COVID Career Casualty? Time to start the job search

Two months into the COVID-19 shutdown here in California, and things look a lot different than at the beginning of March.  After shelter in place orders were given and the need for some to self-quarantine, our employment situation is drastically different.  We are starting to chart a path to reopen the economy, but it may be a very bumpy ride for the next few months. 

The first few days and weeks of the pandemic response seem like a blur.  Businesses were forced to shut down and employees found themselves sheltering at home.  Workers who could work from home were, sometimes for the first time ever.  Other people whose companies closed were home, facing their future.  Many of us now had young children home, and we were navigating online learning.  And some of us chose to self isolate in order to avoid getting the virus.  Looking back, it was a time full of heightened emotion, uncertainty and fear.  Today, emotions can still run high, there is plenty of uncertainty, and some of us continue to have a good amount of fear of the virus, the future and our livelihoods. 

I think the uncertainty is the toughest part of this pandemic.  While I am fairly confident in how to limit my exposure to the virus, and prevent others near me from becoming ill, I'm not completely convinced the coronavirus will not cause harm to me or my family.  Having geared up to make hundreds of masks early on in our lockdown, I felt like I was making something that could help prevent contracting the virus, or prevent spreading it to someone unknowingly.  Hand washing is a new religion for my entire family.  Yesterday I even made my second batch of homemade soap.  But small projects will not keep me occupied or feeling rewarded long term.

Just like I need to keep myself active and engaged with my business, you may be facing an uncertain employment situation yourself.  Now is the time to plan your "get back to work" strategy.  Now that the future is starting to take shape, let's sharpen our focus on your job search strategy. 

Connect with people you know:  Being isolated from people we see regularly can be very hard on us, and reconnecting with those people may seem daunting.  Right now, people enjoy hearing from friends and colleagues.  Pick up the phone and call your old friends.  If you have lost your job, call your old co-workers.  And call your old boss.  We are all going through this together, and right now connecting with those we care about is important. 

Don't be afraid to express your emotions--within limits!  If you reach out to an old colleague right now, don't be afraid to say you have been scared or lonely.  Those are natural human emotions, and most people are feeling them too.  I would say it's best to avoid putting yourself in a situation where you can't communicate because you completely lose your composure.  And while emotions may be high, don't bad mouth your old boss or employer--many people had to make tough decisions on the fly in the first few days of the pandemic.  Remember that the relationships you have are very important now, and keep them strong. 

There is no shame in having lost your job:  During this lockdown, many high performing people found themselves unemployed for the first time in their life.  If you are still reeling from the fact that you lost your job, you are not alone.  Many people are in the same situation, and can commisserate with you.  Face the fact that you don't have your old job, and present your situation honestly when talking to others. 

Get in touch with people who can help:  Right now many people I proudly helped find a great job are facing shaky employment prospects.  I want to hear from you.  Recruiting can feel like a role that is all about making the placement and walking away.  But it really doesn't stop at the placement.  We want to continue to hear from you, help you on your career path and connect you with a great job again when you need it.  Put a quick call into anyone who has mentored you with your career and let them know you are looking for help again.  Knowing you need help often allows others to assist you. 

Take some small steps in your job search:  Looking for a job can seem like a Herculean task when you are sad and sheltering at home.   Breaking up the task into bite-sized pieces will make it much easier.  

Here are some things to do now to get your job search on track, (with resources where appropriate):

• Update your resume (for tips, click here)
• Create a generic cover letter to use when sending in a resume
• Update your LinkedIn profile (tips, click here)
• Get in the habit of scanning job boards for opportunities
• Talk to friends about what they are hearing out there, job wise.  
• Connect with old bosses and co-workers 
• Have a game plan for taking care of children or family members if you need to do a phone or video interview
• Follow up on any job leads, interviews or networking calls to see how things evolve over time.  While a job opening might be on hold, when it reopens you want to be one of the first people the employer thinks of.
• Make sure you can do a video interview, professionally (tips, click here)
• Get an interview outfit ready, in case something comes up quickly.  The interview may be by video or in-person, and having something ready may save you precious time.  
• Clean up your social networking feeds--if you have a social media presence and are job hunting, now is a good time to have positive posts up and not political, silly or distasteful posts.  

