What if you can’t work for free?

A valid question was posed in the comments from the last post. What if economics dictate that you can’t afford to work for free as an intern and need to take an interim job outside of the industry to pay your bills? How do you keep your skills sharp to ensure you can get back on track when things turn around in the market? A few ideas might include:

• Network more than ever.
• Don’t lose touch with the connections that can get you back into the game.
• Consider doing both – in the current market, many people are working multiple part-time jobs to make ends meet.
• Can one be an intern AND perform contract work simultaneously?
• Read our blog!
• Continue to learn new skills.
• The web has a wealth of free training resources for using Excel or other software. Even if you don’t have access to Argus, there are ancillary analytical skills that you can continue to improve economically.