Man, November 2020. What a time, right? Everything was still kinda locked down, felt like the whole world was on pause but my brain certainly wasn’t. Especially when it came to work stuff. You know how it is, always gotta be thinking, always gotta be planning. So, I started really digging into what was going on with my career then.
I remember just sitting there, day after day, looking at job boards. It felt like I was staring at a blank wall sometimes. My usual thing is, I like to have everything sorted, everything laid out. But back then, it was just… murky. I’d wake up, grab some coffee, and just fire up the laptop. I started with just browsing, seeing what was even out there. I wasn’t really expecting much, honestly, just trying to get a feel for the water.
First Steps: Just Poking Around
My first move was to just update my resume. It had been sitting there, mostly untouched, for a good while. I pulled it open, stared at it, and just started tweaking words. You know, making sure it sounded right, making sure it reflected what I’d actually been doing, not just what I thought I should be doing. I spent a whole afternoon just rewriting bullet points, trying to make my experience sound punchy without being like, over the top.
- Opened up the old resume file.
- Read through every single line, cringing a little.
- Started swapping out weak verbs for stronger ones.
- Formatted it cleaner, just felt better that way.
Then, I moved onto LinkedIn. Oh man, LinkedIn. I’d mostly used it to connect with old colleagues, but now it was about really seeing the landscape. I started looking at what kind of jobs were being posted. Were they remote? Were they asking for crazy specific skills? It was all over the place. Some companies were clearly thriving, others seemed to be just barely holding on. It was a real eye-opener, seeing the stark contrast in what different industries were experiencing.
Reaching Out and Getting Nowhere (Mostly)
After a week or so of just lurking and updating, I decided to actually hit “apply” on a few things. Not a lot, just a handful that seemed like a decent fit. I wrote those cover letters, tried to personalize each one, even though deep down I knew most folks probably just skimmed them. I sent them off, pushed “send,” and then… waited. And waited.
My expectation was, maybe I’d hear back on one or two. Just a quick email, even a polite rejection. But no. Crickets. It was pretty disheartening, to be honest. I even reached out to a couple of old contacts, people I’d worked with years ago, just for a quick chat. “Hey, how’s it going? Anything new happening over there?” Most of them were just as confused as I was about the market. Everyone was just trying to keep their heads above water.
The Realization: Not What I Expected, But What I Needed
So, November rolled on. And by the end of it, I hadn’t landed a new job. I hadn’t even gotten an interview. My initial “what to expect” was definitely not met. I thought I might at least get some bites, some conversations. But what I did get was clarity.
I realized a few things during that month of active searching and passive worrying. First, the job market was way more unpredictable than I thought. Second, my current skills, while solid, probably needed a bit of a refresh if I wanted to really stand out. And third, and maybe most importantly, I actually started to appreciate what I did have.
Being forced to look outwards, to scrutinize my own career path and what I wanted from it, made me see my current situation in a new light. It wasn’t perfect, no job ever is, but it had stability. It had familiar faces. It had a routine, which, after all that chaos outside, felt like a luxury. So, by the end of November, my big “expectations” shifted. Instead of expecting a new opportunity to just magically appear, I started planning on how to make the most of where I was. I started looking at online courses, thinking about what new skills I could pick up while things were still a bit uncertain. It wasn’t the big career jump I’d idly hoped for, but it was a solid, grounded plan, and that felt pretty good.