Figure out what works, and keep doing that:  This job search may be quite different than your previous ones.  There may be many people vying for the job.  Some people may be leery about the role based on the potential for exposure to the coronavirus.  The future of the employer may be questionable.  As you put one foot in front of the other on your job search, see which steps work best, and keep doing those as much as possible.  

Reevaluate your career plan:  Does your employment history skew towards industries that are the hardest hit by the pandemic?  Is the type of position you've had before put you too close to potential danger?  Do you need to factor in family care responsibilities differently now?  This new world we are in may make a profession pivot necessary.  Look at reports on what industries are hiring and poll your friends and family for where they think the jobs will be.  If you can repackage your skill set to a new, thriving industry, do it.  Or if you see an opportunity to provide a needed product or service in this environment, figure out how to make that happen and do it.  This dynamic time can be the perfect time to create a whole new career for yourself.

Hang in there:  This is a tough time for all of us.  We are all in this together, apart.  Soon we'll be in this together,  together again.  Find ways to find happiness in small things, and keep a long view for where your career path leads, not simply on this bump along the way.  

UPDATED California Wildfires: Ways to Help

What a fortnight we have had here in California Wine Country.  Just two weeks ago I was going about my business and saw a couple of news posts on my Wine Business Monthly Daily Update about fires in Sonoma and Napa counties.  From there I came to learn how extensive, powerful and destructive those fires would be.  Many people have lost their homes, their businesses, their jobs and some have even lost loved ones.  With the devastation there has been an outpouring of support and donations to disaster relief efforts.  If you are looking for ways to help, please consider one of these options:

Visit the Wine Country:  The Northern California wine country is known for its beauty and excellent wine country hospitality.  It is just as vibrant as always, and they need you visiting, staying overnight, touring the wineries, and dining in the restaurants.  If you are thinking the wine country is destroyed, think again.  I visited last Wednesday and it was a beautiful fall day and wine country was definitely open for business.  

American Red Cross:  The Red Cross is currently asking for donations, which you can give online at www.redcross.org/donate/donation, call 800-RED-CROSS or text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.  For information on how they are assisting during the wildfires, please click here.  

Volunteers are also needed, and becoming a trained American Red Cross volunteer can be useful today and into the future.  I completed my introductory courses and now am learning about ways I can help.  To learn about becoming a Red Cross volunteer, click here. 

Salvation Army:   I also recommend considering giving donations to the Salvation Army, which has been supporting many of the evacuation centers and recovery efforts,  http://www.salvationarmyusa.org 

While I posted earlier about immediate ways to help (visit my past blog post here), we are luckily in the recovery stage, where the needs are different.  

Many articles have been written about ways to help, and I believe Alder Yarrow at Vinography did an excellent job this past weekend of creating a thorough list of fundraising efforts.  To view his posting, please visit the Vinography blog.  Here's a copy of his list:

DIRECT MONETARY SUPPORT
In the days since the fires began, numerous fundraising efforts sprang up using sites such as GoFundMe.Com, enough so that these giving sites created pages collecting these efforts into a single spot. I've been supporting one created by my friend Kimberly Charles, who runs a wine PR firm. She's been collecting money and then either buying goods and bringing them to shelters, or buying amazon and target gift cards to bring to aid organizations in Sonoma and Napa. One note of caution with regards to this method of giving: anyone can set up a GoFundMe page, so please do some checking to make sure that the organizer is above board and a legitimate victim of the fire or a responsible individual that will put your donation to good use. 

Here's the page that aggregates all the GoFundMe efforts.

In addition to these individual campaigns, several large organizations have set up funds for fire relief, many of which are well positioned to have a great impact, as this kind of community support is what they do all day long.

Olehealth.Org is a nonprofit focused on community health care. They are on the front lines of providing help to victims of the fire and could use your donation.

The Napa Community Fund provides monetary aid to the Napa Community and is gathering funds for fire relief.

The Redwood Credit Union has started a fire relief fund for Sonoma County.

The Sonoma County Resilience Fund is a nonprofit that will direct aid to the areas of Sonoma in greatest need.

The Community Foundation of Mendocino has a disaster relief fund for Mendocino.

Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for federal disaster relief. That's why UndocuFund exists. 

