Rework your CV
Many of us realise that our CV is not up to date at just the wrong moment. You finally find a job opportunity you want to apply for, only to discover that your CV is missing the last year of updates, the language is outdated or your skills are not current.
This time at home can be the perfect moment to bring it up to date and get it ready for the next thing that comes along. You’ll save yourself stress later and keep yourself in touch with your accomplishments, even if it doesn’t feel like you’re doing much right now.
Get in touch with your references
Many have commented on one of the unexpected features of this moment: we all have the sudden urge to get back in touch with people that we perhaps hadn’t thought of for years. Besides old friends and acquaintances why not reach out to your professional connections. Let them know what you’ve been up to and that you’re interested in how they are doing.
They will appreciate it!
Have a look at your social media presence
Have some embarrassing old photos on your Facebook feed? A LinkedIn job history that no one really needs to know about? Someone at our office had a first job cleaning up after dogs while their owners were away on holiday—interesting but perhaps not the most relevant thing today!
Maybe you’ve been thinking it was high time that you dip your toes in the Twittersphere or simply join some new groups on LinkedIn or Facebook to grow your network. There’s sufficient time to experiment in a low-risk way.
Work on your language skills
Our brains need time and repetition to learn a new language, especially the nuances that every language has, and even native speakers find challenging. This is a great time to start a daily habit. Make a goal to study for 30 minutes each day, whether it’s vocabulary, grammar drills or conversation. There are so many resources out there, go exploring and find something that keeps you engaged!
Find a new hobby
Finally, don’t forget that the more you feed your imagination and sense of wonder, the easier time you’ll have not feeling stuck in a rut. There are YouTube tutorials for just about anything under the sun these days!
Here’s a few simple ideas to spark your creativity:
· Learn a few bird calls or names of flowers that you can hear/see from your window
· Try out a new book genre – science fiction or poetry
· Learn how to edit your own videos
· Try an exercise or dance that you’ve always been curious to learn
It’s important to stay engaged and to treat yourself well. We all want to have a sense of a return to normalcy, but that doesn’t mean we have to sit around waiting in the meantime!