I’ve been thinking about Monday’s post about how much time we spend in a job search… the question is WHY?
I know why I spent a lot of time in a job search… I was HUNGRY, and wanted to be able to support my growing family (my wife was pregnant :)) and pay my own bills. My career path didn’t include “unemployment,” and I was desperate to get back on track!
But I know it is not easy – here are a few reasons why people might not spend 8 hours every day looking for a job:
- It is lonely and thankless. I remember being ON MY OWN in my job search – just like you. People as how it’s going but in reality all of the burden of getting a job rests on you. At work you could finish a project and get some kind of recognition but in a job search there’s not much recognition (until you get a job!).
- It is drudgery. It. Is. No. Fun. Right? It really wasn’t fun for me until I learned how to network, and focused more on relationships than me, me, me.
- Busy tasks don’t produce much. I personally spent about 8 hours a day on job boards. I felt very busy/productive, but I got no results. It was crazy…. I could spend 8 minutes on job boards or 8 hours and get the same results… why not just spend 8 minutes?
- Maybe the economy is in my way. I might be the best person to do the job but if there are no jobs, why try? Of course there *are* jobs, but it sure doesn’t feel like it!
- There are so many other things to do. Laundry. Painting, the lawn, catch up on family time, or sleep! There are so many easy things you can do then get back and send one more resume out.
- We don’t really know what we are doing. Why spend time doing something that might be considered spinning our wheels? If you are doing a lot of the wrong thing, do you get anywhere?
What might be keeping YOU from spending more time in a job search?
