Time management during unemployment: Online credit counseling services and a dedicated professional job search make good partners

You're a working New York, Ohio, or Pennsylvania professional, and you've just been laid off. Maybe your company no longer has the money to keep you on staff. Maybe your performance was poor, or maybe you were a poor fit for the company culture or ethos. What are you going to do if you have no income, have acquired significant debt, and live paycheck-to-paycheck just keeping up with monthly expenses? Don't enter crisis mode just yet. Enroll in online credit counseling services at Advantage CCS – you'll free up your precious daylight hours to begin pounding the pavement for work.

Credit counseling services are a great choice for individuals who owe significant debts, or who face precarious financial situations. More importantly, credit counseling can be a powerful personal and financial tool. By sharing your income and debt situation with a professional, you will be empowered with the knowledge you'll need to repair your finances and restore your credit. Advantage CCS credit counseling sessions are available both in-person and online. For example, if you live near Pittsburgh, PA, you might find it easy to come to an Advantage CCS office for your credit counseling sessions. But if you're not near a city center, or you have other high-priority obligations – children, household duties, an all-consuming job search – online credit counseling might be your best bet.

Online credit counseling services at Advantage CCS are free. However, they do require you to disclose your personal and financial information. The Advantage CCS Web portal is secure, so you needn't worry about your personal information falling into the wrong hands. Visit our sister URL, https://www.advantageuser.org/creditapp/index.php, and you will be able to work through a five-part form to begin your online credit counseling sessions. The instructions on this page inform you that it is best to apply for credit counseling with your financial information at hand. We also want to advise you to write down your most urgent financial priorities, be they student loans, a mortgage, a chronic health condition, or expenses for a child. Understanding your situation enables your Advantage CCS credit counselor to give you tailored counseling services addressing your specific situation.

For the unemployed – or even the underemployed – online credit counseling is a wise and time-saving choice. Advantage CCS lets you access online credit counseling services any day of the week, and at any time of day. This is especially important if you are applying for and interviewing for professional jobs that typically require 8-4 or 9-5 weekday hours. Why is this?

1. You will need to be available during the day to make phone calls to companies you're interested in working with. If you cannot devote weekday daylight hours to a job search, your chances of being able to directly contact the individuals who might be responsible for hiring you are severely diminished. You will lose valuable opportunities to learn more about job openings, as you will not be able to hear first-hand what the requirements of said opportunities are.
2. You might need to apply for opportunities in person, or personally visit companies to see if they have any opportunities. This type of job search is indeed difficult to perform at night or on weekends when many companies are closed.
3. You will need to be available during standard business hours to receive calls to arrange telephone or in-person interviews. A missed call from a potential employer can be a missed opportunity!
4. You will need to be free during the day so you can schedule interviews. Some companies are understanding of hectic schedules, and will make arrangements for after-hours or weekend interviews; however, the majority of companies today still conduct the majority of their business during normal business hours.
5. You'll need to be able to get in touch with members of your professional network. Actions you can take to accomplish this might include telephone calls, luncheons, or networking interviews. Many people prefer to conduct these activities during standard business hours.

In addition, you might want to turn to Advantage CCS online credit counseling so you have more free time to take on a temporary office, retail, or restaurant job. Credit counseling can even help you determine if you must find a means of income immediately after a layoff, and will enable you to figure out how much money you should be making to keep up with your monthly expenses and debts.

If you're an unemployed professional, we hope that you will join us for online credit counseling sessions at Advantage CCS. We want to help you get back on your feet financially as you're getting back on your feet professionally.