Holiday Nerves – What to do for your job or career during the holidays
I will never forget the end of year holiday season I had some years ago when there was a very collegiate ‘last day of work’ event in December and I was gifted a large Christmas leg of ham, but I had a terrible feeling of dread every day for the next two weeks.
I had the ominous feeling that I was about to lose my job.
And it turns out I was 100% right.
They sacked me in January, when the entire industry was on holidays.
Despite my best efforts reaching out to other local businesses, I had to simply walk away from the job I had started in the previous July.
In hindsight, I was grateful. I had given my absolute all to this job and had worked crazy hours and instigated and implemented many new initiatives whilst keeping my own business humming along in the background.
Thank goodness I had not given that up!
After I left, they had their busiest business period in the company’s history and soon after that, they sold the business.
Fortunately for me, thanks to my own business, I wasn’t left penniless and I ramped it up again.
Phew. 😁
But if you have that itchy feeling of uncertainty swimming around in your mind when you would rather be swimming at the beach and having fun, here is what you can do in a couple of hours a day so that the other 22 hours of each day of your holidays, you can actually enjoy yourself!
1. Reflect on the year that was
For many people, the time leading up to time off is frantic. Last minute deadlines. Unfinished jobs you try to cram in. Guilt about leaving things unfinished. Worrying about what your email inbox will look like when you return. Eeewww.
But can you grab a few moments to record some of your recent achievements?
Please write them down as you will probably be able to see them in hindsight when you couldn’t see them in plain sight along the way.
Even little wins – like having that difficult conversation that really made a difference or going outside your comfort zone and asking a question you had put off for a long time. Record your wins and do a little dance to celebrate! 🕺💃
Now also look back at some of the more challenging issues since your last time off.
Did you feel respected and valued by your colleagues? Did you get bogged down by a large disappointment? Was there a major concern you could not overcome?
Just recording these in writing will stop them swimming around in your head on a daily basis.
Let this process help you release them from the front of your mind but don’t worry about trying to solve any of them on the spot. The idea here is to record them so they don’t run your mind.
2. Clarify your values for the future
I often talk about your career being a combination of your values, (what is important to you and what value you can provide to an employer or client), your strengths, (those you naturally have and those that you have acquired) and your context (the circumstances you are in now that may have an impact on the choices you have available to you).
It is also perfectly okay to have a ‘job for now’ if you don’t have the energy or resources to make a bigger career transition.
However, if you do want some help to think about choosing your next job or career, I encourage you to complete a mind map so that you can focus on your non-negotiables and create your very own values-based decision-making framework.
I am happy to discuss this idea further if you would like some help.
If you just want to tweak what you are doing now, simply write down three values that are really important to you going forward.
Value 1. _________________________________
Value 2._________________________________
Value 3._________________________________
You can then incorporate them in whatever you do next.
For example, I live by the motto ‘friendly, professional and solution-focused’ but I also focus on being truthful, authentic and genuine. These can be applied in my current situation or any future situation.
3. Update your LinkedIn Profile and Resume
Of course, as a LinkedIn Specialist and Career Development Practitioner, I am going to recommend that you do this on a regular basis – but in this case, whilst you are still on holiday, here is what you need to focus on:
- a LinkedIn Profile photo that conveys your energy and enthusiasm and is less than three years old, preferably wearing a high neck garment to frame your face
- headline (underneath your name) that uses most of the 220 characters that is filled with the primary keywords of what value you offer
- the job titles for every current and past position as the words in these fields help you appear in search results and convey your value in more detail
- About / Summary section – the first three lines that people see but also the narrative or the bullet points that summarise your capabilities
- putting something in as many other sections as possible – the more completed profiles achieve more search results but also more promotions as people understand more of the value you offer – don’t be shy about writing and adding achievements either
- preparing a full resume with every detail you may ever need to call on that you can then ‘save as’ another file and tailor for any future roles of specific interest.
