I don\u2019t know about you, but I find this time of the year is a bit\u2026 bleh. With the effects of the pandemic ongoing, this winter in particular feels more bleh than usual. If you\u2019re not up for thinking about your career right now, that\u2019s totally understandable. With that said, here are some tips for taking things easy as the year draws to a close.<\/p>\n
Since the dawn of the pandemic, we\u2019ve seen virtual lectures, remote work and the furlough scheme change everything we know about work and study. But just because we were at home doesn\u2019t mean we were taking it easy. Some people found lone work made them more productive. Others struggled with anxiety, loneliness and a blurring of boundaries between their personal and professional lives.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re feeling a little guilty about taking time off this Christmas, remember we have all responded uniquely to the pandemic. Life has been very different since March 2020, and going back to \u2018normal\u2019 has not been a linear process. Enjoy a lie-in if you can, eat some festive food, and relish your free time. You deserve to come back rested and refreshed \u2013 it may even do wonders for your motivation.<\/p>\n
According to Mind<\/a>, working can provide a sense of identity and routine that many people find beneficial to their mental health. Additionally, seasonal work can help you build up transferable skills such as communication, time management and resilience. Customer service is valued across most sectors. If you\u2019ve worked with the public, be sure to emphasise this on your CV.<\/p>\n If you decide to work over the holidays, make sure you choose it for the right reasons. Christmas is a busy time, particularly in retail and hospitality. Don\u2019t just take extra shifts because you think you \u2018should\u2019 \u2013 be honest with yourself about what you can handle, and make sure you are resting too.<\/p>\n If working over the summer is more your bag, summer internships tend to pick up over Christmas, so keep an eye on MyFuture for new opportunities.<\/p>\n Perhaps you are no longer a student and are prioritising your graduate job hunt. Or maybe you are in your final year and thinking ahead to September. Is there any point looking for jobs now?<\/p>\n YES! Compared to November 2020, we saw over double<\/strong> the number of jobs uploaded to MyFuture last month. On top of this, many of the graduate schemes we saw in our October peak are still open for applications for a few more weeks. We also see something of a mini peak in January and February. Meanwhile, smaller graduate employers haven\u2019t started advertising yet. Trust us when we say it\u2019s not too late.<\/p>\n There are other reasons employers might be hiring right now. It\u2019s no surprise that employee turnover tends to spike at the end of the year, with many of us thinking of our New Year\u2019s Resolutions and the things we want to change. It\u2019s easy to feel overwhelmed by the competition in the graduate market, but new doors are always opening.<\/p>\n We\u2019re closing for Christmas on Friday, 17th<\/sup> December, and reopening Tuesday, 4th<\/sup> January. Because January is so quiet, we\u2019ll be closing for an hour over lunch every day, from 12:30 until 13:30. We\u2019ll still be around during opening hours (9:30 \u2013 16:30) for in-person appointments and drop-in queries.<\/p>\n Well, that\u2019s okay too. One in three people experience seasonal affective disorder, which understandably affects how we perform day-to-day activities. If you\u2019re prone to feeling depressed or lethargic at this time of the year, maybe wait until you\u2019re feeling better before you focus on your career. There will always be more jobs, but your mental health should come first. The Wellbeing Service<\/a> offers support to current students, or you can contact Mind<\/a> if you are a graduate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I don\u2019t know about you, but I find this time of the year is a bit\u2026 bleh. With the effects of the pandemic ongoing, this winter in particular feels more bleh than usual. If you\u2019re not up for thinking about...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1443,"featured_media":2364,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[748],"tags":[4,165,39,15,388,413],"class_list":["post-2362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive","tag-advice","tag-graduate-job-search","tag-internship","tag-job-hunting","tag-mental-health","tag-motivation"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/82\/2021\/12\/pexels-eva-elijas-5977342-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1443"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}If you\u2019ve graduated or graduate soon<\/h2>\n
Come and see us in the New Year<\/h2>\n
If you\u2019re still feeling blue<\/h2>\n