Whether you are working from home, or you are home because of a layoff or furlough, there are a lot of adjustments to make. One is going from a structured day to a potentially unstructured one. Another is not seeing many of the people you are accustomed to seeing, whether at the workplace, coffee shop or other social gathering place. A third may be being home all day with family. In any event, being at home presents new challenges in how you manage and allocate your time.
Let me suggest that, during this time, you consider checking in with your professional network as a regular part of your activities. This is something we all need to be doing anyway; why not take this opportunity to incorporate it into our planning?
One way to approach this is to make a list of people you would like to catch up with. These may be friends from school, or former coworkers, suppliers, customers, or peers in other organizations. They can also be non-professional friends you are not seeing due to the change in routine.
What do you say when you contact one of these folks? You can start out with questions like “How are you doing?” “How’s your family?” “Are you still going into work?” or “Working from home?” You can then share information about your current situation, as well as what you were doing before the virus descended upon us. If you were laid off or put on furlough, you can share that too. You can also ask about any mutual acquaintances. If you haven’t spoken to the person in a while, you can also exchange information about what you’ve been doing since the last time you were in contact.
Rather than ending with an ask for other contacts, suggest that you check in with each other again in a month or two to see how things are going.
As with most networking, unless you know of a specific open position at your contact’s organization, don’t ask about open positions. Let the other person bring up any opportunities they may have heard of. If you are interested in a specific position at their organization, you can ask their assistance in getting your credentials in front of a hiring manager.
If you use this time to your advantage, you can be further ahead when life – and work – start returning to normal.