How To Stay Competitive & Relevant While Still Unemployed

Being unemployed can be quite devastating, especially when you have applied for numerous job opportunities and none seems to be coming your way.

As hopeless as this situation may seem, however, there is an advantage you have over the employed – time.

But how do you use it to your advantage?

1. Stay busy

There is a direct correlation between how you fill your time and how people perceive you. You may think being unemployed is license to sit around all day watching movies but who could blame you? The problem is that watching TV doesn’t give you much to talk about with others.

A huge part of staying competitive is simply staying busy. It’s important to keep a routine in order to feel like you have a lot to do. The important thing is that you don’t wake up in the morning with nothing on your to-do list.

2. Volunteer

Unemployment offers an opportunity to get involved in areas you may never be paid to experience. Find an organization that you like and volunteer your time. Organizations have more to offer you than a paycheck.

If you want to work in a specific industry, find an organization you admire and reach out to someone directly. Whatever you do, take it seriously. Treat it like a job. It will give you something real to talk about in an interview.

3. Learn Something New

Enhancing your skills with online classes doesn’t just make you more educated, it’s a sign to potential employers that you are taking your unemployment seriously. It says that you are someone who appreciates learning and investing in yourself.

The more you can prove that you care about investing in yourself, the more others will want to invest in you, too.

5. Discipline, discipline, discipline

No matter what you do, it’s all about routine. Being unemployed means you need to create your own routine.

In a world of distractions, routine breeds productivity. If you can keep yourself disciplined enough to have one, you’ll be that much more prepared to return to work once you land that dream job.