If you’re home for the holidays, if you have a few days off from school, or even if you are indefinitely in between job positions, there are many ways to interlace productivity into your Thanksgiving Break. Now, if you’re seeking a relaxing, work-free five day period, stop reading here – we’re all about relaxation! But, if you’re a bit antsy or seeking a way to fill time while accelerating your position as a candidate, then this article is for you…

Down Time Turned Productivity…

• Resume Upkeep: Yes, we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again… keep those resumes updated with all of your most recent experiences! Tailoring a few to the look and style of different industries (whether this means including an initial graphic, adding a pop of color, using traditional or trending fonts, etc.), will help you quickly apply to a variety of roles when they arise.
• Coffee Chats: While maintaining awareness that this time is often used to decompress and forget about work for just a quick moment, there are still some employees aching to stay involved that could be willing to fill thirty minutes of their day to get to know you and teach you a bit about their role, career path, and journey to where they are at now. So, if you’ve had your eye on any potential future mentors, employees at companies you look up to, or even family friends, scheduling a coffee chat sometime this week could be the right next step.
  • Always make sure to provide several available time slots and be flexible!
• Recommendation Letter Requests: For all of our grad-school applicants, or even our high school seniors, getting ahead of the break (which often means Wednesday for our students) by requesting a recommendation letter is a great way to provide your request with ample time to complete, alleviating the feeling of immediate obligation and instead as a more casual to-do. Always make sure to be clear in your ask, provide a wide window of time for completion, and even provide some materials to highlight the important accomplishments, courses, personal attributes, or other aspects of your life that you’d like them to pay attention to while creating.
• Course Mapping: With Spring enrollment just around the corner, Thanksgiving break is a great time to begin mapping out the courses and requirements you’re looking to fulfill for the next semester. This may even mean chatting in school groups, gauging certain professor approaches, seeking time recommendations (if you’re an early bird or late starter), and otherwise identifying if there is a schedule feasible with all of your requests.
• Study Guide Initiation: Trust me, we’ve all been procrastinators before. However, if you are someone seeking to be productive over these next few days, we absolutely recommend you start drafting out a few study guides for upcoming final exams. It is abundantly proven that when studying is spread out over long durations in short spurts instead of crammed into an overnight endeavor, you will perform better!

Again, this is a week for relaxation and time spent with friends, family, pets, or even the television. However, if you’re feeling anxious, antsy, or interested in any of the above actions, you’re sure to set yourself up for future success!

Searching for a new position? Check out our open jobs list here!