While unemployed it is important to keep yourself productively occupied, positive and to ensure that your skills remain up-to-date. Therefore, everyone would agree that it is a good idea to attend courses on subjects related to your career, technology or in areas that might increase your marketability. However, job seekers should be careful of crossing the line between genuinely increasing their skills and hiding behind their coursework to avoid looking for a job.
Too often, I have seen qualified individuals continuously enrolling in course after course at the expense of an all out job search. Many times, these job seekers are afraid of the process, afraid of rejection or just not sure of the best approach to take. Therefore, they enroll in yet another course so that they feel as though they are accomplishing while avoiding the unpleasant prospect of looking for work.
Just a heads up, in case you may be guilty of this behavior or know someone who may be, the first step is usually the hardest. Break the cycle and sit with someone to develop a concrete job search plan with identifiable goals. Sometimes all it takes is some guidance and jumping in to realize it doesn’t have to be as unpleasant a process as you imagined! Setting daily and weekly goals listing number of calls you will make, places you will search for possible leads and identifying specific names of people is a good start. It’s a good idea to partner with someone to keep on track and have a sounding board in this process.