.
Make sure you switch on your LinkedIn notifications to alert your network when you add a new course or skill to your profile.
Adding new skills to your LinkedIn profile every so often will show recruiters and head hunters that you’re the sort of person who is open to learning new skills.
6. Connect with a career counsellor
Do you need professional career advice on how to choose a career? Want to know about career opportunities after 12th or career options after 10th standard?
If you’re confused about career avenues or about choosing a career opportunity, join career counsellor, Monica Majithia in the Glow & Lovely Community on SHEROES, where she regularly offers free career advice in live sessions.
You can ask questions about your career prospects or the best career options after graduation, learn about the best career options for girls, and explore work from home career options in India.
If you prefer connecting with a career counsellor to get answers to your questions on choosing a career path, you can get free career advice in the GAL Community.
7. Apply for an online internship
If you lack work experience and find that to be your #1 obstacle in finding jobs from home, you may benefit from doing a virtual internship.
A virtual or online internship can give you the work experience you need and help you learn relevant skills to make you job-ready. There are many top companies that offer work from home internships, but you need to know how and where to find them.
In this article on online internships, SHEROES career coach, Monica Majithia, answers all your internship questions with tips on how to apply for online internships.
Once you’ve completed your virtual internship, you could be invited to apply for a job with the same organisation you worked with, or you could get a referral and recommendation from your boss for a job with a different organisation.
Just the fact that you’ve taken the initiative to complete an internship and get some work experience will hold you in good stead in your job search.
When trying to find a job during the pandemic, don’t forget to take care of yourself and remember that practicing self-care is absolutely essential when you’re caring for others.
We hope these tips on looking for a job will help you find a job that’s ideal for your personality and requirements.
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27 Sep 2022
