The spring of 2020 feels a lot like the fall of 2001. Everyone is afraid, the economy is tanking, and anybody who dares predict what happens next is a fool. Millions lost their jobs and can’t fathom where their careers will go next.

In 2001, I was one of them: 22 years old, a recent college graduate, suddenly laid off, with no rebound plan.

I took a day to absorb the shock, then got to work taking inventory of my competitive advantages. Being 22, that didn’t take long (the entire process happened on the way from the living room to the kitchen to get a bagel). Furthermore, I had a two-day-a-week unpaid internship that was costing me $250 a month in train fare between the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City and my parents’ basement in Poughkeepsie, where I was gratefully, if not tidily, living rent-free.

By the time the bagel popped out of the toaster, I had come to one undeniable conclusion: To prepare for whatever came next, I would need to convert my newfound free time into an asset.

The next day, I asked my internship supervisor if I could start coming in five days a week instead of two. I already had the commuter pass for Metro-North Railroad, I had exactly nothing else to do, and they weren’t paying me anyway, so why not let me answer more phone calls and hold Dan Rather’s bottle of diet Peach Snapple between takes? In the meantime, I’d be making more contacts, learning more skills, and immersing myself more in the fast-paced world of the industry where I hoped to build my career?

Time for a new résumé

The other thing I did, which turned out to be even more valuable, was update my résumé.

Then as now, opportunities were scarce, and the people willing to read a résumé were even scarcer. But I also knew that the scarcer opportunities were, the more likely they were to pop up when you least expect them. The worst that could happen would be for a great job to present itself, but not be ready for it because I lacked a crisp, updated résumé. That position would go to someone who was already prepared to apply.

Any time of unemployment—whether due to a layoff, graduation, or a voluntary separation—is the perfect time to update your résumé. You’ll need it more than ever, you have all the latest information at the ready (it’s not like there’s a promotion waiting around the corner), and when it’s suddenly an employer’s market, you need to be sharp and ready to pounce.

Fortune favors the prepared. A tight job market favors the prepared, as well. It was true then, and even though nothing else may seem certain right now, it’s true today, as well.

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