Your full-time job-seeker schedule is here

KUWAIT: Irrespective of whether you have recently become unemployed or have just taken your first step into job seeking for the first time, the lack of structure that comes with being unemployed can be detrimental to your job hunt. There are many harmful daily practices that you probably won’t realize are eating away huge chunks of your time and motivation. For example, sleeping in, staying in your pajamas all day or browsing through social media when you should be buckling down and focusing as much of your time possible on the job hunt. It is time to treat the job search as a full-time job in itself.

While it is true that you do not have a direct report or a boss to keep you on the edge of your seat, but you should be the CEO of your own life and provide yourself with focus, discipline and motivation. Refrain from succumbing to the illadvised routine of staying up all night, lazing in bed for hours looking through social media notifications, hanging around in your sweatpants all day and looking for jobs now and then between episodes of your favorite series. Searching for a job is an all-day exercise, so you will need to keep your energy levels high and your finger off the sneaky snooze button.

To help make things easier for you, Bayt.com, the Middle East’s #1 Job Site, has come up with your schedule! Remember that even a good routine can be monotonous, so if you feel yourself getting tired of the schedule, don’t be afraid to move things around to keep yourself upbeat.

7:00-8:00 am: Get your

early bird worm

You should get into the habit of starting your day early. Starting at 7:00 AM will give your day a good start and keep you structured. There’s about an hour leeway here where you should have a good, balanced breakfast, drink that coffee you’ve been thinking about from the second you woke up, and get dressed. Do not be tempted to just wear your sleepwear and make sure you dress nicely. This will keep you from crawling onto the couch or into bed throughout the day.

8:00-9:00 am: Start your mornings right They say a healthy body makes a healthy mind, but, more importantly, starting your day with some fitness will give you energy and give your body the kick start it needs.

9:00-10:00 am: Look around You should dedicate around an hour minimum daily toward looking for jobs. Keep track of anything that interests you. Through Bayt.com, you can find thousands of jobs, save them for later, email them to yourself, print them and ask for similar jobs to be sent directly to you. This should make it easier for you to compile a list as time goes on. You can file these jobs however you prefer, whether you’re the type of person to print each job posting out or compile it neatly in a word document. This will help you keep track of all the jobs that interest you and make sure you don’t miss anything.

10:00-11:00 am: Review your CV Take a break from looking through jobs in order to look over your CV again. After reading the job descriptions, you might want to add certain buzzwords to your CV and improve your chances. If you have not updated your CV in a while, now might be a good time to freshen it up. The fresher the CV, the more attractive you are as a candidate. In fact, employers can filter out old CVs with one click so make sure your CV always makes it to the fresh pile.

11:00-11:20 am: BREAK

It’s time to take a breather. Get up, stretch your legs, look through the notifications you have been ignoring and unwind for about 20 minutes before you get back to work.

11:20 am -13:00 pm: Get in

some self-development Dedicate at least an hour and a half of your day to taking online tests and courses. Honing your soft skills will only make you shine more as a candidate for a job. You should also use this time to learn more about the companies that interest you and familiarize yourself with their company culture, products and values. This will only make you more prepared if you get an interview, or choose to write a cover letter.

13:00-15:00 pm: Lunch Don’t eat at home by yourself every day. Make time to see friends and family at least three times a week. Unemployment can get lonely, and loneliness leads to negative feelings which, in turn, could put a slump in your daily routine. Make sure you have time daily to pursue your other interests.

15:00-17:00 pm: Get applying You should dedicate at least two hours of your day every day to applying for jobs. Pull out that list you compiled earlier in the day and begin. Make sure to write customized cover letters to improve your chances. Review your CV, cover letter, and anything you else you might be sending for embarrassing typos and grammatical mistakes. Make sure to include these optional items that add the edge to your application, answer any questionnaires, and give each application your 100 percent.

17:00-18:00 pm: Network In your last hour, you should focus your time on networking. Building a network of professional contacts is critical for business success. All you need is a public profile on Bayt.com and you will be connected to millions of professionals across the MENA region and the world.

Your day of job seeking should end around the same time a work day does. While there will be times where you will put in overtime, the evenings are for resting. Watch your favorite show, read a book or go out with friends. Remember, there are 10,000+ jobs available on Bayt.com on any given day for you.