Please share your advice!

11 Comments

1. AnonymousAugust 23,2023 at 1:53PM UTC

   Take screening calls at lunch in your car and see if you can come in late or early on days you need to take an interview. Get dressed, and park down the street for early or late zoom calls in your car. Get a laptop stand for your car (on Amazon ) and have a "doctors " appointment for the in person interviews. You can figure this out.

2. AnonymousAugust 25,2023 at 6:21AM UTC

   I took a job in retail working 4pm-10pm or 2pm-10pm to cover my bills while looking for my next career position. It’s perfect, my days are free to schedule interviews and apply for work and my evenings are spent being productive and busy.

3. April LineAugust 24,2023 at 12:09PM UTC

   Right, but what's the point of a job that pays the bills if it's c*ck blocking you from finding the right fit elsewhere.

   Is there another option? Can you work part time in a couple places that would give you enough flexibility to do the work of finding a new job (and boy is it work!).

   If not, use PTO to attend job fairs, schedule interviews as early or late in the day as possible and let your supervisors know you'll be in late or leave early for an appointment. It's not their business what kind.

4. GirlBossanova934974August 24,2023 at 12:20PM UTC

   Do your job search very early in the morning and take your calls at lunch time from your car.

5. Zofia JaneczekAugust 24,2023 at 4:16PM UTC

   The problem with the current job market is we're definitely in a recession of some type. It's taking longer to find meaningful and decent paying work. Many of those jobs are gone or hiding behind some gatekeeper! Sadly, taking a job, just to survive is something many people have to do. Sometimes you get "trapped" in such a job for way longer than anticipated. That's exactly what happened to me, I couldn't get anything for over 2 years. I also just got laid off, they went out of business. Like you, I found it extremely hard to add part-time work or to find anything onto the survival job. It was practically impossible. It's not you, many employers just don't pay enough, this is a cold hard fact! Minimum with inflation added should be $20 an hour! It can take months to find a halfway decade job, whatever is out there isn't very good, or so it seems. Try not to get discouraged and keep going. Try not to take the current job home with you, it will make your time off miserable. Use AI automation for job searching whenever possible, LinkedIn, I believe has a feature. You sound like you're in a professional job, I wasn't so I can't use that route to find work. There are others out there that can crank out a few hundreds applications a week, they're not free but you're employed and can probably afford the fee. Use AI whenever possible to help with cover letters and targeted resumes. If there are any professional events in your area especially on the weekends or your days off, I would definitely attend them to network. Especially, if you're good with people, you may just find your next job. Good luck with everything. Things will change and something else will happen to give you a better opportunity.

6. maria roseAugust 24,2023 at 4:29PM UTC

   Even the worst of jobs has a schedule, including those times as mentioned when unexpectedly to extend the work day. You can predict/ guesstimate this. Yeah I know, in today’s world of upcoming workers, working with instead of against this control of your personal time is contrary to getting the preferred schedule to be able to work and also look for a new job. Especially since quite clearly the income earned from this present job is needed to maintain your current lifestyle. In other words it is a necessity job not a “dream job”. You need to realize that job hunting for the “better job” is going to be a long term search for that “better fit” job and along the way you will learn to distinguish between the various workplace what types of jobs you feel most comfortable in. You will realize that there’s no “perfect job “ but there are plenty of jobs that allow you to have a personal life beyond the workplace.

   As far as dealing with your workplace schedule and finding time to search for a new job, the other commenters gave you some options for doing that which means that you seriously need to be flexible with your time management and to utilize your personal time whenever it occurs to allow yourself dedicated time to search, arrange for interviews, get interviews, etc during your time off from work ( and that includes your break time at work). If you don’t do this , because you don’t want to compromise your personal time when not at work, you will run into the danger of losing your current job and there is nothing worse than having no income, despite the illusion that you can survive adequately without a paid job and will get government benefits. Those benefits will never equal or surpass your earned income and having them will lessen your attitude to finding that better job. I may sound harsh because I’m not pushing for more time off from work as a solution to your job search but asking for more time off means losing income earnings and you did say you need this income until you find the better job. In other words don’t bite the hand / job that currently pays you. Once you find the better job, then you’ll have the time to put in your notice and phase out. So take out a calendar, plan out your time, put in your regularly scheduled workday and find all your free time periods and schedule your time accordingly. You probably are sending out more applications than you are getting calls for interviews and a company that expects you to instantaneously schedule an interview is already a red button indicator of a poor workplace. Good luck with your job search

7. AnonymousAugust 24,2023 at 8:13PM UTC

   Not sure what you do but is there any way to ask for 1 remote day per week? You could take interviews at lunch or juggle things better that way. Good luck!

8. AnonymousAugust 24,2023 at 8:13PM UTC

   Max out at 8 hours per day no matter which 8 it is. Don't get to the burnout phase and perhaps use the AM times to look for work. At these events introduce yourself to others let them see your work ethic in person ( this is an advantage) and see if any of them have needs on their teams for someone like yourself.

9. AnonymousAugust 26,2023 at 11:33AM UTC

   Any Marketing folk out there? What are you experiencing in the job market? I am a seasoned marketing and design professional as well as a leader. I’ve worked and helped several small to mid sized companies and was recently laid off due to massive budget cuts. I’m not motivated to go to a smaller company again for this reason. I have a broad amount of experience, still certain industries won’t look at me because I don’t have experience in their specific business. For example, healthcare where the jobs are plenty in the area I live in. It seems that companies don’t understand that when you are at a certain level of understanding different businesses models you become a quick study at learning new ones. Marketing principles apply in a lot of the same ways across the board and knowing which tools and channels to use comes with experience. Not sure what my point is other than venting some frustration about the screening, hiring process of a lot of companies. Do they seriously think we’re not bright enough to understand and move into their business model? Companies often say they want good people over everything but yet many don’t give you a conversation. Also, the communication is often bad, UNLESS they are pursuing you, for whatever reason. What happened to giving EVERYONE the respect of honest, direct and quick responses. No time, too busy in your HR or recruiting role? No one knows how to update your automated responses to make them more timely and respectful?

   I honestly think I could make a fortune coaching businesses on how to treat prospective employees. However, do they even think they have a need for help? A lot here I know.

10. AnonymousSeptember 7,2023 at 1:26PM UTC

    I hope you find what you looking for.

11. Annetta MosesAugust 28,2023 at 5:42AM UTC

    Be honest with recruiters. As a hiring manager, I have conducted interviews before 8:00 a.m. and after 6:00 p.m. and on Saturdays to fit my schedule around that of a candidate who was working and who didn't want her current employer to know she was looking for another job. If you want to attend a job fair, see if you can take a half day vacation.

    Good luck with your job search.