Job Search: Time Management

There is an old adage that "Looking for a job is harder than working." How true! The rigors of job search are magnified by the turmoil we experience: lack of self-confidence, humiliation, financial pressure, and the undercurrent of emotions that color all we do: fear, anger, depression, anxiety, loss.

One practical step we can take to lower the stress and conserve our energy for finding work, not feeding our bloated worries, is to manage our time effectively. Have you ever noticed that you get more chores done when you're busy? If time is limited, we squeeze in those extra demands because we know they have to get done by a deadline and we fear putting them off. When time is unlimited, such as when you take a few days off work, there is no pressure to rush-"I've got four days, I'll do it tomorrow." Suddenly, you are back at work and realize that you didn't accomplish half of what you had planned.

This lack of structure is magnified when you are unemployed. There is no pressure to get up, get dressed, get out of the house by a specific time. We know we have things to do. We need to update our resume, create some new cover letters, research some possible job openings. It is so hard to get started because we hate having to do it, we don't feel creative or excited about the whole prospect, and we dread having to go through the horrors of interviewing. We procrastinate, telling ourselves that when we are ready, it will just "flow." For a few hours, a few days, we'll just indulge ourselves and relax. When the end of the month arrives and we compare our diminishing bank balance to our multiplying bills, we mentally beat ourselves up for not having accomplished what we had so earnestly intended. Now we generate our own pressure, magnified by guilt and self-reproach. Stress levels and blood pressure rise. We feel resentful, angry, depressed. "I didn't ask to get into this situation. It's unfair. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it."

Adopting a reasonable schedule can avoid reaching this point. Try these ideas:

1. Take a day to do nothing but plan out what you are going to do, and when.

2. Concentrate on not over-committing yourself. You may be used to working 8 or more hours per day and think that is what you will now spend on job search. Remember that adage: your hunt for work is a lot more difficult than simply walking into a familiar employer and pursuing your daily routine. Recognize that and limit your job hunting to fewer hours per day.

3. If you rigorously limit your job hunt-related activities to 4 hours per day to start (you can always increase later), you may find yourself forced to stop before you are ready. This creates the impetus to get you going the following day -- you can hardly wait to get back to what you are working on.


4. When your "work time" is over, stop. Consciously focus your attention on relaxing: take a walk, read a book, throw a ball, watch television, whatever pleases you. You will be able to relax because you know you completed exactly what you planned. The guilt, and the sense of "I should have, I should be" no longer exist and you are free, for a short time anyway, to do anything you want.

5. Identify your priorities by looking at what day of the week is best for each kind of activity. If you are searching the classifieds, Sunday is the premium time to do it. If you are networking or cold calling, concentrate on the morning weekday hours. Agency visits, whether for temporary work or head hunting, can be relegated to the afternoons when employers are difficult to reach and already fatigued.

6. Analyze your own daily energy patterns and put them to work for you. Make sure that during your high energy periods you are "out there," contacting people and presenting yourself. Use your low energy times for solitary, mundane tasks: researching companies and jobs, organizing your paperwork, planning your next day's activities.

The inevitable stress of unemployment and job search can never be totally eliminated, but managing your time and being gentle with yourself can turn a painful situation into simply an uncomfortable nuisance.

Virginia Bola operated a rehabilitation company for 20 years, developing innovative job search techniques for disabled workers, while serving as a respected Vocational Expert in Administrative, Civil and Workers' Compensation Courts. Author of an interactive and emotionally supportive workbook, The Wolf at the Door: An Unemployment Survival Manual, and a monthly ezine, The Worker's Edge, she can be reached at http://www.virginiabola.com


