This blog is written by Mr. Artur Meyster.
About the Author
Mr. Artur is the CTO of an online marketplace that matches career switchers with coding bootcamps. He is also the host of the Breaking Into Startups podcast, which features people with non-traditional backgrounds who broke into tech.
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Losing your job at any point in your life can make you feel directionless and unsure of your future. These feelings are completely natural and, during a pandemic, they can be even stronger. It’s important to remember that millions of Americans are in the exact same situation as you. Covid-19 has changed the workforce in unfortunate ways that have caused many workers to be displaced.
Now, more than ever, it’s important to keep your head up and use this job loss as an opportunity to restart your career stronger than ever. The future of work is technology and taking steps now to prepare yourself for that future is the best possible course of action when you’ve lost your job due to Covid-19.
DECIDE IF YOU WANT TO ENTER A NEW CAREER
You’ve lost your job. It can be distressing but take a moment to stop and breathe. Staff Squared conducted a study that found only about 15 percent of workers were engaged at work, which means about 85 percent of people just couldn’t stay interested at their posts.
Take a moment to consider if the career path you were in was really what you wanted to do. If so, don’t hesitate to keep pursuing it. However, if the job you held did not resonate with your passion, then consider using this job loss as an opportunity to switch into a career that lines up with your interests a little more.
Consider taking a free career quiz to figure out what opportunities may be the best choice for you. There are millions of potential paths out there and, truthfully, opportunities based in technology have the brightest futures. To that end, try to decide if a certain career in technology piques your interest instead of a traditional job opportunity.
CONSIDER ATTENDING A TRADE SCHOOL
Assuming you have decided that a career change-up is in order, or perhaps you just decided to acquire some new skills, attending a trade school can be a fantastic option during your time off. These specialized forms of education have been on the rise for a number of years and are just now beginning to be respected, as they should be, as offering accredited degrees.
There are certain trade schools, such as App Academy, that are prominent among people who have experienced job loss. This is due to the fact that they defer tuition until you are actually hired in a tech job and earn a certain level of salary. Therefore, this helps to ensure that part of your savings isn’t being spent until you can actually replenish it.
As far as education goes, there are a number of different courses that trade schools offer in any number of fields. On the topic of technology, however, there are specialized courses in fields ranging from UX design to web development that can be pursued. Given the rising importance of technology in the workforce, going after one of these fields may be the best bet after losing your job due to Covid-19.
BRUSH UP YOUR HARD SKILLS
Soft skills have been, and always will be, important to any job. However, tech-based jobs, and even some traditional jobs, have become far more technical as technology advances. Even relatively simple jobs, such as data entry, now require extensive knowledge of Microsoft Excel.
There are a number of computer skills that shine on a resume that you can pursue from the comfort of your own couch that will be extremely important to the future of work. As technology advances and the day-to-day tasks faced by employees do as well, a high level of computer skills is going to be required to thrive in the future of work.
Using this job loss as a chance to acquire a new set of skills to thrive in the future of work is the best possible course of action today. Traditional job skills are on their way out and IT tech skills, as covered by American Continental University, are on their way in. Heading right back into the job market without a new fresh set of skills is a quick way to become jobless again as technology brings about another round of disruption.
CONCLUSION
All in all, using your job loss as a chance to build up your skillset and focus on entering a new career is the best course of action today. If you were in a tech-based job already, then worry not because your skills will be extremely useful to the future of work. If you were not in a tech-based job, then accept that it may be time to switch careers and enter a field of work that will survive long into the future.
Artur Meyster
October 8, 2020
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