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What to Do When You Can’t Find a Job: 7 Tips

Updated: Nov 21, 2019




Sincerely, you have tried your best. You’ve exhausted your efforts. At some point, you tend to

have the feeling that you’ve given it all it takes. However, despite your efforts, you have yet to find a job. It is challenging, it is frustrating, it is soul-crushing and even depressing.


Let’s face the real truth. Survival without a job is quite challenging. If you have exhausted all

your efforts in searching for jobs and you’re still yet to get a job with a consistent monthly

income, there is a great inability to pay off your bills and cope with your emotions. But, do not

despair.


One of the best ways to make progress at this point is to do your best to maintain your hope and remain motivated. Here are a few tips on what to do when you can't find a job despite all your efforts:





Get Skilled or Schooled


Honestly, you might have been applying for jobs where you are not even qualified for. However, if you are of the thinking that you can slip past a potential employer or you can manipulate the applicant tracking system, which is specifically designed to weed out applications of unqualified prospective job seekers, you might need to have a rethink.


Typically, prospective human resource managers won’t employ a candidate that doesn’t have

the required skills, knowledge, and experience for a particular position. So, if you have been

applying for jobs that you are not qualified for, you need to have a rethink and get the necessary skills. You might consider going back to school or get some online resources to boost your existing skills in order to meet up with the standards.



Spruce up your Online Presence


Studies have revealed that many hiring managers tend to take a look at the online presence o

prospective applicants before proceeding to invite them for an interview. How does your socia media pages look currently? Do they contain a mismatch of family pictures or politically related topics?


One of the highly essential aspects of your job search is to ensure a professional, credible, an

well updated online presence. You can take your time to dust off your profiles or create new

profiles that project you in a brighter and more professional outlook.


Apart from that, you also need to keep your information current and updated in order for

potential hiring managers to see that you are active on social media. Do not forget that this

should be for the right purposes.



Take a Break


Taking a break doesn’t simply imply that you entirely ditch your job search or take off months of long breaks. If you have spent so much time in search of jobs and you’ve been burnt out from the entire ordeal, you can proceed to take a break once in a while. You can give yourself a day or two off and utilize that time on things that give you energy and makes you happy. At this point, you’ll also be able to reflect on issues that surround your job search. After this, you can get back to your job search with renewed energy and purpose.



Networking is Essential


Networking is the bane of existence for every prospective job seeker. You can feel that

networking is schmoozy or phony. And yes, it could be a challenging task to sell yourself to

each person you come across at a networking event.


However, networking remains one of the best ways to meet new people and generate new

leads. If you are not so much concerned about the glad-handing aspect of networking, there are multiple online networking events you can connect with from the comfort of your home. And yes, these could yield a positive result.



Practice Your Interviewing Skills


Even the most polished job seeker gets easily tripped off with interviews. This is why you should endeavor to upgrade your interviewing skills. You can even engage in constant practice with or in the presence of friends, families, or even fellow job seekers. These sets of people might be able to offer you some tips and advice that will help you polish your interviewing skills.


With constant practice, you’ll be able to determine what you’re currently doing right and where improvements might be required. If you have a career mentor or a former employer whom you’ve been friendly with, you should ask them if they can create time to mock interviews with you.


If otherwise, you can consider enrolling for online career coaching as an alternative to get

constructive criticism and accurate feedbacks. Once you have been successful at this, you’ll be better prepared whenever the time for an interview comes.



Search for Other Types of Flexible Work Arrangements


You might have been nurturing a mindset to work from the comfort of your home, but that might not feature in the cards at the moment. However, there are several types of flexible jobs that stand under a big banner of job flexibility.


As a job seeker, you can expand your search to freelance jobs, contract gigs, part-time jobs,

and so forth. Exploring these other types of flexible jobs can lead you to job openings that you

might not have discovered while only searching for full-time or remote jobs.



Review Your Resume


You’ve mastered the content of your resume multiple times, and you feel you can recite it

verbatim. However, there might be a problem if you still can’t find a job with it. Whenever you

read your resume at several intervals, you’ll be able to catch up with both major and minor

resume errors and mistakes.


Ideally, you should find an experienced person to help review your resume prior to submission. The reviewers can be your friends, family members, and spouse or even resume review experts. These resume review experts will look at your document with a fresh eye for details and examine if there are glaring errors or mistakes to correct prior to applying for jobs at all.


You can also try adjusting the font, font color, and font size of your resume and then re-read to make it appear different. Whenever you are satisfied, you can then change it back to the right font size and font color before applying for any job.


Hopefully the tips here can help you when you can't find a job. The most important thing is to persevere and do not give up!

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