Career Planning During a Pandemic in 2021

As we have noted many times, career planning is more challenging than ever. With that in mind, we recently participated in a Psych Up Live interview hosted by Suzanne Phillips, Psy.D. The focus: career planning during a pandemic in 2021. Yes, there are many more tips to offer.

New Podcast on Career Planning During a Pandemic in 2021

In preparing for the podcast shown below, we researched/outlined such topics as these.

Lessons that apply to everyone — regardless of experience, job category, education, etc.

• Project a clear, concise positioning message about yourself (aimed at employers).
• Have an upbeat attitude.
• Keep adding to your skill set.
• Be realistic.
• Seek out and listen to advise from others.
• Belong to professional groups, especially at LinkedIn.
• Be patient, yet persistent.
• Believe the right job for you is out there. You just need to find it. Don’t give up or get done on yourself.
• Understand that most job interviews will be virtual. Be prepared for this.
• Free online career resources are plentiful. Don’t be intimidated.
• Put in the proper amount of time in addressing the lessons above. And have a plan.
• For parents & friends.: Be supportive and constructive. Don’t be critical. Nudging is OK. Pestering is not!

Specific activities for YOU.

• Set out your goals. Both short- and long-run. As well as daily goals.
• During COVID-19, be more flexible and open-minded. If necessary, accept less than ideal or temporary jobs to add experience to your resume, show continuity, show motivation, and earn a paycheck.
• Have a plan: research–> job skills needed–>resume–>job search–>interview–>follow-up.
• Know yourself. Strengths-weaknesses. Likes-dislikes. Career aspirations.
• Learn about the activities and requirements for various jobs.
• At LinkedIn and other sites, seek out connections. Alumni groups may be especially helpful.
• Enhance the skills that are most useful for a job you are seeking. For example, type in “social media manager” in the search bar. And look at the skills desired. See where you are lacking and enhance those skills.
• Prepare for job interviews in advance.
• Utilize the available tools for those who have lost a job or are going into the job market for the first time.
• Regularly search job sites. They are regularly updated. Get on E-mail lists.
• The best all-purpose career site is the U.S. Occupational Handbook (www.bls.gov/ooh).
• LinkedIn Jobs has terrific insights and shows job listings (www.linkedin.com/jobs).
• These are some other Web sites where you can search for jobs by title, location, etc. and get career information: Career Builder, Glassdoor, Indeed, Monster, Simply Hired, Zip Recruiter. And lots more.
• Do a Google search for “free online job webinars.” They are very informative.
• To enhance your job skills for free, visit www.coursera.com. The course offerings are enormous. They can help in two ways. (1) If you are undecided about a career, you can better understand your options. (2) You can enhance specific skills you want to enhance.
• To discover more about yourself, take an online personality quiz. Free quizzes are easy to find online, including those about job aptitude.
• Use a free salary guide to determine typical salaries by job and experience. A great source is PayScale.
• My blog has hundreds of articles on all aspects of career planning. Visit it at www.evansonmarketing.com/category/careers

Careers 2021 Podcast

Now, listen to the podcast.