Structure When Between Jobs

[BeaTlesFan77]

When you were not working, how did you structure your day and how many hours were spent on researching potential leads?  I know that typically when you're not working, your employment is to look for a new position.  However, I think 8 hours of that everyday would make your head spin.

[Batya33]

When I was not working outside the home I structured my day so that the few hours I had when my son was in school (I started looking the December of his kindergarten year -so he was almost 6) was spent doing something job search related.  I:  worked on my resume/cover letter, e-mailed people I knew or knew of (I must have emailed well over 100 people), made phone calls to headhunters, looked for networking activities to attend.  I received many leads on specific jobs as well as places to email  that had good listings.  Indeed.com didn't exist yet.  It took me 1.5 years to find the right fit because I was very picky about lifestyle given my childcare responsibilities and my husband's more than full time job plus regular business travel.  

Those days I was up by 6 with my child.  Bus was at 7.  Then I worked out and showered and had breakfast. I also had housework to do and errands.  Bus arrived around 3 in the afternoon. So all told I probably had about 2-3 hours a day to job search and I was very focused especially since I relocated 800 miles from where I'd worked for almost 20 years previously.  

My first few interviews were word of mouth.  I ultimately found my job through a list service but because of all my networking I had excellent help and support with interviewing and choosing where to work.  Invaluable.  I hadn't gone on a real interview in 7 years so there was that as well.  

Hope this helps.

[boltnrun]

I didn't use a set amount of hours per day. I set goals for the number of resumes and/or applications I would fill out per day. I decided on no fewer than five applications or resumes per day would be submitted. No exceptions. Even if it was for a job I didn't truly want, I figured some money coming in was better than zero. I applied for jobs in my field but also applied for "filler" jobs like stock person. I actually got one interview for a stock person lol (they didn't hire me). I was able to get several interviews using this method.

Ironically, I didn't find my current position, the hiring agent found me. He saw my resume on Indeed, thought I could be a fit, set up a phone interview and here I sit. But without putting my resume out there it would not have happened.

You can do what fits for you. If a time commitment works better for you than a numbers commitment then do that.

Oh, and I gave myself Saturday off from searching. Gotta have one day of rest!

[Batya33]

I really like Bolt's approach too and it shows how the goal affects the approach - I needed a very specific kind of job and money was not the main factor at all -but the logistics and practicalities were key - so I was selective as far as what I applied to.  However I also applied to some that were a stretch/a bit out of the box.  I had to do set hours (I couldn't job hunt every day because of my other job -taking care of our young child) - because I didn't have the luxury of randomly deciding oh now I'm going to job search.  

I had Bolt's approach when I husband-hunted -when I would go to a singles event I told myself I had to stay at least 45 minutes and talk to at least three men before I could leave lol.  Except you can't take Saturdays off when husband-hunting 😉

[BeaTlesFan77]

So far I've been doing at least four hours a day.  At this point I know what I'm looking for.  So it's just a matter of finding it and making sure I meet the qualifications.  Yesterday I applied for one and also did the assessments right after.  Then this afternoon I got an email that "unfortunately" the position was no longer available.  LOL!  Wonder if they already had a candidate in mind and just posted the position for a day to meet equal opportunity requirements. 

[Batya33]

8 hours ago, beatlesfan77 said:

So far I've been doing at least four hours a day.  At this point I know what I'm looking for.  So it's just a matter of finding it and making sure I meet the qualifications.  Yesterday I applied for one and also did the assessments right after.  Then this afternoon I got an email that "unfortunately" the position was no longer available.  LOL!  Wonder if they already had a candidate in mind and just posted the position for a day to meet equal opportunity requirements. 

Could be a million reasons - waste of time to ponder.  I had similar experiences. To me it fell under the label of "job hunting".

[catfeeder]

On 2/7/2022 at 6:52 PM, beatlesfan77 said:

When you were not working, how did you structure your day and how many hours were spent on researching potential leads?

I started each morning early with a long fast walk. I followed with errands or other exercise before showering. I applied with temp and consulting agencies, setting in person interviews at a rate of at least 3 per week, starting with a radius of closest firms then working outward.

I viewed temp gigs as my ticket into exploring the cultures of local companies. From there I could apply 'within' for better jobs not published to the public.

However, things have changed. Virtual work is an option, so there are not real limits of local work unless that's desirable for you.