After recently going into lockdown, there’s now a limit on what everyone can do. Luckily for us, there’re still plenty of things to be done from home that can both boost your CV and more importantly … keep you entertained.
Personally, I’m a big film fan. I’ve made the most of my time at home to start a website to post film reviews on. There are tonnes of website builders out there that make it super quick and simple to build your own website. Personally, I chose ‘Wordpress’. It took me the best part of an evening to create Reviewsyouread.wordpress.com (feel free to check it out)! Now I have something extra to do with all my time spent at home and an excuse to watch more films than ever! It also gives me something extra to add onto my CV and help my application stand out from the rest. This is even more helpful with all of the creative-focus positions I've been applying to. It gives me proof so I can say to employers that I’ve taken initiative and been proactive, alongside showing them I have coherent written and communication skills. These are things a lot of people may have on their CV but they’re not always able to back it up with an example which is what the employer is really looking for.
There’s so much you can do though. I see some people making music and posting that online for others to see. I’ve been teaching myself a little something about web-development on ‘SkillShare’, an online learning platform focused around creative areas. The PDC has a few web pages that collate loads of information on courses, apps and volunteer stuff you can do from home and that's where I found ‘SkillShare’! A very cool thing I’ve seen is people setting up a side-hustle to earn some extra money during this time. People are using their talents like ‘art’ and charging commissions to create a service for people, so if you’ve got a useful talent this might be something to think of … and to quote the Joker, “if you’re good at something, never do it for free!”
Another great way to boost your CV is volunteering and right now there are more roles than ever that allow you to do it right from your home! For me, app.unv.org has some pretty good roles on it but there are a whole host of websites looking for people to help. Showing an employer that you volunteered during this time as well, would also make you look like a great candidate for any role you apply to, so that's my recommendation of the day.
As an update to my current job search, one of the places that I applied to has sent me an email to say “Unfortunately (the worst way to start a job-related email) this role has now been put on hold due to the coronavirus.” So it looks like places will start postponing the recruitment process until they are more sure of how their company will run during and after this lockdown period.
For this role in particular, it’s kind of convenient for me as now the start date will align a lot better with my availability. If this starts happening with the other roles I’ve applied to, I can see it getting pretty disheartening pretty quickly but there’ll be many ways to push through that and carry on.
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