There is a good chance you will lose your job…

…and what you do next may determine your professional fate.

It is sad to say but there is a good chance that your job will not be available when the lockdowns are over. Some companies will go out of business while others will be forced to do more with fewer employees. The strongest organizations are likely to use the pandemic as an excuse to get rid of marginal employees and replace them with the all-stars from the companies that went out of business or that had to downsize.

Not only will there be fewer jobs available in the fashion industry, the competition for those jobs will be greater than ever before. What you do now will determine how competitive you will be when the lockdowns are over…

First things first, if you find yourself out of a job, take care of your health and personal finances first. Once your four walls are taken care of, you can focus on your career…

1. REVIEW & UPDATE YOUR RESUME

Have you changed companies? Taken-on new responsibilities? Got a new title? Make sure your resume information is both current AND easily read. Make sure to update your resume wherever it may be; hardcopy, job boards, company websites and recruitment agencies.

This might also be a great to time to evaluate the format of your resume. For example, as job seekers gain experience, the trend is to move from a resume that is in a chronological format to one that is more accomplishment based. There are a lot of good resources online for resume writing. If you aren’t getting a lot of hits on your resume, it might be time for a format change!

2.  START MAKING LISTS

Let’s say you’ve lost your job. What resources would you use to find a new one? What companies would you target for employment? What contacts do you have that could help you find a new job? Do you want to work in the same capacity or do something different? What skills do you need? Answering these questions for yourself AND writing them down will put you on job search footing from day one and let you hit the ground running.

3. UPDATE YOUR STYLECAREERS.COM PROFILE

StyleCareers.com is (by far) the most important place to have your resume if you are a fashion industry professional. Why? First, roughly 82% of fashion industry recruiters and hiring managers claim that StyleCareers.com is their #1 or #2 source for fashion industry talent. If you aren’t on StyleCareers.com, there is a good chance, you are at a disadvantage to those who are. Second, StyleCareers.com lists the most fashion industry jobs of any resource; more than WWD, California News and even LinkedIn. Couple the most fashion industry jobs with the most accurate job alert system and you will always be among the first to know about new positions.

Don’t have a StyleCareers.com profile? The newly re-designed StyleCareers.com profiles are super-easy to create (3 simple questions) and more importantly, offer 3 levels of privacy (all recruiters, no recruiters). What are you waiting for, create your StyleCareers.com here!

4. UPDATE YOUR LINKEDIN CONTACT INFORMATION

Most people use their work email address as their their primary email address on LinkedIn. This practice is fine when the profile holder has a job but can keep those who have been furloughed or laid-off from being contacted by recruiters and hiring managers.

If you have been laid-off or even furloughed, make sure that your personal email address is your primary email address on LinkedIn. Not only are recruiters less likely to contact job seekers who only include a work email address, by law, furloughed workers are not allowed to access their work email accounts. Update your LinkedIn profile’s preferred email address here: https://www.linkedin.com/psettings/email

5. REVIEW & UPDATE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE

With respect to social media, assume that a potential employer will see EVERYTHING you’ve ever posted and EVERYTHING that anyone else may have posted about you. Keep in mind that your social media profiles are not your only social media presence. Tagged photos of you, comments you’ve made, groups you’ve joined and events you’ve attended are likely to be available to potential employers.

6.  REVIEW, UPDATE & PRACTICE YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH

An “Elevator Pitch” is a concise, carefully planned and well-practiced description of the VALUE you bring to a company. The pitch should be easily understood by a layman and last 30-45 seconds; the typical time it takes to ride an elevator.

You never know when you might bump into someone who might be able to help in your job search. Make sure your Elevator Pitch is up-to-date, polished and practiced!

7.  PREPARE & PRACTICE FOR VIDEO INTERVIEWS

There is a good chance that your first interviews after the lockdown will be via Zoom, Google Hangouts, GoToMeeting or some other video conferencing service. It is important that job seekers practice with this technology before the interview; this is extra-important for older job seekers.