What to do in this Employment Downturn?

For many job seekers the current economic downturn has made finding a job a dead end task. In some sectors graduate traineeships have reduced by 47% and in other recruitment has pretty much halted to a standstill. So where does this leave you? If you feel stuck consider the following options....

Training
Take time to invest in building your professional skills. Whether it is something related to your job or a new skills to help you start a career in a different field expanding your expertise will always help you stand out from the crowd. There are a range of different training schemes available for people of all stages of their career. Many free training courses and training grants are also available to apply to.

Volunteer
If you feel your days of job searching have come to a dead end and want to do something more constructive with your time you should think about volunteering. There are numerous opportunities to volunteer locally or abroad, working on a range of social and development projects. Who knows...through volunteering you may even find the career of your dreams?

Get Creative
It is important to keep your mind in tip top shape while job seeking. It can be a mundane task trawling through applications and filling out endless forms. To counter act this do something creative with part of your time. Write, draw, join a theater or dance group...do something. This will keep your creative juices flowing and ideally will force you into new social situations.

Self Employment
If you have a skill where you can go freelance what are you waiting for. Take some time out from applying and post some ads on freelance forums, advertise your skills on your social media (Facebook, LinkedIn etc.), and get earning. Depending on your skill you can join a freelance website that connect freelancers with small employers. This is a good way to earn a bit of pocket money while you are applying to other jobs and may lead to other opportunities you hadn’t considered.

Network
Take advantage of the internet to promote yourself. Broadcast the fact that you are job seeking on any social media channels you have a profile on. Don’t be shy to say exactly what you are looking for. You may be surprised who gets in contact with you.

Go Public
The public sector is the only sector that has increased recruitment significantly. So do some research into the different public sector jobs available and see how your skills fit in to various job profiles

Apply, apply and apply
Last but not least just keep applying. Sign up to all relevant recruitment channels and keep searching on and offline for jobs. Through sheer persistence (and a bit of optimism) you will find something that suits you.

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