Humans of Dezynspace: How to Get Out of Unemployment During Pandemic and Emerge Victorious

 

Humans of Dezynspace is a series of interviews with our graphic designers and employees. It is a closer look at them and their heartfelt stories, what drives them, and their inspiring experiences.

We feature today Nika Lazo, our content and communications lead. She shares her challenges of not having work at the height of the pandemic, and what she did to land not just one, but 3 jobs during the COVID crisis.

“I am Nika and I am a writer through and through. I left my previous work in the first week of March, just right at the peak of the pandemic and right before lockdowns happened in mid-March.

All of my job options fell through as companies were thinking twice about hiring, and that left me jobless and in the dark for months — as like the majority of the people in the world. And that stretched for more than 7 months — it was a grueling time for me.”

The Reality of the Jobless

“For months, you do not have a sense of time and day anymore. Job Hunting will be your routine. You get a job within 5-7 applications before. But now, you go through 30+ applications and only 5 will yield an interview.

You get numb to rejection. But as long as you’re alive, you repeat the process. You try to remember for the nth time your goals, you doubt your abilities, and you struggle to stay sane beside your piling bills.

You have episodes of depression. When you pause, you either do mundane things or you lose your mind.

And that’s the reality of today’s job seeking. And a lot of people are still experiencing this coming into the holidays, which makes them feel more depressed than they are now.

But we move forward because life goes on.

Despite the struggles I had, I noticed the little things I usually don’t see. I felt beyond blessed when I landed a sudden project with Dezynspace and a new freelance gig, which I would not appreciate as much before if I hadn’t been able to experience all the hardships in between. And the more I work hard, the more thankful I am for what I have.

I discovered how people can be so helpful along the way – former colleagues I had, my friends, and my family. I really felt their support, and it was overwhelming for me, I felt their warmth, no matter how subtle their support was.

So I think if I’m going to have a message for all job seekers, it’s this: I am with you. It’s hard, but let’s keep going and believe that during these dark times, there are always good things in store for those who aggressively hustle and chase what they want, and just persist and be patient to wait for results.

In my 8th month of finding work, finally, I was no longer jobless. Dezynspace helped me land my first project with them and later on absorbed me as an in-house communications lead, and I could never be more grateful.

Dezynspace is also very supportive of our own respective pursuits, as I have two more jobs, but they are okay with it and still would want to work with us even then.

With my three jobs, I am happy and thankful for the blessing of work and for all the people who supported me and gave me a boost of confidence in one of the darkest periods in my life — when I’m at the very bottom of my career and losing hope of ever landing a job

The hardship — all of it — was worth it.”

How to Get 3 Jobs in a Crisis Labor Market

“Well, there is no magic formula, but you just need to work hard every day. Even if you don’t have a job, your job is to apply to companies every day, for as many as you can, and go through all of the interviews, the rejections, the drag of not knowing whether you pass or not.

If you do it every day, eventually — though it takes time — you get used to it. I did. I saw more hard workers than me who already had 100 or more applications, but are still looking for a job.

During those times, I remember my partner telling me, “Quit whining. Your struggles are minor compared to others. Some other people are more likely doing more and knocking on hundreds to thousands of doors just to get that one sale.” And that really resonated with me.

I got pressured as months went by and I had my fair share of breakdowns, but after my partner told me that, I got the inner confidence to move forward when they say “no” because you know there will be another day and another company to pursue. You don’t stop. Ever.

And I eventually got my chance with Dezynspace, and I gave it my best shot. Not only did I find myself happy to get work, but I also am improving my quality of work. I became passionate and dedicated with each output I produce, and just moved to the next level of professionalism in my career that I haven’t done before — ensuring quality and on-time delivery of work.”

ABOUT DEZYNSPACE

Dezynspace is the leading online platform where you can easily book a graphic designer, exclusively attending to your design needs the whole 8 hours of the day, on a per demand basis.

All graphic designers are pre-vetted, professionally trained, and are able to respond directly to customer requests and queries in as fast as 30 minutes.

The Dezynspace model eliminates the tedious hiring process and the administrative and management concerns for its clients while providing them with good quality and professional graphic design talents dedicated to help them with their creative needs.