4 Unconventional Ways To Find Your Next Job During a Recession
Here's how to beat the job market in any environment.
Job hunting during a recession may seem like a daunting task with a slim likelihood of landing anything meaningful. But just because the economy slows down doesn’t mean your job prospects will dwindle. Even during a recession, great employment opportunities are out there if you’re willing to take an alternate route.
Looking for a new job during an economic downturn can make an already stressful process even more difficult. But thinking outside the box and being more open-minded about exploring new employment channels will allow you to develop effective strategies that can pay off in a big way.
Keep reading to learn how to find a job during a recession.
Nori Chun
Showcase Your Skills on Social Media
Social media has changed the way we consume visual content. When it comes to job hunting, particularly during challenging economic times, harnessing the power of social media can be a true game-changer in your search for new employment. The key to using social media to find your next job is to leverage these high-traffic platforms to showcase your skills and talents.
Putting yourself out there in an engaging way can be a highly effective way to catch a prospective employer’s attention and make a positive impression. Simply share a post about yourself with friends and acquaintances and encourage them to forward it to others within their circles. You’ll be surprised by the results.
Short videos are perfect for sharing through social media. For example, this designer posts short video clips on TikTok to showcase his interior design skills while offering valuable tips for reimagining a living space. This TikTok creator’s content enables potential employers and prospective clients to glimpse his personality and style.
@dearmodern Tricks to make your bedroom feel calm and balanced and beautiful!
♬ original sound - Mr Cliff Tan
Contrary to what you may think, using social media to power your job search doesn’t require that you have a large number of followers. The key is to create engaging content that summarizes your skills impactfully. Social media is particularly effective for younger audiences and savvy creators who are adept at creating unique and entertaining content.
Use Niche Job Sites for Your Industry
Sites like LinkedIn and Indeed are great resources for professional networking, and during good economic times, they can be valuable tools for job hunting. But when things take a downturn, and a recession hits, desperate job hunters flock to those sites, and they can become overcrowded, creating less-than-ideal circumstances for finding a new job.
Instead of getting lost in a crowd, you can take matters into your own hands and position yourself to stand out and get noticed. Specialized job sites that cater to particular industries or specific fields are great for connecting with employers who are looking for people with unique skill sets that fit the position they are trying to fill.
Here are a few examples of niche job sites:
- SEOjobs.com: This niche job site focuses on jobs relating to search engine optimization, such as SEO strategist, SEO manager, and SEO analyst positions.
- RanchWork.com: If working on a ranch appeals to you, this specialized job site lists job opportunities like ranch manager, wrangler, chef, and farm hand.
If you have job-specific skills or specialized training, you may find that a niche job site catering to your field will present the best job opportunities, not only during a recession but even during good economic times.
Optimize Your Resume for ATS
Another unconventional strategy that may help you find your next job during a recession is optimizing your resume for an ATS. Short for an applicant tracking system, an ATS is a specialized software that an increasing number of employers use as part of their hiring practices to screen job applicants and filter outstanding candidates from less promising ones.
While having your job application scrutinized by a computer program may seem intimidating, you can take steps to make it ATS-friendly and improve your chances of landing your next job. Here are a few indispensable tips for enhancing your resume and avoiding common pitfalls so that it gets past the bots and onto a decision-maker's desk:
- An ATS is programmed to scan a document for specific text, so thoroughly research keywords related to your specific job and include them in your resume (and ensure they appear at least 2 to 3 times).
- Highlight your hard and soft skills and align your core competencies section with the requirements contained in the job description.
- Avoid using fluffy language to describe yourself (e.g., “self-starter” or “go-getter”), as this is a red flag for an ATS.
- Keep the formatting of your resume simple and maintain a good flow from beginning to end.
- Avoid wordiness and inappropriate or colorful language.
- Remember that while your resume needs to be ATS-friendly, the goal is to have a person (e.g., a hiring manager) read it, so make sure it is coherent and tells your story.
As more and more companies utilize ATS to sort through scores of resumes and weed out weak candidates, it is important to know how to format your resume so that the screening bots pass it along for further consideration rather than sending it to the reject pile.
Leverage Your Experience Into Freelance Work
If you have been in the workforce for long enough, you know that recessions happen periodically, and one of the harsh realities they bring is layoffs. Getting laid off is always challenging. Along with the financial stress caused by the loss of a regular paycheck, there is also the concern that your skills may become outdated or stale.
But by being prepared and having a plan, you can sustain your income while keeping your skills up to date.
One way to find employment during a recession is to supplement your job search with freelance work. By utilizing so-called gig worker sites like Upwork, you can find one-off assignments and freelance projects that will not only bridge the income gap between full-time jobs but also provide you with opportunities to learn new skills or sharpen existing ones.
By taking on short-term gigs, you can also form valuable relationships with people and companies in your industry. What starts as a temporary assignment may develop into a full-time role, so you should view freelance work as a way to leverage your experience into something permanent.