{"id":32144,"date":"2013-07-22T12:15:10","date_gmt":"2013-07-22T16:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=32144"},"modified":"2013-07-15T21:52:06","modified_gmt":"2013-07-16T01:52:06","slug":"adjusting-the-sails-managing-temporary-disruptions-in-my-job-search","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=32144","title":{"rendered":"Adjusting the Sails: Managing Temporary Disruptions in My Job Search"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Claire Schmieder, Head Editor, INALJ New Jersey<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Adjusting the Sails: Managing Temporary Disruptions in My Job Search<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"ClaireSchmieder\"<\/a>I have two elementary-aged sons, who, until a few weeks ago, were busy all day at school. Now, they are home for summer. Yikes! I was able to stay at home with them (for the most part) from ages zero to five, and I was well aware that summer vacation was coming, so you\u2019d think I\u2019d be ready for this temporary return to stay-at-home-momdom.<\/p>\n

Not so much.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve noticed my job applications have dropped off, my attention span has shrunk, and my job searching time has dwindled to late night (when my brain kinda shuts off) and\/or weekends. I love my boys – they are curious, smart, and hilarious. But, not surprisingly, they also demand a lot of my attention. During the school year, they are in the capable hands of their teachers all day, which leaves me with time to volunteer, work part time, research jobs, write cover letters, and prep for interviews. I have a new (but thankfully temporary) reality – I can\u2019t do many of these things while they are at home for the summer. Finances don\u2019t allow me to volunteer on-site since that work doesn\u2019t exactly bring home the bacon required to pay a babysitter. And, writing cover letters is really hard when you have a six-year-old asking you questions every 90 seconds.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, mom, how many tornadoes happen in Texas every year?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHey, mom, why can\u2019t I have a pet Komodo dragon?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHey, mom, how many miles are there between New Jersey and Australia?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHey, son, can I get an hour to write a cover letter?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

The more important question I\u2019ve been grappling with is this – how can I stay on top of my game while temporarily out of the game?<\/b> This has proven a bit of a challenge for me so far, but I\u2019m learning valuable lessons.<\/p>\n

Lesson 1: It\u2019s OK for me to ask for help. <\/b>I\u2019ve built a pretty great local support system, and now I\u2019m learning how to use it. Occasionally, I ask a trusted family member\/friend\/concerned citizen to take my kids off your hands for a few daytime hours here or there so I can write a\u00a0 cover letter. I\u2019m also working on setting up play date swaps with some of the other stay-at-home moms I know – I\u2019ll take their kids for a few hours one day, and on another day they\u2019ll take mine.<\/p>\n

Lesson 2: Accept that I just can\u2019t be as productive right now.<\/b> Sigh. This has been a hard one for me. I enjoy engaging in professional development, writing, reading, and researching. In fact, those activities are part of how I define myself as a person. So when I can\u2019t fully engross, I don\u2019t feel like myself. But, guess what? There\u2019s not much I can do about the loss of my daytime hours for the time being. Guess what else? This won\u2019t last forever – school starts in 7 weeks, and I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019ll survive.<\/p>\n

Lesson 3: Decide what\u2019s most important to me right now<\/b> and use my available time for that. I\u2019ve had to give up a few beautiful weekends to write cover letters. But I felt so much better after sending in those applications. And, because it\u2019s hard for me to participate in webinars (something I love), I\u2019ve opted to enroll in a MOOC<\/a>, which will allow me to learn and engage in a way that works well for my current schedule.<\/p>\n

In other words, I\u2019m making the best of a less than ideal situation for my job search. You better believe I\u2019m counting down the days until my sons\u2019 return to school, though.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Claire Schmieder, Head Editor, INALJ New Jersey Adjusting the Sails: Managing Temporary Disruptions in My Job Search I have two elementary-aged sons, who, until a few weeks ago, were busy all day at school. Now, they are home for summer. Yikes! I was able to stay at home with them (for the most part)…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[233,3592,3858,3632,4960,4961,4962],"class_list":["post-32144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-articles-2","tag-blog","tag-claire-schmieder","tag-inalj-new-jersey","tag-interruptions","tag-job-search-disruptions","tag-job-searching-with-kids"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-8ms","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32144\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}