Balancing a Job Search and Holiday Stress

Balancing a Job Search and Holiday StressBalancing a Job Search and Holiday StressWhat happens when you try to juggle sending out job applications and researching companies with shopping for presents and baking sugar cookies for the neighborhood exchange? Possibly an anxiety-provoking mess of holiday stress, if you arent careful.Job hunts and holiday preparations are both stressful on their own. Combining the two can make you feel like youre always being pulled in a different direction and not doing justice to either.The good news is that these important activities can go on side by side- if youre willing to get organized and cut yourself some slack.Heres how to balance a job search and holiday stressPrioritize.What holiday activities and traditions mean the most to you? Perhaps missing your daughters Nutcracker recital is out of the question, but not putting up outside lights this year would be tolerable.Likewise, which job search actions do you really need to accomplish now? Comple ting an application for the posting that sounds like it was written with you in mind might rank high, but finding contact information for hiring managers at places you want to cold call could wait until January. Prioritizing your job search tasks can help balance any holiday stress you may be feeling.Create a central calendar.With a solid sense of what you want to accomplish, start slotting tasks into openings. Give everything a space, starting with the things that are most crucial. This practice enables visualization of how youre using your time, and you may find that youre trying to do too much. Keeping records of professional and social/familial obligations in the saatkorn place can prevent unforeseen overlaps as well.Delegate.Trouble working everything in? Besides cutting back, another option is to find help. Ask your tech-savvy teen to scout the Internet for the best deal on that hot toy his brother wants. See if your parents could take the kids to a holiday matinee while you m ake some resume revisions. Accept your spouses offer to wrap presents, even if the edges do look a bit messy.Go with the flow.Youre definitely not the only person trying to pack a variety of things into a few weeks. Instead of worrying when that hiring manager will be back in the office or lamenting the lack of quality new job postings, look more at what is in your grasp.Lower your expectations, says Vicky Oliver, author of 301 Smart Answers to Tough Interview Questions.Realize that hiring managers are going to be doing their holiday shoppingand planning for their family get-togethers now. Very little progress will be made until the New Year. But its a great time for a job seeker to get organized. Take the time to research those companies, read back articles on the places to which you hope to apply, write those cover letters, and then stick them in your drafts folder.And dont forget about networking That fellow parent at the punchbowl during a choral concert, the equally bored shopp er waiting in the checkout line, other volunteers handing out toys to kids, and party-goers hoping someone else will break the ice at an alumni holiday mixer are all potential sources of leads.Know someone looking for a job? Refer a friend to with this link- youll get a month free service and theyll get 30% off