I’ve been out of work for a while now, what do I do?
You could be out of work for any reason: you took care of a family member or you decided you wanted to be home to raise your children and you just completely got cut out of your career. If you stopped working and want to come back three or five years later, it will be difficult to find another job because you're competing against those who have experience and never lost the time. It does matter on what area you're talking about. If it is a staff healthcare job, then it may be a little easier and you might have to do some kind of refresher course you might have to start part time. Sometimes for part time PRN work they want people with recent experience who don't need any training but it's just there are some ways you can kind of ease your way back in and score some employers who are willing to give you the chance. The ones that are willing to give you the best chance are typically larger departments where training is something they can easily do compared to very small small departments. If you're looking for a healthcare management job that may be a little tougher because the market is a lot more competitive so you may have to start on a lower level job than you're used to. For healthcare jobs, we never know if the market is going to be tough for you to get back into once you leave work so prepare for the worst and understand that you may have to take a step down and start from the lower level position and work your way way back up. The only thing you're caring about right now is getting back to any job. Any job is gonna be better than nothing and once you get a new job now you’re in the process of selling your background selling your knowledge. Your value is going to be a day-to-day thing so the good thing is once you get back to work all that prior experience you have will only help speed up your advancement if you're trying to get back up into a management position. Network as much as you can, apply to as many positions, go to career fairs. It's going to require a lot more effort than other people but that's OK because again it's just the first job and after that you'll just have to be much more strategic how are you gonna find your next position.
Get creative to keep your your skill set current and make it a little bit easier to find work when you're ready to get back to work full-time. Then contact a healthcare recruiting service like us to help climb back to the top.