Activity Plan for Those Who Lost Their Jobs
Now that you've been fired and are looking for a new job, it's important to find something that will help you in your hunt. You're probably feeling pretty down at the moment, so it can be tempting to settle with anything that comes your way. But there’s no need to do that — not when there are plenty of resources out there waiting for you! This list includes online exercises recommended by educators and career coaches specifically for those who have lost their jobs.
If you're ready to get started, keep these five tips in mind:
Choose exercises that will help you define your strengths and work-related skills. The goal is to find an activity that will help you show employers who you are and what kind of worker they might want. Before selecting a task, try asking yourself what activities you like and do well at. That way, you'll know where your strengths are. Also look for any activities that pair well with your job goals as a result of how effective they can be for improving workplace skills such as communication or problem solving. Challenge yourself to start at the very beginning of the list below before moving on to the second one.
Don’t just stick to using the internet. There are plenty of other resources to explore, including books and magazines. Why not browse through some in your local library?
Have fun with it! This is an important activity and one that you should take seriously — but you shouldn’t be afraid to have a laugh along the way. A little light-heartedness can go a long way towards making your search more enjoyable and getting you in a positive state of mind (which has always been associated with finding success).
Finally, start now — don’t wait for any special reason or day. A new job search begins the second that you find out you've lost your previous one. Take advantage of the opportunity right away and start building a resume, writing a cover letter, setting up informational interviews and so on. By doing so, you'll give yourself a chance to get ahead in the competition.
Here are 10 exercises that will help you express your job search goals, qualifications and strengths:
1. Creative Writing Exercise
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The idea behind this exercise is to create a resume-like work summary that describes your skills and experience using stories and examples instead of bullet points. Simply choose three key words that describe the tasks or activities you do well (e.g. ‘collaborating,’ ‘planning,’ ‘inventing’). Then, create a short story with each word being followed by an example of that skill in action. You can then use those stories to see what skills you want to emphasize the most and how you want to phrase them. You can find more information and other examples at The idea behind this exercise is to create a resume-like work summary that describes your skills and experience using stories and examples instead of bullet points. Simply choose three key words that describe the tasks or activities you do well (e.g. ‘collaborating,’ ‘planning,’ ‘inventing’). Then, create a short story with each word being followed by an example of that skill in action. You can then use those stories to see what skills you want to emphasize the most and how you want to phrase them. You can find more information and other examples at Spark Hire
2. Likening Your Work Experience to a Different Profession
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This exercise will help break you out of your former career mindset and into a single-minded focus on your job search goals. It will also help you define what you're good at, recognize weaknesses and work on ways to address them. To start, pick two professions from different careers that you think are interesting. Then, write a list of three skills that your old job matched with each of them (e.g. ‘organization’ for sales and ‘collaboration’ for medicine). Once done, write out the duties of those jobs with the skills you identified next to each one. This will give you an idea of how your work experience applies to other fields and will help you figure out which ones match with your own strengths the most. You can find more information at This exercise will help break you out of your former career mindset and into a single-minded focus on your job search goals. It will also help you define what you're good at, recognize weaknesses and work on ways to address them. To start, pick two professions from different careers that you think are interesting. Then, write a list of three skills that your old job matched with each of them (e.g. ‘organization’ for sales and ‘collaboration’ for medicine). Once done, write out the duties of those jobs with the skills you identified next to each one. This will give you an idea of how your work experience applies to other fields and will help you figure out which ones match with your own strengths the most. You can find more information at The Muse
3. Making a List of Skills with Their Opposites
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This exercise is meant to help you get a better idea of how transferable your work experience is — that is, whether or not it's worth it to include on your resume. To start, make a list of 10 skills that are relevant to the job you want. Then, list out the opposite of each one and make another list for those. What you'll end up with is a list of two skills that aren’t related to your resume but they can be used as a basis for building one. You can find more information at This exercise is meant to help you get a better idea of how transferable your work experience is — that is, whether or not it's worth it to include on your resume. To start, make a list of 10 skills that are relevant to the job you want. Then, list out the opposite of each one and make another list for those. What you'll end up with is a list of two skills that aren’t related to your resume but they can be used as a basis for building one.
Conclusion
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This exercise is meant to help you decide what you want to do in the future. Simply, write a list of all of your jobs, past and present, including internships and volunteer experiences. Then, using a mix of job descriptions and your own experience, draw up a sense of who you are and what you’re good at. If possible, pair them with the types of working environments that best suit them. Finally, use these insights to create an inventory of skills and experiences so that when you write your resume later on, you'll have an idea about which ones to highlight.