More Resources

How to Think Like a Headhunter to Find Your Dream Job!
In this ever changing world, we need to think out of the box to get ahead. This true for anything you do in life.
Skills Make Labor More Valuable
As you know by now, if you have been a long time subscriber to our weekly E-zine, I'm a very big proponent of activity, labor and discipline. In fact I devoted one of the five major pieces to the life puzzle (in my book under the same name) to the subject of activity and labor.
The Top 10 Reasons to have a Career Coach
Many people in the last decade have experienced for themselves either a layoff or termination. Some of these people affected have experienced outplacement-consulting services.
Day Trading - The Ultimate Work-From-Home Job?
Ever dreamt of giving up the daily grind? Want to strike out on your own and work from home, but don't know what you could possibly do to make a living? Full time Nasdaq trader Harvey Walsh wondered just that, and now he asks "Is day trading the ultimate work from home job"?We've probably all had the same thought at some time or another, as we trudge off towards another day at work - the same work we've been doing day in day out for years - "surely there has to be a better way?" Slaving away to make somebody else rich just doesn't seem right somehow, but what alternative? Setting up a new business, or buying an established one, are both expensive and risky prospects. So how can the disenchanted employee ever hope to make the switch from wage-slave to total independence?Those are thoughts I had almost every day, before I quit the safety of full time employment and decided to strike out on my own.
Why One Word Answers are Bad News at Job Interviews
It takes a lot of time and effort to get invited to a job interview. Don't blow your chances by being misunderstood by the interviewer.
Five Biggest Resume Mistakes You Can Fix Yourself
A career consultant can diagnose and overhaul a troubledresume. But you can check off the basics yourself.
Counteroffers: Should I Stay or Should I Go?
If "resignation" is the word that strikes fear into all employers, then "counteroffer" is the one that strikes fear into an employee's heart. "What should I do? They've matched my offer?"It's Friday afternoon.
Get a Job! Tips for Organizing Your Resume
Whether you're a Vice President of Marketing or a recent college grad, your resume is the 'key' to opening the doors of employment. It is an employer's first impression of you and believe it or not, many hiring officials spend less than thirty seconds reviewing it.
Writing Resumes That Attract Your Perfect Job
Let me introduce you to Ben. He made it happenBen was a comptroller.
How to Make More Job Contacts Faster, through Viral Marketing
Are you in the job market? Sick of every blog-byte cramming down your throat that you have to get out there and network? Feel like your traditional networking efforts have turned into a self-destructive waste of time? Online Social Networking (OSN), a form of viral marketing, is a better way to hook up to opportunity. Done right, it'll do wonders for your self-esteem and warp-speed your contact development.
The 5 Essential Telecommute Résumé Components
1. An attractive layout that is easy to read and follow.
Career Advice On Freelance Writing Jobs
Sometimes the freelance writing jobs available are those that no one wants. Or, they are those that new businesses are looking to fill.
Practice Speaking
For many people, interviewing is not a natural act any more than going on a blind date is. You are asked a bunch of questions about your work.
A Career in Image Consulting
You might have seen them while watching TV shows such as Extreme Makeover, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, or What Not to Wear. Or you might have heard that Martha Stewart needed them to give her advice on how to look sympathetic to a jury.
Signs of a Healthy Work Environment
There's no denying that a healthy work environment is a top concern for most employees. Review any employee satisfaction survey and you're apt to find this issue among the top five concerns of your staff - sometimes above the issue of pay.
Seminars: Why Are They Popular, and What Advantages/Disadvantages Are There to Attending One?
Seminars dealing with "special topics" have actually been around for decades, and are an older form of marketing and information exchanges, that have seen quite a resurgence of interest in the past ten years.Seminars are simply a group of people coming together for the discussion and learning of specific techniques and topics.
Using Journal to Support Your Job Search
Are you searching for a job? Here are some tips on how youcan use journaling in that pursuit.It is important to know what we are looking for in aposition and company.
Your First Job
"Your first job is an extension of your education"Fresh out of college. Loads of dreams.
Prepare for YOUR Future now --
All Presidential candidates (before and after) make all kinds of promises about YOUR 'social security' when running for the top job. Regardless of the promises, YOU are the one who has to live or die by the future plans made on your behalf.
How Important Is It To Stand Apart From Others In An Interview And How Difficult Is It?
Any professionally trained interviewer can attest these questions are the most asked by people involved with job-hunting. How important is it? Absolutely vital! ? How difficult is it? Not hard at all.