If you don’t want to personally notify everyone of the changes you are making to your LinkedIn Profile, turn off ‘Share job changes, education changes, and work anniversaries from profile’ here.
4. Restart or Maintain your Online Presence
If you haven’t been active on LinkedIn for a while, don’t worry!
There are some very simple things you can do to reconnect:
- Ignore or Accept any LinkedIn invitations to connect or attend events
- respond to any outstanding direct messages
- visit the LinkedIn Profiles of people you have worked with in the past and endorse (vote for) the Skills you have seen them complete
- visit the LinkedIn Profiles of people you have worked with closely, make sure you are connected with them and then write them a Recommendation
- visit the LinkedIn Profiles of people you have enjoyed working with and ask them to write a Recommendation for you focusing on x, y and z skills that you feel are important
- get a copy of all of your LinkedIn Data and then when you receive the email from LinkedIn, click on the link immediately and save the files. Go through the list of people you are currently connected to and then let it be a memory jogger for anyone else you may like to look for and connect with on LinkedIn
- visit the ‘My Network‘ tab and scroll down to ‘People you may know’ and invite up to 100 people per week to connect with you
- visit the Company Pages of any organisations you would like to work for or know more about and Follow the page and click the notification bell 🔔 and choose ‘All posts’ so you are more likely to see their content (and appear in their searches)
- consider turning on ‘Open to work’ but only make it visible to recruiters (this may help you clarify what you are interested in going forward but it is not entirely private)
- consider turning on ‘Providing Services’ if you would like to be considered for some general gigs (but be aware that your colleagues will be able to see this)
- engage with the Newsfeed and react (Like) some content and add in comments (of a reasonable length)
- consider adding a Post or an Article once a month
- think about creating your own name website and telling your full story online there (especially if you are a senior leader or a subject matter expert)
5. Start Proactively Networking
There has always been a hidden job market – the jobs that are not advertised publicly. Thanks to AI, this number is increasing because employers and decision makers do not want to sift through multiple AI generated applications from applicants that are not suitable when they advertise a role!
You can use either a LinkedIn Search or a Google Advanced Search to find people to talk to.
It could be a career development practitioner (like me or someone else via the CDAA), a possible mentor, a well-connected individual in your profession or industry or even someone in a similar or aspirational role in a company you admire.
Whilst there are plenty of ways to network on LinkedIn, you could also look up some in-person events and book into them as well.
You may also want to find out the professional association related to your career via the MyFuture.edu.au website and also do some research there in relation to the future demand for your role and the average salary range. I am a firm believer in being a member of a professional association – I am in several myself!
6. Allocate two hours a day
Re-evaluating your career and work life can require a lot of complex thinking, processing and evaluating which is why I suggest you only work on these activities for two hours a day and spend the rest of your holidays having fun!
The best way to look for aligned work is with multiple concurrent strategies – in other words, you do a variety of things all at the same time. Networking and asking for referrals are my top two strategies.
Please remember, you don’t ask a car mechanic to complete heart surgery so it is not a good idea to ask well-meaning friends and family members to give you career advice!
Also, be very careful about discussing any of these suggestions with your current work colleagues.
Imagine what it would feel like to be in an aligned role, with an aligned remuneration in an aligned location? With the right preparation and strategy, that is achievable!
Now as you complete these suggestions, you may actually realise that you would like to stay where you are if at all possible.
By having this information ‘on record,’ you actually have a greater chance of staying there and asking for a promotion or an increase in pay when you go back to work!
But you also have a backup plan because you will be ready for whatever comes next. Even if the worst comes to the worst, I believe that unemployment can be good for you (I am forever the optimist!).
Please let me know if I can be of assistance!
Action Steps
1) Tips: If you have some tips you would like to share with others, please add them to this LinkedIn Article.
2) Questions: If you have some quick questions you would like to ask, please contact me directly via sueellson [at] sueellson.com
3) Professional Support: If you would like to book an appointment to prepare before you travel, settle once you arrive, review your current posting or plan your return, please book an appointment.
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