When you're already working full-time and balancing other responsibilities, like taking care of kids or other loved ones, adding more to your schedule might be difficult. So, what do you do when you need a new job yesterday but can't commit hours every day to the search?

The approach is to get up close and personal with your daily calendar and focus on tiny chores that can be completed in short periods.

6 Steps to Job Searching When You Don't Have Time

Following the techniques described below will help you figure out where you're spending (and wasting) time, breaking out small amounts of time to make steps toward your larger goals, and improving your focus.

1. Perform a Time Audit

When your schedule is jam-packed, it can be difficult to see where you can squeeze in even five minutes more. Doing a time audit for a week before you start your job search is one of the finest strategies to map out and assess your time. A time audit can be one of the most empowering things you do, not only for your job search but also to give you a sense of control over your life and your time.

The premise is simple, but it requires some repetition and attention. You want to keep track of every 15-minute time slot for an entire week. Some people may prefer a time-tracking program, although a simple spreadsheet would suffice. You will take notes on how you spend every 15 minutes of your day.

You don't need to document longer periods, such as while you're sleeping and working, because you won't be looking for work during those hours. Therefore, you should plan out how you use your time when you wake up, during breaks and lunches, and until bedtime. Most people find that setting a timer on their phones to remind them to document their time is beneficial.

 2. Find Minutes, Not Hours

The idea here is to locate short periods that you can rewind. For example, you may believe that your nights are full, but your time audit reveals that you were drawn in by a Facebook notice, which cost you 25 minutes of browsing before you recognized it.

Instead, your time audit may find that you're preparing identical lunches every night and might combine your efforts into one longer session on Sunday. You might now have an extra 10 minutes each night that you didn't have before.

3. Pay Attention to Small, Important Activities

If you're only concerned with major activities, such as revising your complete CV or applying to five new employers, 10 minutes may seem insufficient. Yet, when you focus on small, bite-sized bits of more complex activities, 10 to 15 minutes can be productive.

Consider the following tasks that you can do in those limited time slots:

• Add intelligent comments to a LinkedIn post.
• Join a LinkedIn group to share industry news.
• Request a referral from a previous manager.
• Examine a company's social media platforms and "About" page.
• Customize your resume summary for a specific role.
• Investigate everyday job posts on a certain job board.
• Write a thank-you email to the recruiter or hiring manager.

4. Create SMART Goals

Setting SMART goals, in addition to identifying hidden pockets of time, is an important component of the equation. If you haven't researched goal setting in a while, SMART objectives are:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Relevant
• Timely (or Time-sensitive) (or Time-sensitive)

When you make a SMART goal, you explain what you need to do, when you need to do it, and how you intend to do it.

For example, you may set aside 10 minutes before work to search your preferred job boards and mark at least one job for further consideration. Next, during your 15-minute mid-morning break, you may examine that company's social media and website. Using this process, you may return in the evening to modify your CV for the specific position even though you are not concentrating on what you need to do, and how you will accomplish it.

For instance, you can schedule 10 minutes before work to scour your favorite job boards and mark at least one job for follow-up. You could then devote your 15-minute mid-morning break to researching that company’s social media and website. Following this pattern, you could circle back in the evening to tailor your resume to the job at hand. Although you’re not focusing you'll have dedicated an hour each day to one high-quality job submission.

5. Schedule Time to Schedule

The goal is to be completely clear on your objective before your time comes. This allows you to be as productive as possible rather than attempting to find out how to spend your time best. For the greatest impact, plan out how you'll spend your time before you start your day or approach any designated time.

That could entail spending 15-30 minutes on Sundays organizing your workweek schedule. Instead, if your schedule varies from day to day, you may have greater success establishing a job search task list each night before you step away.

Pay Attention

To get the most out of your limited time, you must be completely absorbed in your activity. Sometimes it's easier said than done, Even so, do your best to prevent distractions from occurring.

If you're a parent, this could mean choosing a favorite read-aloud channel on YouTube or reserving special toys or coloring books for that time of day.

For most of us, focusing our attention also entails turning off our phones and silencing our notifications for 15 minutes. Analyze what frequently diverts your attention, then devise a strategy to avoid those distractions before they occur.

6. Taking Control of Your Spare Time When You Have None

Employment searching can be time-consuming and tedious. Attempting to organize a job hunt when your life is already chaotic can be difficult and demoralizing if you only focus on the important chores that must be completed. You might be amazed at how much progress you can make by concentrating on your job search goals in small pieces of time rather than large portions.

Another strategy to achieve success is to delegate part of your responsibilities. At home, this could mean ordering pizza on some nights or asking your partner to cook a few nights a week. Another option to allocate your time is to delegate some of your job search chores to someone else.
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