When you’ve accomplished a significant amount in your career and suddenly find yourself out of work, you can feel overwhelmed and highly discouraged. It may even seem like getting back on track is nearly impossible. However, there are many tricks that an unemployed executive can try in order to get back to work quickly. Some of the most useful strategies include:
- Focusing on benchmarks: A job hunt can be overwhelming, particularly if you’ve successfully climbed the corporate ladder for years to get to your executive position. Instead of focusing on the big picture (getting a new job and getting back to the success you enjoyed previously), break the process down into smaller chunks. Have you updated your résumé? Gotten active on LinkedIn? Reconnected with friends who may be able to help you? Taking these small steps helps you achieve progress without feeling completely overwhelmed by the task at hand.
- Find other ways to stay involved: After the loss of a job, it’s tempting to go into hiding, but doing so only makes it more difficult to find a new opportunity. Instead, search for other ways to stay involved in your community. Volunteer work is a great way to make new connections while boosting your résumé. It also helps to improve self-esteem, which can take a hit during this time.
- Don’t panic: When you start to get flustered, you can make sloppy mistakes as you send out job applications. Make it a point to take a levelheaded approach to the job search process. Though you may feel slightly panicked, check your documents carefully before sending them out and know that you’ll find a new position soon.
Lastly, be prepared to answer questions surrounding your departure from your previous place of employment. Regardless of how hurt you may feel about the situation, it’s never appropriate to talk badly about a former employer. Particularly if you work in a close-knit industry or a small town, doing so can come back to haunt you.
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