Without much warning, you have suddenly found yourself out of work due to the pandemic. The first thing you should do is take a breath and recognize that you are not alone. Millions of Americans and many more across the world have been laid off or furloughed as a result of these troubling times.

A key factor in getting back on your feet is understanding your own skills as well as the direction of work and how Covid-19 is affecting that direction. To that end, there are a few smart steps you can take to better prepare yourself for the future and to restart your career in a new and exciting way.

Brush Up Your Resume

When you find yourself without work, there is one important thing you will need to get back into the workforce: a resume. Unfortunately, it may have been years since you have had to work on your resume and it may be severely inaccurate at this point. Updating your resume to be more current can help new potential employers gain a better sense of who you are exactly.

To that end, add the job you just got fired from and some of the most important or impressive tasks you performed. While you’re at it, try to buff up the rest of your resume to be a little more modern and appealing for today’s day and age. 

When writing your resume, try to really think introspectively. Focusing on what are your strengths, as well as your weaknesses, can help you to build a resume that stands out from the crowd through self-awareness. Be true to yourself when rebuilding your resume and only put what makes you shine on the paper. After all, Glassdoor found that six seconds of reading time was all recruiters put into the average resume, so you need to be impactful. 

Develop New Skills

There is no doubt that the future of work and the skills required by employees are changing. Unless you were already in a tech-based role, it is extremely likely that your skills were already outdated. As more and more companies rely on technology, they are also becoming more and more dependent on skilled workers who can grow that technology.

From web developers to cybersecurity experts, new careers are going to arise in the future that uses one large skill: programming. People who have programming or coding skills can go into a wide variety of careers and pursuing this path may be your best bet when it comes to obtaining a versatile new skill. The average programmer salary lies just shy of $65,000, but experienced workers can earn around $85,000. As the demand for skilled coders and programmers grows, it is extremely likely that this salary will grow.

You don’t even need to go back to college in order to learn this skill. For years, highly rated coding bootcamps have existed that can teach students the basic skills needed to thrive in any job that requires the skill. Considering the coming rise in jobs that will use this skill, it may be worth pursuing it now that you have free time on your hands.

Acquire Additional Education

As mentioned, coding bootcamps serve as an alternative form of education for those who wish to acquire a tech skill. However, they aren’t the only alternative type of education that is available to the public. Trade schools, sometimes called vocational schools, are also on the rise and anyone of any age can enroll.

These specialized schools offer specific courses that are meant to prepare a student for a specific career. Students can graduate in under a year in some cases as well. Lambda School is a popular option that offers courses ranging from data science to full stack web development and can help you gain skills that will make you relevant in a new career.

The days of having to attend a traditional educational path are long gone and employers respect potential employees who have industry experience combined with tech-based skills. Going to a trade school and gaining this knowledge may benefit you in the long run.

Conclusion

There was an underlying theme among these three steps that you may have noticed: technology. Whether you are trying to brush up your resume to make it relevant or attempting to obtain more education, technology is guiding the workforce as a whole. You may have been laid off now, but pick yourself up and pay attention to how the future of work is changing. Preparing yourself for this change will have you back at a stable, potentially better, career in no time at all.