Tag: job-search

Creating a routine that keeps you grounded

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When you are unemployed, it is tempting to sleep until 10:00 am (or later) and lounge around a good part of the day watching daytime television between job applications. After all, job hunting is exhausting and draining.

Yes, it is, but that is not a good idea.

Unemployed people still need a sense of routine in their lives. A person without a routine is in for a rude awakening once they do land a job and have to adjust to having one.

If you are without a job, how do you create a routine that keeps you grounded during your job search? Your idea of a routine may be different from mine, and your mileage may vary.

  1. Get up at the same time every day, including weekends. (And by this, I don’t mean 10:00 am or later. I mean a time when people with jobs get up.) You did this when you were working, so don’t stop now. You will need this consistency when you have a job again.
  • Sit down in front of the computer and begin the job hunt at the same time every day. This ensures that the job search actually gets done.
  • Set a goal of how many jobs to which to apply each day. Maybe you can only apply to one per day without going insane. If that’s the case, then make one job your goal for the day. There will be days when you don’t find anything for which you qualify. If that happens, just walk away from the computer, have a good cry, and know that you have tried your best. (However, don’t give up until you have been looking for at least a few hours.)
  • You need not eat lunch and/or dinner at the same time every day, but please put some food in your system during days when you job hunt. (I understand that, with many people out of work and SNAP running out of money, you may not be able to eat lunch and/or dinner. If that is your case, please reach out to your local food bank or church.)
  • Remember: It’s okay to have a good cry once in a while.

In a nutshell, what routine keeps you grounded during your job search?

Caution: Drainage ahead

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Based on what I’ve seen on LinkedIn lately, a lot of people are looking for work—whether they have been laid off, fired, or have just graduated from college or graduate school.

I have to say that I know how they feel, having been in a few periods of job-hunting myself. And I can honestly say that job-hunting drains you.

You search the job boards or company “careers” sites intensely for hours, clicking on a job title that sounds promising, only to read the qualifications and find out that this job is here (holding hand above head) and you are here (holding hand at chest level). Or you find a great-looking one and realize that it is three hours from your home, and you wonder how desperate you are. Your heart can only sink so many times before you break down and cry.

You tailor your resume to the job for which you are applying, and this requires some brain power. You try to make each item under each past job sound not only professional but spectacular. You want to make sure your resume stands out, but you know in your heart that this position is going to garner hundreds, if not thousands, of resumes, and you wonder if a human being will ever see yours.

If you are like me, you write your cover letters yourself, rather than using AI to write them. This can be very tiring, as you must tailor each letter to the position for which you are applying. You jot down in a notebook what attributes in the qualifications you have, and in the letter, you try to highlight each one with professional-sounding, fancy language. You try to accentuate your accomplishments without making the letter too long. And let’s face it—writing the sentence “I look forward to hearing from you” really gets old after a while.

If you are blessed enough to get an interview, you spend a ton of time preparing for it, and after it’s over, you write the thank-you email and wait. Then you follow up a week later. Then you hear nothing. Or you eventually get that love letter in your email inbox informing you that “we have decided to pursue other candidates.”

This is my own experience, although I have successfully landed jobs before.

What’s the most draining thing for you about job-hunting?