Should You Look for a Job While on Vacation?
If you’ve been on vacation during the coronavirus pandemic, you may be asking yourself if it’s better to wait or if you need to start looking for another job.
First, a reminder: people on leave are usually eligible to apply for unemployment benefits (although specific requirements vary from state to state); if their unemployment claim is approved, they will also receive an additional $ 600 per week in federal CARES pandemic unemployment compensation.
For some people, the combination of unemployment income and the prospect of returning to their current job in the future will be enough to get them through indefinite leave. Other people may find that their unemployment benefits are not providing enough income for themselves or their families and start looking for new jobs as needed.
But what if you are unsure about your current job? What if you are referring to your desktop and thinking about changing something? Is it a good idea to look for a new job in times of uncertainty (and potential recession), or is it wiser to stay where you are and take advantage of the reputation, relationships and tenure you have built in your current position? ?
In the Harvard Business Review, ManpowerGroup executives Thomas Chamorro-Premuzic and Becky Frankiewicz ask themselves five questions before deciding whether to apply for a new job while on vacation. Here’s my favorite, which involves asking if you really want to go back to your pre-pandemic life:
Take time to stop and think. Reconsider your potential in such a way that the old normality of life will not allow. Ask yourself if your work is worth the wait. Do you want to return to pre-crisis life? If you have any hints of doubt in your head, there is nothing wrong with applying for something new and seeing something that could materialize as a different future.
Ask the manager, Alison Green, on the other hand, recently advised a laid-off employee to start looking for a new job immediately:
If you have accumulated living expenses over the years and can easily wait a few months to see what happens, do not hesitate. But, essentially, imagine that after three months you are told that your vacation is turning into a permanent layoff. What would you like to do during this time? Whatever it is, I would start doing it now.
While the reputation and relationships you have built in your current role – what Green would call “career capital” – can still be valuable, companies don’t necessarily prioritize such values right now. On the other hand, being a new employee during a period of economic instability also carries certain risks.
In the end, you will have to decide for yourself whether it is worth looking for a new job of the effort, but ask yourself: 1) do you really want to return to the life that you had before, and 2) what you desire. you would do right now, if you get fired in three weeks, that’s a good start.
And you should probably update your resume. That is, just in case.