I have so little time! How do I find the time to hunt for a new job?

There are hundreds of sites that provide job hunting tips, but one of the questions I get most often is more basic. How do I find time for job hunting?

This is a question I hear often. And a question I have personally struggled with in the past as well. There are very few people who have hours of time available to them to hunt for a new job. The only time I ever had chunks of time to devote to job hunting was when I was suddenly laid off, and I don’t wish that on anyone. For most people, one of the main challenges of finding a new position is simply finding the time to hunt for that new career. How can you maximize the time you have?

Get the support of your family

When you start hunting for a new position, you will have to remove something from your very full plate to have the time to look for a new job. This means that your family and friends will likely be impacted. Make sure you communicate with the people you spend the most time with so that they can support you in this search. Job hunting is strenuous and can take a lot of time. (Most people hunt for a job for months, so know that before you begin – and share that with those whose support you need during this time.)

Agree to a plan. Maybe you can block out Saturday mornings. Maybe you will spend 3 hours on a Sunday afternoon at a coffee shop so you can focus. Perhaps you’ll wake up a bit earlier and do a little bit every morning over an extra cup of coffee – but then, you might need to go to bed a little earlier at night. If you have children, maybe it will involve hiring a babysitter one evening a week so you can get out of the house and do your planning. No matter what the plan is, though, you need to brainstorm and plan for it with your family members. Talk to them about why you are hunting for a new career and ask them for ideas. You might need to revisit the plan every week because of changing schedules in their lives as well, but keep the lines of communication open. The journey will be much easier when you know your closest allies are supporting you.

Find your focus!

I say this a lot. You will waste so much time if you just randomly start applying for all sorts of jobs that you think you could do. What do you want to do? That is the key question. Do not start applying for jobs until you know the direction you plan to take. You need to have a destination in mind to make sure you arrive at that destination. You don’t just want any old job. You want a job you can thrive in. That means knowing what to chase after.

Many teachers are not sure what other options are available to them. There are so many options, and it is really important to reflect on your own skills, needs, and desires to hone in on the best “destination” for you. Think about these key questions:

• What do you love about your current work?
• Are there certain aspects of your current situation that must change?
• What is your “must have” list? (Salary range? Benefits? Remote work, or work in a specific location? Flexibility?)
• What skills do you have that you want to be able to apply in your new position?
• Do you want to work in a non-profit or a corporate environment?

Then learn as much as you can about the different types of jobs open to you. There are many different roles you can explore. Research the different options. Learn about salary ranges, skills required, and what the role looks like on a day-to-day basis. Join LinkedIn groups to learn more and also network locally. You can also read my book or take my course, Preparing for Change to save time.

Whatever you do, do not skip this step! Spend lots of time here, or else you will waste months chasing something and getting nothing.

Hunting for that new role

Once you know what role you are seeking, set up LinkedIn, Indeed, and Glassdoor notifications for job openings with those career titles which will allow you to be notified via email when a new position with that title becomes available. This can save you a lot of time. You can also use my job board to locate jobs within a specific industry or area of focus.

Create a resume template that is easy to tweak for each role you apply for. You should not use just one resume for every role you apply for. Rather, you’ll want to add skills specific to the job that has been advertised. One idea is to create a Word document with bullet points for your hard and soft skills that you can copy and paste into each resume as you need to (although you will still need to adjust the wording in most cases.)

Plan to apply for no more than 2 jobs per day. With the time you do have, tweak your resume for each desired job to the posting. This will take time, but is worth it. You can use a resume analyzer tool like Jobscan for help.

Not sure how to build a great resume, use LinkedIn, speak to your skills, network, or prepare for an interview? You can participate in my On the Hunt course to get the help you need.

Don’t find the time. Make the time.

In the end, “finding” the time to hunt for a new job will never happen. You have to make the time. And to do that, you need the help of your friends and family. You will maximize the time you do make by spending the initial chunk of time finding what type of role you want to focus on. If you do these things, then you will speed up the process of finding your next right step.