What can You Do to Bolster Your Skillset While Waiting For Your Next Role?

This past year has been a rollercoaster ride for countless people. According to ILO Monitor, 114 million people lost their jobs during the pandemic. Despite starting job searches with the best of intentions—sending out multiple resumes and zeroing in on perfect company matches—many applicants have found it difficult to find a job with an employer who genuinely values their skills and experience.

Undoubtedly, it is challenging to be unemployed. There are only so many variations of your resume you can write, so many in-person interviews you can go on, and so much rejection you can deal with before thinking there must be something wrong with what you are doing.

The truth is, networking and getting advice from experts about your search efforts isn’t always enough. Instead, here are some bona fide suggestions to help bolster your skillset while waiting for your next role.

Continue Educating Yourself

Landing a new role can take time, and waiting for an opportunity can lead to impatience, frustration, and a deep-seated belief that you’re lacking essential skills and experience.

It is vital to keep yourself busy and use the time on your hands effectively. Rather than getting down on yourself about your situation, channel your energy toward learning a new skill to better increase your job prospects.

One way to do this is to take an online course, which will provide you with new competences to showcase in your resume. Knowledge is king and honing your skills will help make you a more desirable recruit in your industry.

Customize Your Resume

If your skills do not match a job’s requirements, you will be wasting time by applying. Many resumes are rejected before they even make it to the stage of being considered for an interview.

Spend some time customizing your resume and writing a good cover letter for each application. Doing this will help to separate you from other candidates and attract more attention to your submission.

Read Up On Your Industry’s Trends and News

It is a fact that the amount of time it takes to acquire managerial skills, expertise, and knowledge is less than getting a top leadership position.

Want to bolster your skillset while waiting for your next role? Read more blogs and books on your industry. Keep up with trends and discuss them in your network.

This knowledge will give you pointers to strike up conversations with other professionals in your field and help you become the ultimate expert on niche topics.

Spruce Up Your LinkedIn Profile

Are you thinking of ways to exhibit newly acquired knowledge of your industry? Get active on LinkedIn!

No matter the job you are looking for, it will help if you secure a strong LinkedIn profile. Even if your current employer has an internal job board, you should still work on your own online presence and activity on LinkedIn.

Because while you are looking for your next role, prospective employers may be searching online for someone like you.

Clean up all your social media and embrace a more professional persona on LinkedIn. Share as much as you know. The more content you put out, the more people will know about your expertise. Don’t shy away from showing off the results you have achieved in the span of your career.

Be Strategic

When entering a market as competitive as today’s, you need to take a strategic approach to job hunting. Take a break from the aimless job search and get goal oriented. One of the best ways to achieve this is to work with an Executive Recruitment Firm like ALIGN to get yourself in front of top executives straight away.

Please contact us about our Resume Writing Service.