If you’re unemployed, you know how stressful the situation is. If you are also single, you’ve also probably experienced the total disinterest in dating and meeting new people. When you focus on how to earn a buck for food, you’re not really interested in finding a man to have a bunch of screaming babies with.π€£ Also, the Coronavirus situation has disrupted the global job market. The ones who have now suffered the most in this situation are people like me, freelancers, job-seekers and singles. I simply have no income outlets at the moment and it’s a sad reality of our selfish discriminatory society.
Job hunting requires you to dress well, look representable, be nice, be diplomatic and know your stuff. So to keep a cool head and not look like a homeless hobo, you need to learn how to manage your stuff. Here are some things I have done in the past SEVEN years in Finland while looking for a full-time job worth my Master’s Degree in International Business Management:
- Kept a professional wardrobe. You never know when your next job interview is or if someone will hire you from abroad, so you need to have some business clothes ready and in hand. You can get designer clothes on sale from online stores, such as Farfetch. Zara and Mango are great too if you apply to a tech company where nobody understands fashion and you’re BROKE AF like me.π
- Learned to manage stress by MYSELF. I tried online therapy, talked to some mental health professionals and they didn’t help me AT ALL. It was the exact opposite, I felt more miserable after talking to these judgemental unempathetic “professionals”. Exercising, drinking wine, petting my cats and talking to old people have helped me. Old people have manners and values that under 65 year olds simply don’t have. They grew up in the generation of surviving, so they don’t whine about stupid shit.
- You need your electronics. Buy second hand if needed or pay monthly installments. Of course, you need a phone for calls, a laptop for modifying your CV (you can check Adobe Office packages for students if you are eligable or buy a normal package) and an affordable Internet plan. For example, I have a cheap phone plan with Internet instead of having Wifi in my apartment, so you can do your job hunting anywhere at anytime and call abroad etc.
- Pay your bills on time so you don’t get a mark on your credit record. Negotiate with your bank if you need to. Some employers will check this stuff.
- Exercise regularly. You won’t feel like drinking every night or binge eating when you maintain an exercise routine that you follow every week. When you know you have to do heavy exercise in the morning, you will not drink, smoke or do anything unhealthy the night before. Also it’s very important to keep a cool head and helps cope with continuous years and years long stress. Your energy levels will be high too and employers will appreciate high energy people.
- Networking, networking and networking! I have 500+ Linkedin connections and I have met almost all of them. There’s a few randoms from Twitter but the key for networking is obviously to meet people in person. Networking could lead to a job, so take it seriously.
- Be on time for meetings. Any meetings for that matter, doesn’t have to be a job interview.
- Tried getting a job abroad. In Europe there are channels, such as EURES, unemployment offices, workers’ unions and international headhunters who get paid to find you a job abroad. Be prepared to do low skilled work when you first move abroad and then find something worth your skills.
- Kept my skills up to date. Google has free online courses, check your unemployment office for free short courses, lear how to code, build a website, or paint a house etc. Whatever skill you want to improve, find FREE courses to do it.
- Study a new profession is the advice I simply DESPISE. Who has money and time to study 3,5 – 6 years for a new profession when you need to eat and breath too?π Not to mention try to look representable for possible job interviews. Save yourself the time and go give your CRAP advice to someone else. I think TWO business degrees are more than enough, so focus your advice on people with ZERO education. They seem to occupy the job market in the tech field anyways. π
- Volunteered for different organizations. They might have paid job opportunities too.
- People hire who they like. Remember, a-holes hire a-holes. So if you didn’t get that job, that 50th job or that 150th job you applied to, you know why.π Apply to a different field, continent, country and change your references.
