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Brionna
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60
09/11/20 at 5:30AM UTC (Edited)
in
Career

Career Gap

I graduated from college two years ago in May 2018. Like some graduates, who had a tough time looking for a job; I decided to take the route of accepting a job offer as a Sales Representative. The job was a door to door sales position selling cable service products to consumers who lived in assigned neighborhood areas in my hometown. I left the job every day feeling overwhelmed and not thinking straight. It affected my social anxiety. After a month of working, I decided to leave the position for good; and took a break to help out with my family. I took the short term experience by learning three lessons: 1. Research the Company, 2. Ask the recruiter questions after the interview process about the position and 3. Have a Plan B, C etc. My plan B would have been to a. volunteer, b. get an unpaid internship and c. find a part time job in a different industry. Looking back I could have done 2 out of 3 plans. After my three month rest, I decided to go into the job search again. In November 2018, I went on to take an exam for a position in my city. My testing score unfortunately did not meet with the requirement for the position. I decided to put my job hunting on hold again and spent Christmas with my family. I started the following year with a plan to meet with the career service advisor assistant and a formal professor at my formal university. I went to the career service for advice on finding jobs as a college graduate and my formal professor to critique my resume. I was preparing to attend my first career later of the year in October. When the career fair occurred in October, I was anxious to meet with the recruiters of the companies I had an interest in as a potential candidate. While the recruiters did not have positions available at the time; I started to make changes toward my job search and start searching for networking events. I attended my first networking event the same as I did with the career fair, and had an informative interview with Alumni. Since the pandemic, I have continued to help my family at home and started looking at online classes to learn a new skill. I am, however, concerned about my two-year career gap. What do you advise I do and how can I keep myself motivated?

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Kate BonDurant, PMP
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72
Creative Strategist | Passionate Culture Builder
09/11/20 at 10:26PM UTC
go you!!! Excell is difficult but I also thought very cool with what it can do. Yes I am changing careers. I am switching from apparel design to consulting where I specialize in process/efficiency improvement and culture building.
Brionna
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60
10/14/20 at 9:43PM UTC
Thank You, I had to put it on hold to help my family, but I am taking it one day at a time.
Kate BonDurant, PMP
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72
Creative Strategist | Passionate Culture Builder
09/11/20 at 6:25AM UTC
I myself will have a career gap as a result of covid. I also had one coming out of college as well. The key is to either be learning or serving. what I mean by that which you've already hinted at is there's always room to learn a new skill or practice and improve existing skills (or better yet, work on a weaknesses). If you have the opportunity to serve a company or community in some way that is an excellent use of time. It can be used to network, discover new passions, and put existing skills to use in new ways. I keep an accountability chart that lists out the kinds of things I want to do during this break. They are grouped by career, learning, and self care. Somedays I watch a webinar or take an online class. Somedays I work on my resume or work on networking. the key is to think a bit about where you want to be when you come out of this break and take steps towards that each day. Or think about the things you told yourself you'd do if you had more time. Even if you don't know what you want to do or how to figure that out. Spend a little time every once in a while thinking and talking about where you've been and where you could go. I knew I never wanted a job like my last one so I threw myself into learning best working practices, reading books by experts, and talking to people from different industries about culture and working environments. This one obsession is turning out to shape the direction I'm heading in and it's pretty exciting. If you feel overwhelmed with all this. Take a breath and just start by answering one question at the end of each day. "What did I learn today?" It might be tough at first but it will become easier. This alone can be how you address the question from an employer of "what you did with your break?" good luck!
Brionna
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60
09/11/20 at 10:04PM UTC
Thank You. I had a bit of experience with Excel, so it is a skill I want to improve on. I see companies view it as a skill requirement in jobs. A new skill I am learning is coding. Since I am a nontech backgrounder; I am taking my time to do 2 hours a day. I’ll work on Excel on the weekends for 2 hours as well. I also like to say thanks for bringing up the resume. I need to work on the resume for a day. Are you changing careers as well or staying in your current path?
Anonymous
09/11/20 at 4:05AM UTC
Thank you for sharing your experience, career navigation is tough and stressful. I truly believe that anything is possible in life and you should never rule yourself out of anything regardless of your circumstances. I’ve also had employment gaps due to career changes and they didn’t ruin my career like everyone claims they do. Sometimes it just takes a ton of work and persistence to land an opportunity. When I started my career back in early 2008 (during a very tough economy) I applied to 100+ jobs before landing a really good one. I would start my day at 6am and job search all day. I graduated in December since I did an extra quarter to participate in a competitive program I was accepted into. Since I missed the standard recruitment cycle I had to grind extra hard. I wound up getting a job in March, it took about 2.5 months ( I also had an 18m gap that turned out equally good). At that time I remember so many people kept telling me I was too picky and I should just take any job or other very discouraging remarks. But I ignored them and focused on my goal. The first step is believing in yourself/your goal and refusing to get discouraged. You have to figure out what you personally need to develop that resilience—motivational videos, books, coach, mentor, brain exercises, etc. I strongly recommend focusing energy on resetting your mindset as you restart your job search. I believe in you!
Brionna
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60
09/11/20 at 5:47AM UTC
Thank You Very Much! I am looking at motivation quotes and starting back on learning skills about coding. In April of this year, my family and I brought a puppy. In July, I was going to take a remote position but I started having second throughs on it. When I started the training, I saw it was due in 3 days. My social anxiety was all over the Place. Three weeks later; my GSD (my other dog) had an accidental situation with my mom. The job could have worked out; but between helping my mom and the puppy, I would have been overwhelmed and my anxiety would have been high.

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