Here are three updates from people who had their letters answered here in the past.

1. I told my job I wanted to leave, and then COVID happened (#3 at the link)

I wrote in to you in April because I had let my job know that I wanted to leave before COVID hit and then, well, COVID hit and I couldn’t find another job. Your advice at the time was to try to rescind my resignation, but it was too late; as I mentioned in the comments, I had already agreed to an end date and an offer had been made to my replacement. We originally agreed to an end date of June 12, with me training my replacement until then. That date was eventually pushed back to early July, meaning I got to stay on my health insurance for another month, which was a big relief. I trained my replacement (who is lovely!), transitioned all the tasks that I was responsible for and generally tried to wrap my head around being unemployed in a global pandemic.

After my last day, I took a much-needed week to decompress and do nothing, after which I really dove into job searching. I tried to balance applying for a lot of jobs with still being thoughtful and writing strong cover letters. I connected with multiple recruiters, had some interview processes with other finance companies that I ultimately pulled out of, and despaired about getting out of finance and into nonprofits. I made a plan for how long I could be unemployed before giving up on a nonprofit job, bought my own health insurance, and applied, applied, applied. Mostly, it was crickets. But one day in early August, I was looking at listings while feeling my lowest and most despairing. I applied to a nonprofit job that seemed like the perfect fit, mentioning duties and skills that are outside the usual scope of this kind of role but that I have a lot of experience in. I was certain that my materials would go into a black hole as usual, but 20 minutes later I got an interview request. It went well; I had a second interview later that week, and accepted an offer a few days later!

I’ve been in my new role for about a month now, and while it’s definitely very different and challenging, I’m enjoying it. I’m lucky enough to be part of an organization that is currently growing, even in COVID. It has also made a big difference in my mental health knowing that I’m contributing to an organization that is making the world a better place in a terrible time. Thank you for all of the advice that you have given over the years – even though I couldn’t act on the advice you gave for my letter, I would not have gotten this role without your resume, cover letter, and interviewing tips.

2. Company ordered people to quarantine, then told them to use PTO for it (first update here)

I wanted to send in a second update that is a little apologetic. I should have listened to all of the commenters — I have been in so many truly messed up workplaces that being somewhere where I was happy and not harassed or worse felt great for once. Things have only gotten worse in a way I decided I cannot continue supporting them with- I currently am sick, and everything is so cloak and dagger and I’m being treated pretty ridiculously and finally decided to take the offer I received from a company that pays more, has fewer hours, and best part has a week and a half of PTO!! And THREE PAID HOLIDAYS!! And yeah those are still like bare minimum but it feels good to move in a better direction. Thanks for all of your advice, I really wish I listened in the beginning and it didn’t take pretty terrible things to realize it.

Update to the update:

I’m doing amazing now! The new company has two weeks PTO! And pays almost double, and has specific policies about covid that make me feel much better. The best thing is that I also got my friend who was forced to quarantine and not be paid a job at the new place. Very nice happy ending!

3. How to list partial grad school on my resume (#5 at the link)

I wanted to thank everyone for their comments, especially from those feeling the same burnout. Everyone can use the reminder that the first step in taking care of anything or anyone else is taking care of yourself!

Some of the commenters were expressing the worries I had, but it turned out to be no problem at all! I had (at least) initial interviews with something five different companies, and not a single one asked about the grad school experience. My job hunt lasted a total of two weeks, and I wound up with competing offers from two amazing companies, both at 50%+ raises (I knew I was underpaid; I was not aware HOW underpaid). I accepted, and start my new job for an organization that does truly wonderful work in a few weeks!

You may also like:my job offer got delayed because of COVID-19 — will it ever come back?I asked for a lower-stress job and my workload got worsemy company keeps pushing me to extend my notice period

updates: company told people to use PTO for quarantine, and more was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.

Original Source: askamanager.org