Scenes from a Job Search

Evidently the economy and I are not of the same mind set lately. I was sure that the job market would be picking up quickly after March 1 with many companies starting new quarters and fiscal years.  I was wrong. So I am in about the ninth week of my job search and I'm staying relatively peaceful and serene through the process.  Here's a quick layout of a day in the life of a job searcher and maybe this will help you with your own search.

Wake Up at the Same Time - Every Day!

It helps to have kids who need to get on the schoolbus or else I may never get out of bed.  But once I am awake and get the kids on the bus, I stay up. I do not go back to sleep no matter how tired I am.  If I was working, I wouldn't have that luxury (although many people were known to perfect the art of sleeping with their eyes open at my last job).  Since looking for a job has now become my job, I treat it as I would any other job and I give it my all. 

Routines are Important

These are keeping my job search on target and are keeping me focused. I check my email accounts first to see who wants to hire me usually followed by periods of banging my  head because nobody does (just kidding - about the head thing anyway).  I check the job boards but I use www.indeed.com because I refuse to search through all of them when this site does it for you.  I then check www.Craigslist.com because sometimes indeed doesn't catch those jobs.  Then I move onto facebook, Twitter, and linkedin.  I update my status because I want to make sure I am in the forefront of every one of my connection's minds.  Then I check my Yahoo account because that is where the writing jobs are sent (to my mailbox). 

BYOC

What's that?  BYOC = Be Your Own Cheerleader.  That's what I do - I stay positive by remembering all the things I have today.  I don't dwell on what I don't have. I am grateful that I have an opportunity to write freelance and that I have many networking groups to attend.  When I ran out of networking groups to attend, I started my own. Had a good group too and I received positive feedback from everyone who attended and who presented.

Get Out

I mean get out of the house but you can also get out of town, whatever works. I simply do better when I treat my job search as a real job complete with lunch breaks, visits to the local cafe and mini-breaks thoughout the day to chat with friends.  Unfortunately, the bulk th this last one is done via IM or phone calls but it is still chatting and they are still my friends.  Today I am going to take a break and take Clay the dog to get his nails cut. 

Do Your Part

Many years ago I reached the conclusion that I am not responsible for the outcome of anything.  I am only responsible for the effort I put into any given task.  So I  use that philosophy when I am in the midst of the job search.  I do my part to find a job and earn money and I simply leave the rest up to God and the Universe.  This takes tremendous faith but I have been practicing it for a long time so it sort of comes natural. (Note - this does not mean I do it perfectly - quite the opposite at times.)  I read blogs and join forums so I can stay on top of the writing field.  I network, reach out to friends and I just pretty much show up every day grateful to be here and have my needs met and willing to accept whatever happens because I know from experience that however it turns out is how it's meant to be. 

So that works for me - I stay sane albeit unemployed. But I do accept that as temporary and I am grateful for the extra time. I have found creative, inexpensive ways to have fun with my kids (instead of renting a condo at the beach, we took the train to Washington for Spring Break and scoped out all the free museums), And I have found my writing voice which I had lost while I was working for a big corporation. And for that, I'll be forever grateful as it came in the form of a lousy economy and I wouldn't have recognized it unless I had my eyes wide open.