9 Ways To Improve Yourself While Unemployed

In case you haven’t noticed, it’s really hard to get a job.

The American Dream is no longer grainy footage of auto parts on conveyor belts, or phone operators plugging cords into a giant switchboard. Now, our economy is mostly based on…monetizing cute animal photos?

These days it’s not uncommon for unemployed people to STAY unemployed for months or even years. The New York Times just reported that 20% of Americans in their 20s and early 30s have permanently moved back in with their parents, “and 60% of all young adults receive financial support from them.”

While having a job isn’t fun, being jobless is even less fun. Still,.........

you can use their crappy time to gain some valuable life experience. Here are ways to get through the rough patch and become the person who deserves that dream gig.

Treat Finding A Job Like A Job

If your number-one priority while you’re unemployed is to get a job, then put in serious hours. That means waking up early, getting dressed and devoting a huge chunk of your morning to scouring job listings, networking and straight-up begging people for work.

Unemployment can feel like quicksand, and it’s easy to lose your drive after a few weeks of sitting on the couch feeling bad, but you won’t find a job by only putting in a few minutes of effort per day. Pretend that getting a job is your job, and sooner or later, the odds may be ever in your favor.

Pick Up Some Knowledge

Taking on more student debt may seem crazy right now, but the U.S. Census Bureau recently found that a doctorate or other advanced degree will approximately double your lifetime earnings on average.

Even if you’re done with your formal education, that’s no reason you can’t take a class, learn a new skill, or teach yourself a new trick. Buy a book on coding, or learn a foreign language, or even take an improv class. You never know when those skills will come in handy or enhance your attractiveness to a prospective employer. (OK, maybe skip the improv class.)

Play

If you spend the first three hours of your day searching for a job, and the next two teaching yourself how to code in Chinese, make sure the rest of the day is fun. That doesn’t mean drinking alone and/or watching Netflix!

Go out and join a dodgeball league. Play video games at a friend’s house, not over the internet. Whatever you do, make sure to get out of the house — and out of your own depressed head.

Try Something New

Have you always wanted to skydive? Do it, you’ve got the time! Interested in the stock market? Buy some cheap stocks and see how they do. Always wanted to milk a cow? OK, weirdo, go find a farm. You may find out that an office job isn’t for you, and you want to be a day trader, or a skydiving instructor, or a dairy farmer. Those are jobs too, and there’s no reason you can’t do ‘em, even if your parents don’t understand.

Practice Your Interview Skills

If you keep getting CLOSE to landing a job but can’t seal the deal, practice those skills. Take interviews for jobs you don’t want just to learn how to sell yourself in a room. Hire an interview coach for a couple hours; you’ll be amazed at how much you’ll learn about body language.

If you’re single, go on dates with people you haven’t met before — that’s an interview for a very specific kind of job with very specific body language, but you’ll get more comfortable talking with strangers you want to impress.

Redo Your Resume

Chances are, listing “Can make anything into a bong” under “Skills” is not a great idea. Take another look at your resume and make it shine. Are those buzzwords from a few years ago feeling dated now? Freshen ‘em up. Since you’re likely applying to jobs via email, the only thing that will set you apart is a killer resume.

Redo Yourself

Here’s the most important thing you can do while unemployed: Take a look at yourself. You may be super fit and hot, in which case, great, and also screw you. But chances are you can use some more gym time, or a grownup haircut, or a tan (it’s hard to tan when you haven’t left the couch for months). You may need a huge overhaul, or you may just need a little maintenance. But either way, use your available time to work on yourself.

And not just on the outside, either. Do some volunteering, since you have the time. It doesn’t pay like the kind of work you want, but it gives you something impressive to talk about in interviews, introduces you to a lot of people (see below), and also lends important perspective on how others are far more down on their luck than you, so maybe quit whining about your English degree.

Meet People

You can always use more friends, and meeting people is also a great way to (gulp) NETWORK. It’s a crappy aspect of professional life, but a necessary one. A ton of job openings are never actually listed anywhere, so word-of-mouth matters. Reach out to old friends, old teachers, friends of parents, whatever. Offer to buy them coffee and ask to pick their brains. People love to help — really — and if you’re kind and not a jerkoff, they’ll want to help you.

Try Something Crazy

If you really can’t find a job, shift your life plan. Move to a country overseas and teach English. Become a roadie for a rock band. Dive with sharks. Travel and experience the world, one cheap hostel at a time. No one ever dies wishing they’d worked more, so use this time in your life to live more.