COMMUNITY EFFORTS
The wine community has rallied, as they always do, with an amazing sense of solidarity. Several events have been organized to raise funds, perhaps the most impressive of which is a collection of winemakers and sommeliers who are putting on events in California and New York that I highly encourage you to attend. They are also looking for donations of wine that they will sell at the event with 100% of the proceeds going to fire relief.

The various regional wine associations of California have banded together to create #CAWINESTRONG, a campaign for supporting the wine industry in recovery efforts. In addition to taking donations directly, they have also signed up many of their member wineries to donate portions of their sales to relief efforts.

Various Sonoma Breweries are offering support to their wine industry brethren.

Many Livermore Valley wineries are raising funds, as are many wineries from Paso Robles.

The Howell Mountain Harvest Tasting on November 4th in Yountville will have a silent auction benefitting the Angwin Fire Department, who heavily contributed to firefighting efforts in the past few weeks.

HALL Wines is soliciting donations for aid AND matching those donations up to an impressive $100,000.

The Vineyards to Villages Wine Safari Event on November 10th through the 12th will be raising funds.

Flora Springs is holding a benefit concert on October 29th.

AirBNB is mobilizing its hosts to provide free housing for fire victims.

Santa Barbara Vintners association is raising funds to help.

Wine critic Jancis Robinson has organized a California wine tasting in London on December 2 to raise funds. Details will be forthcoming.

Naked Wines has raised money from its immense customer base and has donated $50k already to the Napa Valley Community Fund.

The Willamette Valley charity Oregon Cares is holding a fundraising dinner event on Sunday October 22nd with proceeds going to benefit California. 

Brooks Winery in Oregon is hosting a two day holiday market November 11th and 12th and 50% of admission proceeds will be donated to relief funds. Details will be posted soon.

Retailer Flatiron Wine and Spirits in San Francisco is holding a wine tasting of wines out of Magnum on Monday October 23, with proceeds going to charities supporting relief efforts. 

The San Francisco Vintners Market on November 5 will donate 50% of its ticket sales proceeds to fire relief. 

The Taste of Anderson Valley tasting in San Francisco on November 9th will donate 50% of its auction proceeds to fire relief charities.

Brutocao's Mendocino Harvest Party on November 3rd will donate 100% of ticket sales to the Disaster Relief Fund for Mendocino.

Jack Winery designed T-shirts -- the proceeds from which will go to help first responders who lost their homes.

Limerick Lane is donating 100% of the proceeds from one of its wines to fire relief.

Raymond Vineyards is donating proceeds from the sale of its Honoris wine to fire relief.

Tiny producer Reeve Wines is donating money by holding a raffle with some pretty cool prizes.

Red Car Wine Company is donating 50% of tasting room sales of the 2016 rose and 100% of the profit sold to wholesale for the balance of the year.

Many tasting rooms in Rutherford are donating fees from this weekend's tastings (October 21st and 22nd) to charity.

Iron Horse Vineyards is releasing their Gratitude Cuvee and some of its proceeds will go to the Redwood Empire Food Bank.

On October 28th, Peterson Winery in Healdsburg will be having a party and raffle and wine sales event benefitting the Redwood Credit Union North Bay Fire Relief fund. 

Occasio winery in Livermore Valley is donating 15% of their proceeds to fire relief for all the weekends in October. 

J. Lohr winery is donating a portion of all its proceeds in tasting rooms and online sales to help. 

Far Niente and Nickel & Nickel wineries are donating all tasting room fees to relief funds for an open-ended period of time. Apparently so are Miner and Alpha Omega.

During the month of November, Charles Krug winery is donating 20% of all proceeds to the Community Foundation Disaster Relief Fund.

Truett Hurst Winery will donate 100% of ticket sales and 10% of wine sales during their holiday open house on October 28th.

20% of Blackbird Rosé sold online will be donated.

Grassini Family Vineyards in Santa Barbara is donating $1 for every bottle of wine sold through November 15 to the Direct Relief Fund.

Flying Goat Cellars in Santa Barbara is donating $10 for every bottle of Pinot Noir Salisbury Vineyard 2011 sold through October 31 to the Direct Relief fund.

Chappellet is donating 10 percent of their wine proceeds in October.

Thank you Alder for that comprehensive list.  A big thank you to all of the firefighters, emergency responders, and volunteers.  And THANK YOU for helping out in any way you can.