More Careers & Employment Information:

Related Articles

Beat the Crowd with Winning Resume Cover Letters
Far too many people underestimate the importance of resume cover letters. In a sense, a well written cover letter works like an agent on your behalf.
Dont Forget to Say, Thank You
One of the biggest mistake for job seeks is to not follow up an important interview with a thank you note to the people who interviewed them. Human Resources experts note that as few as 10% of interviewees take the time to say, "thank you.
5 Things You Need To Know Before Deciding On A Certification Training
The right certification trainingTrainings vary a lot when it comes to quality. It's essential to choose your certification training provider based on things such as the quality of materials, trainers' competence and skills, counseling facilities, track record etc.
Careers-Changing Jobs: The Fantasy of the Ideal Job
Most people would agree that the concept of a job today is vastly different from that of 20 years ago. Organisations are changing at speed, technology has changed the face and pace of work, and globalisation is pushing every business to examine it's operations in a totally different context.
Home Healthcare Careers
One of the fastest growing sectors of the medical industry is that of home health. There are many reasons for this growth, but most important are:The number of aging and infirm citizens in the country.
7 Steps To A Job-Winning Resume
A new resume can jump-start your career. Your network contacts may ask for a resume and some industries absolutely, positively demand a resume as the price of admission.
Reinventing Yourself for Multiple Careers
In many countries around the globe, people are born into their station in life and hence their professions. It is unnecessary for them to plan a career as they are expected to perform one specific job their entire lives.
Hey! - Are You Being Paid What You Are Worth?
Are you being paid what you are worth? Has anybody ever asked you that? Have you ever asked yourself?The answer to this question really hinges on another question: "Do you work for a boss or do you work for yourself?"If you work for a boss the answer must be a resounding NO! You see, you cannot possibly be paid what you are worth because your boss is being paid what you are worth. He or she then pays you at a discounted rate.
How To Win the Job-Hunting Game
When I got over the initial shock of being urged to "seek alternative employment" I found myself, like so many others, out beating the bushes looking for a job. I found that I was just another one of the sheep following the same traditional job-hunting procedures as everyone else.
How to Access Employers through Proposal Marketing
Use Proposal Marketing and you'll be your own hot spot, opening gateways previously inaccessible. Hook up with those who have the power to hire you.
Learn How to Throw a Boomerang
Actually, "the boomerang effect" is a relatively new trend of inviting back talented former employees into the fold.Surveys indicate 12% of employers cautiously admit they would re-hire ex-employees (alumni).
Personality Testing; Myth and Realities
It is commonly believed myth that personality testing instruments can measure your personality and predict your future behaviors. The pre-employment testing mechanism has been following this creed without any solid evidence.
Career Change - Emotional Intelligence for Knowledge Workers?
Nowadays we can expect to survive the second half of our lives and as our work is knowledge-based - we knowledge workers are not finished after 30 years on the job - Are we merely bored?There are three ways to develop another career: The first way is to really start a career. Our original career decision (at school or college) may have been simply around 'getting a job to make some money' or just to 'get into the job market' in some way.
Are You a Nice Person? What Companies are Looking for in Recruiting and Retaining Great People
Hal Rosenbluth, author of The Customer Comes Second, states; "In our selection process, kindness, caring, compassion, and unselfishness carry more weight than years on the job, an impressive salary history, and stacks of degrees."Does your company hire these types? Are you one of them? Take the following quiz to see if you are:Agree Disagree1.
Top Ten Networking Strategies To Get A Job, A Promotion, Or Make A Sale
Whether you are networking to find a new job opportunity, gain a promotion, or close a sale, you have two main goals with the networking interaction:1. To be remembered so that when opportunities appear, people will think of you as the perfect person to handle things,2.
Difficult Relationships at Work - Dealing with Workplace Conflict
Difficult Relationships at Work - How to Influence the UncooperativeWe rely on and spend more time with our colleagues than with most other people in our lives: yet we frequently experience conflict at work. This is a problem that is beginning to be recognised, but it is still not being dealt with either effectively or sufficiently.
Career Success: Get Ahead of the Crowd
Regardless of where you open your briefcase or palm pilot each day - at a large corporation, a small business or the end of your dining room table - the key to staying employable the rest of your life is your own creative action. The person who is going to be successful is not going to succeed just because of good work.
Ten Careers For High School Seniors Who Hate School
Let's face it?not everybody likes going to school and high school can be a terrible experience for many students. Whether you're the hands on type who preferred Shop class to English class, or an athlete who liked working as a team more than studying alone, or even someone who liked schoolwork more than schoolmates; the idea of four more years of school is unbearable.
Job Interviews -- The Four Worst Objections You'll Face and How to Deal with Them
Dealing with tough questions and objections is an essential part of job interviews. Here are four common ones that derail many candidates.
The Career Athlete: What It Takes to Manage Your Career
Managing your career, just like managing your life, requires preparation and ensuring that your time is directed meaningfully. Don't wait and see; make things happen.