How to Find a Job During a Pandemic — From Someone Who Has No Clue
(Not another pandemic story, amirite?)
Being thrown into the middle of a pandemic with nowhere to go and seemingly nothing to do can make anyone reevaluate happiness and contentment in all facets of life.
I currently work in the restaurant industry, but I’m doing everything in my power to get a job that more closely relates to my personal and professional goals. Since quarantine began, I’ve been applying to approximately 8–10 television or radio jobs per week. Let’s see here…. March 16 and now it’s early July…. 16 weeks because the first week of quarantine I laid around until 4:00 PM every day… That’s about 144 jobs applied for. If you are anything like me, you get super excited when you receive an email — hopeful that it may be an update on one of your many applications. But if you are also like me, some of those updates include the phrase, “Due to unforeseen circumstances, we decided not to fill the position at this time.”
Trust me, I get it. I do not blame those companies. It’s an insane time for everyone and nobody is able to predict the future. But from my point of view, taking the time to apply for a job that was never going to be filled anyways is frustrating. Very frustrating.
To battle the frustration and remain positive, I found the following tasks have helped me still feel successful over the past five or so months. My hope is that what I did during quarantine will lead me to a job when the time is right.
Remain Selfish With Your Time
I recently told my closest friends and family that I cannot text or talk on the phone as much during the day. Initially, I think it came off a little rude but that was not my intent. It isn’t that I don’t want to talk to them. Of course I do. It’s simply that my attention span is nearly impossible to find when I am working on something for myself. Sometimes you have to gently tell those you love to back off on communication until 2–3:00 PM daily because of the overwhelming anxiety you feel if you haven’t written, accomplished or applied for anything. Don’t feel bad about telling loved ones, “Not now,” so you can give the best version of yourself later.
Try New Things
Rather than remaining frustrated in the job hunt, I continued to better myself. Cliche, right?
If you have yet to read Marie Forleo’s Everything is Figureoutable, I highly recommend you do. And if you’re thinking, “I don’t have time to read Shelby,” at least remember this simple quote that changed my life — Clarity comes from engagement, not thought.
After I read this, I started writing a children’s book, a novel, continued writing a motivational speech when most days I don’t even feel motivated, bettered my golf and cooking skills, completed a CPR/AED course, studied to become a group fitness instructor, taken MasterClass after MasterClass, networked, started writing for Medium, made a radio demo from scratch and applied for jobs all over the US. I have also worked out daily and read five books which somehow is more than I’ve read in my 28 years — kind of kidding but maybe not.
Focusing on many different things at once won’t suit everyone. Some would even argue that it isn’t focusing at all. For me on the other hand, it is a way to remain creative on a daily basis and avoid ultimate boredom and feelings of defeat. I’m not a psycho, I do not carry out each of these tasks daily. I do, however, work on at least one or two of these things every single day.
Maybe at the start of this pandemic, you felt lost like me. But if you tackle new tasks, you may fall in love with as many wildly different things as I did. You never know when one of your newfound passions will take you on a career path that better suits you. After all, clarity comes from engagement, not thought. Thanks, Marie.
Be Patient & Maintain Relationships
Patience is hard for me. I feel awful about myself when I’m not doing SOMETHING towards getting me on a new path. I can’t sit still and when I’m unable to see plans in motion, I feel as though I’ve gotten nothing done.
Over the past few months, I’ve taken the time to reach out to former co-workers and employers. Not because I’m out here begging for a job, but because it’s important every once in a while to reconnect with people you had the opportunity to work alongside. Even though maintaining professional relationships may not seem like it’s that crucial, you never know when someone may be looking for a position to be filled with a wonderful person such as yourself.
Don’t give up
When I was in college, I applied for more than 120 internships. By the end of that school year, I felt completely defeated as I moved back to my hometown. Then I got a call from the Late Show with David Letterman for a Fall 2013 internship. Boy, was I glad I never gave up.
I’m a big believer in putting out into the world what you want to gain from it. Remain positive. Lift your head up. Hone new skills and passions. You will get a call as long as you keep at it. Be kind to yourself during this process.
While we could have done without a pandemic, maybe we couldn’t have remained in the lives we were living before it. Who knows where this new (hopefully soon), post-pandemic journey could take you.
