Being unemployed can be incredibly depressing. So much rejection. Everything seems to be out of your control. Everything except for one thing: what you produce.
You might know that repeatedly posting on social media that you are looking for work is ineffective. That it looks (or at least feels) worse each time you say so. But there is at least one major caveat to this.
Every single time you create something and share it publicly is a chance to also reiterate that you are looking for work. And people actually appreciate and value this!
Whether you write a blog post or build some project, you are seen as working on yourself and contributing to the community. Positive things! And it is no problem at all to learn with each new post you write and each new project you publish that you are also looking for work.
Moreover, dynamics of the internet and social media basically require that you be regularly producing something new. Either regularly producing a new version of some existing project or regularly producing new projects (or blog posts) entirely.
What you did a week ago is old news on social media. What will you do next week?
This could itself feel depressing except for that it's probably actually a fairly healthy thing for yourself anyway! It is a motivation to keep your skills sharp as time goes on.
So while you're unemployed and able to muster the motivation, write about things that are interesting to you! Build projects that intrigue you. Leave a little note on every post and project that you are looking for work. And share every post and project on social media.
You'll expose yourself to opportunities and referrals. And even if no post or project "takes off" you will still be working on yourself and contributing back knowledge to the community.
I wrote a short post on some ideas for effective unemployment and social media.https://t.co/jmiJCOe2Nk pic.twitter.com/pK9AySNdHR
— Phil Eaton (@eatonphil) November 5, 2024