What Do You Do With All That “Free” Time or A Day in the Life of A job Hunter by Susan Murphy

Without going too political I want to say how offended I feel when I see news articles, political candidates and Facebook commentary belittling people who are on unemployment and calling them lazy, or a drain on society.  If you have never been in the position of having your livelihood go away, be sure to thank the Lord for you are very blessed. If you are like the many, many, many of us who have to get through a rough patch and look for new, meaningful work, than you will know how big a job it is to job hunt.  So for the under-educated on the world of job hunting I present Tip #8: A day in the life of a job hunter:

5:30 am - Get up, feed cat and get sons up to drive them to archery practice at the High School.

6:05 am - Call unemployment line to check in and go through the long list of questions to be able to get your unemployment benefits for that week (benefits you earned by the way)

6:15 am - Grab a quick breakfast and bring it to your computer to check today's job listings on a vast number of sites you put together.

7:45 am – After sprucing yourself up head downtown to volunteer at a networking breakfast. Volunteering is your payment into the event that day thanks to great people who run the organization.

11:00 am – Whip on over to the local Workforce Center to take a class on Job Hunting Over 50, Advanced Excel, Resumes, Interviews, Advanced LinkedIn, etc., etc., etc. You name it, I’ve taken them all.

1:00 pm Zip home to grab something to eat and make a series of calls to set up appointments to find ways to lower your car insurance and find health care for the upcoming months, or anything else that might make your bills go down.

2:00 pm Work on any applications to jobs you found that morning and submit.  This includes writing a killer cover letter and updating your resume to be pertinent to the work.

2:25 pm Stop for a few minutes to say hi to your son coming back from school and see how his day went. (Sometimes this time becomes driving other son to his job or picking up younger son from afternoon activities.  Return to job applications. Continue with applications and submit.

4:45 pm to 6:00 pm Cook dinner for sons and eat together whenever possible.

   

6:30 to 8:30 pm Attend a weekly career support job search seminar.

9:00 to 10:30 pm Help son with his homework by drilling him on vocabulary, reading over an essay and/or listening to his presentation for the next day. One of the highlights of your day.

10:30 to 11:30 pm Do dishes, hand washing, clean cat box or whatever little chores you still have energy for.

Midnight or maybe 1:00 am Climb into bed and read for a bit to try get your mind to relax and let go of the day.

Next day: Rinse, swish, repeat.

You get the picture.  This is not an exaggeration but a page out of my calendar.  Job searching is hard work so be kind to others who are in the midst of it and for heaven’s sake, you job searchers be kind to yourself!

Determinedly yours, Susan