We’ve recently been sharing some of our suggestions to support you in navigating your out-of-work world. We know that this process has lots of moving parts, so today, we’re recapping our tips and suggestions in one place.

To go back to any of the previous posts, click on the titles below.

Your Self Care

  • Whether you’re out of work because you needed to do so for your mental or physical health, or you’ve been laid off (or let go for any reason) . . . it’s a difficult space to be in.
  • Pause often, be good to yourself, and seek out connection and support.

Your Core Criteria

  • Take some time to identify your core criteria—your top life priorities, skills, and working environments.
  • Then, write them all down in one place and spend some time brainstorming ideas for the work that would be the right fit for you.
  • Consider this an opportunity to get more of what you want out of your next job.

Your Stories

  • Make some notes about your stories and experiences—ones that describe some combination of your accomplishments, skills, learnings, challenges, and growth.
  • By pulling together your experiences into stories that you can tell, you’ll be positioned to talk about yourself and the work you’d like to do in an engaging and solution-oriented way.

Your Resume and Cover Letter

  • The goal of your resume and cover letter is to provide a potential employer some highlights of your accomplishments.
  • Only discuss items that you love to do, want to keep doing, and are in alignment with what the position needs.
  • Weave your appropriate stories into your resume and cover letter in a way that demonstrates to them, your excitement for the job and how you can be a solution to their needs.

Your Network

  • Connect with people you know, who are doing work you’re interested in, or who are at companies / industries you like.
  • When you meet, ask them questions that help you gain insight and guidance about their experiences.
  • Think of this as a fact-finding mission as well as practice runs for talking about the work you’d love to do and the environment where you thrive.

Your Interviews

  • In the interview, you want to continue demonstrating how your skills, background, and experience can be a solution to the company’s needs.
  • Show up with excitement for the role, curiosity about their needs, and an openness to learn and share.
  • Prepare to ask them questions that help you gain more insight into whether this would be a good fit for you.

Your Decisions

  • Sometimes the job offer isn’t quite what you thought. When that happens, we encourage you to use our Benefits, Concerns, and Suggestions framework to help in your decision-making.
  • Have your core criteria handy as you review the job offer, and then ask yourself these questions:
    • What benefits do I see with taking this job?
    • What concerns do I have about taking this job?
    • What suggestions do I have to make this job a great fit for me?

The clearer you are about what you’re looking for, the more likely it is that you’ll find work that fits with your needs.

As you look through the steps above, think about the whole of you. What sort of work and environment would be the right fit for you?

We wish you all the best on your career journey!

Whether you’re out of work because you needed to do so for your mental or physical health or you’ve been let go (for whatever reason) . . . it’s a difficult space to be in. AND, we know that hiring a career coach can be challenging on a tight budget.

To support you, we’ve put together various options, in hopes of fitting your needs.

Please contact us today if you’re interested in learning more about any of our free or paid options:

If you’d like support
with next steps in your career,
contact us today.