Laid Off? Tips to Boost Your Job Search

Rebounding from a layoff may feel out of your control, but you can prepare yourself for when the job market thrives again. And career assistance from AAA—a free benefit of your membership—can help.

Give yourself time to adjust

Yes, you want a new job—and soon. But taking care of yourself should be your top priority.

Get help addressing your stress and anxiety after a layoff. Take care of the practical, such as looking at ways to cut your expenses. Get all the info you can from your previous employer about extending benefits. Talk to people you trust for advice.

“Separate out your personal responsibilities,” says Yair Riemer, president of Career Transition Services for Intoo USA, a partner with AAA. “Look inward and make sure you can get that in order.”

Here are four video ideas for navigating the current job market that you can use:

Determine your most marketable skills

When it’s time to focus on the next job, get help identifying your strengths and weaknesses.

Start by accessing Intoo USA’s transition guides through your AAA Membership. Among them is a skills assessment tool that provides unbiased evaluations. Your online Intoo USA profile will guide you through the process, and your assessment results will be immediately available. From there, you’ll find many resources to help you interpret what the recommendations mean and how to leverage your top skills.

Expand your network

Your odds of getting a job are better when a mutual connection refers you to an employer, so building relationships is a key to any job search.

“Anyone can network,” Riemer says. “It just means determining who you know who you can reach out to for help.”

Career assistance from AAA offers tools to assist you. It integrates with your LinkedIn profile, so you can see your contacts when reviewing open jobs. And it provides you with templates (such as what to say when introducing yourself to someone) to help you create successful connections.

Grow your confidence through preparedness

It’s not enough to just remain optimistic. Preparation and practice can also boost your confidence. One example with career assistance from AAA is building skills for a virtual interview.

You can set up a practice video interview, selecting from more than 200 questions commonly asked by employers—and record your responses. That way you can see yourself and fine-tune your answers, tone and body language.

“When you go into the real interview online, you are prepared and have confidence in your answers,” Riemer says.

Consider new opportunities—and new skills

As the saying goes, “When one door closes, another opens.” While jobs that are available now may not align to your previous work, remain flexible and be willing to learn new skills (or polish existing ones).

“Take advantage of the time you have to make yourself as competitive as possible in the job market,” Riemer says. “You can come out of this situation with much more to offer.”

Shared economy jobs, such as food delivery, are now in demand. So are people adept at working from home.

Career assistance from AAA offers job-matching technology with access to available positions. You can set up job alerts to send targeted matches to your email or mobile phone as soon as they become available.