The chaos that the Covid-19 pandemic has caused over the last few years couldn’t have been predicted. Workforces all across the world were drastically affected and millions have been shoved out of work as a result of the virus. While the vaccine is in its distribution stages and there appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel, millions are still out of work.
Roughly 46 percent of lower-income adults have said they have had trouble paying their bills since the start of the pandemic and around 32 percent have had trouble making rent or mortgage payments. With numbers like these, it’s clear that people need to get back into the workforce somehow, yet certain jobs aren’t set to return. With that in mind, here are three actionable steps anyone can take after losing their job during the pandemic:
Determine the Survivability of Your Field
Without a doubt, Covid-19 has been responsible for a number of fields potentially disappearing forever. Remote work has overtaken the corporate world and shown many employers that some of the jobs currently in existence can be replaced by technology or automated with fewer people. Unfortunately, this is just going to result in more workforce displacement.
With that in mind, it’s important to take the time to determine whether or not the field you are in now will still be prominent in a few years. If the answer is no, then perhaps it’s for the best that you are no longer working in that field. It’s always better to be in front of the disruption, rather than getting caught up in it.
As covered in an article from Time Magazine, robotics were deployed rapidly at the onset of the pandemic in response to the in-person jobs that could no longer be completed. However, many employers are now viewing this as the new normal. After losing your job, the first step you should take is determining whether or not you need to make a career switch to avoid future disruption.
Attend a Trade School Bootcamp
Assuming you have now realized that the career you were in doesn’t have high survivability, you will need to enhance your education. Fortunately, master’s degrees are no longer required to enter certain fields and prominent trade schools can help you enter new sectors. For perspective, data science is a field that used to require a master’s degree, yet trade schools such as General Assembly offer courses that can be completed in as little as a year.
Over the last few years, trade school attendance has risen and now rivals even that of traditional colleges or universities. However, it isn’t just trade schools that are changing the face of education amidst the pandemic. Highly rated bootcamps have emerged in the last few years that students can complete in a matter of mere months.
These cheap and, in some cases free, alternative sources of education teach students key skills that can help them land jobs. Bootcamp Rankings features a large list of free coding bootcamps that teach students a number of coding languages that could be useful in fields such as web development or software engineering. Pursue one of these educational sources now while you have free time and invest in the knowledge that will help you land a job in a new field.
Prepare Your Interview Materials
After determining the survivability of your field and potentially pursuing a new path, you will need to update your interview materials to match whatever field you are looking at entering. Recruiters only look at resumes for an average of six seconds, so adding certain keywords from the job description to your resume that make you stand out can give you an edge.
Additionally, you’re going to want to prepare yourself for the interview itself. If you are heading into a different field, the interview will likely look different than anything you experienced. Some fields have interviews that are more computational and require coding and solving on the spot, so preparing for these interviews by researching in advance can save you time.
Conclusion
The fallout from the coronavirus has been immense and all signs point to things getting worse before they get better. With so many people already having trouble paying off bills, now is the best time to focus on improving your knowledge and considering switching to a career path that can be longer-lasting. While not everyone has the time or funds to attend graduate schools, there are still cheaper alternatives that can provide enough education to help you get your foot in the door of a new career path.
