CALGARY – With Alberta’s oil slump stretching towards a third year, some laid-off energy industry employees have been job hunting since 2014.
They’re now seeking “survival work” to deal with credit cards that are maxed out, missed mortgage payments and the risk of losing their homes.
But experts say if you’re applying for work that you are overqualified for, you have to go about it differently.
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“You’re going to build probably a one-page resume, not three or four, which pulls out the key qualities that you would need in the job you’re applying to and that’s the information that you give,” Richard Bucher, a career coach with Right Management, said.
Some of the people he sees have now been unemployed for a year, or in some cases, two.
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Bucher says, once you start earning some income again through survival work, you still need to keep networking towards the career position you really want.
That could mean squeezing in breakfast meetings with people who can help you get back to your career or fitting in coffee meetings after your shifts.