{"id":723,"date":"2013-07-16T17:45:01","date_gmt":"2013-07-16T16:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tiger-recruitment.com\/?p=723"},"modified":"2024-12-17T16:22:04","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T16:22:04","slug":"use-time-jobseeker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tiger-recruitment.com\/job-seekers\/use-time-jobseeker\/","title":{"rendered":"Five tips to boost your career prospects while in isolation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Updated 31st March 2020<\/p>\n<p>Does being stuck at home mean that the steps you were taking to find a new role have plateaued? You may be surprised to learn that this enforced downtime can give you the opportunity to take stock and actually boost your career prospects. If you\u2019re <a href=\"https:\/\/tiger-recruitment.com\/looking-for-a-job\/\">looking for a job in London<\/a> during lockdown or a period of self-isolation, here are our tips to help you use this time to your advantage.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>It\u2019s time to evaluate<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Juggling a job and your personal life while taking the next step in your career requires compromise. Each element takes up a huge amount of time. The result is that job hunting can become a tick-list exercise, crammed into any remaining time in the day, rather than a conscious and deliberate process.<\/p>\n<p>Now is a fantastic time to actually evaluate what you really want from the next step of your career. Ask yourself about your goals and aspirations in order to make a solid plan. You may even take this opportunity to find out more about yourself and which roles may actually suit you. 16 Personalities offers an excellent personality test[1] to help reveal which careers play to your strengths.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Tips to help you find a job while at home<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Not only can career evaluation reveal ideas you hadn\u2019t considered, it can also highlight gaps in your experience or skills. Contrary to what you may think, your job hunt shouldn\u2019t just focus on finding your next job. If you take this approach, your skills tend to stagnate and you may be unable to reach for career success in the long-term. The good news is that downtime presents a great opportunity to do things which, once recruitment activities are back in full swing, will put you in a better position than before.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Take an online course<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Trying to squeeze extra training into everyday life is hard. However, now you have time to sign up for extra development options which will hopefully help in finding a job. There are a plethora of online training providers with many currently offering their courses at lower prices or even free. Excellent providers include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/tiger-recruitment.com\/looking-for-a-job\/candidate-resources\/new-skills-academy-courses\/\">New Skills Academy<\/a>:<\/strong> Provides several courses covering everything from secretarial\/administrative basics to public speaking. You can also get up to 65% off all courses using the code TIGER at the checkout.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Udemy<\/strong><strong>[2]<\/strong><strong>: <\/strong>Over 100,000 courses on anything and everything from programming software to leadership skills.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Future Learn<\/strong><strong>[3]<\/strong><strong>:<\/strong> An eclectic mix of courses aimed at broadening your skills and helping your career development.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19192 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/tiger-recruitment.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/iStock-1136855170-scaled-e1584620057382.jpg\" alt=\"Woman working at home with dog\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" \/><\/h4>\n<h3><strong>Professional reading<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Expanding your professional knowledge by reading about your role and industry can help bring greater depth to what you do. Not only that, if you\u2019re actively looking for a new role, then relevant reading brings you two more benefits: you\u2019ll be prepared for future interviews and you\u2019ll identify ideal employers!<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Career admin and CV advice<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>How often do you find yourself sending off your CV knowing it\u2019s not quite right for the role advertised, but you haven\u2019t had time to customise it properly? Luckily, you now have time to spring-clean your recruitment admin so this won\u2019t happen again.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s our biggest piece of CV advice while in self-isolation \u2013 use this time to update your latest experience, skills and achievements. You can also create a small suite of cover letters relevant to different jobs or niches, ready for customisation in due course. It\u2019s also a good idea to research potential employers, consider questions to ask at future interviews and prepare your own answers to common questions. Don\u2019t forget to take the time to <a href=\"https:\/\/tiger-recruitment.com\/job-seekers\/clean-social-media-job-hunt\/\">tidy up your social media<\/a>, paying particular attention to <a href=\"\/?p=1399\">LinkedIn<\/a>, as this is the first place employers are likely to look when they see your application.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Career development projects<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>In the last few years, there\u2019s been a major change in what future employers look for. No longer are they satisfied with a list of duties and skills \u2013 recruiting managers also want to see evidence of these.<\/p>\n<p>There are a number of different side projects you can take up which provide evidence and will elevate your skills. They don\u2019t always need to be directly related to your career, but the important thing is that they showcase skill acquisition.<\/p>\n<p>Examples of worthwhile projects to keep you busy:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Create an online presentation about your profession aimed at sixth formers or university students<\/li>\n<li>Write a paper or article about a development in your field and publish it on LinkedIn<\/li>\n<li>Become a volunteer on a helpline and improve your communication skills<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Keep in touch<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>With everyone stuck at home, it\u2019s actually a good time to network. You can arrange video meetings, pick up the phone, or even fire off emails. Importantly, don\u2019t forget to keep in touch with your recruitment agency. Keeping them in the loop will help ensure that you\u2019re ready to go when there\u2019s a fantastic job for you to apply for.<\/p>\n<p>Downtime doesn\u2019t have to feel unproductive. In fact, in career terms, using downtime wisely is an opportunity you should grab with both hands! Use it effectively and you\u2019ll be perfectly positioned to take the next step in your career.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re looking for more <a href=\"\/?page_id=1519\">CV tips<\/a>, interview advice or other blog posts to help you during the lockdown, our <a href=\"https:\/\/tiger-recruitment.com\/insights\/\">Insights<\/a> page can help.<\/p>\n<p>Author bio: Andrew Fennell is the Founder of CV-writing advice website StandOut CV [4] \u2013 he is a former recruitment consultant and contributes careers advice to websites like Business Insider, The Guardian and FastCompany.<\/p>\n<h6>[1] https:\/\/www.16personalities.com\/free-personality-test<\/h6>\n<h6>[2] https:\/\/www.udemy.com\/<\/h6>\n<h6>[3] https:\/\/www.futurelearn.com\/courses<\/h6>\n<h6>[4] https:\/\/standout-cv.com\/<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Updated 31st March 2020 Does being stuck at home mean that the steps you were taking to find a new role have plateaued? You may be surprised to learn that this enforced downtime can give you the opportunity to take stock and actually boost your career prospects. If you\u2019re looking for a job in London<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/tiger-recruitment.com\/job-seekers\/use-time-jobseeker\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":19357,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,5],"insight-type":[13],"class_list":["post-723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-employers-and-hiring-practice","category-job-seekers","insight-type-article"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to use your time as a jobseeker \u2013 improving your prospects<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you\u2019re looking for a job and find you have a lot more time at home, it\u2019s important to remember that this time can 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