5 Tips for Timing Your Job Search

5 Tips for Timing Your Job Search 5 Tips for Timing Your Job Search PinSpending your days throwing pencils at the ceiling out of boredom? Bummed out because you’re not home in time for dinner with the family, day after day after day? Are your hard-earned skills going to waste? Paycheck just a wee smaller than you’d like? Maybe it’s time to change jobs, or perhaps even change careers altogether. Often, if you’ve outgrown your job for whatever reason, it’s not difficult to figure out that the time has come to move on. But sometimes the signs are more subtle. Here are some tips for timing your job search: Take a test A simple true-or-false career  test  can help you figure out whether you should leave now, or bide your time. Factors in making career change decisions can be highly personal, of course salary, benefits, and increasingly, job flexibility. Assess your work-life balance It can be incredibly frustrating and disappointing to miss out on both the big and little moments at home dinner with the family, being home when kids get home from school, being at your child’s school play or sporting event. If your current job or career calls for you to put work first, that can be a truly clear signal that you have work-life issues, and might keep an eye out on flexible jobs  that fit your desired lifestyle. Exploit your job skills If you’re not using your carefully cultivated skills, or don’t have an opportunity to learn new skills, it’s definitely time to think about seeking out career opportunities that give you room to fly. Think about ways to infuse new energy and ideas into your job search. Beat back boredom Before you jump off the launching pad and into a new career, explore ways to battle burn-out in your current career, even while your planning your next move. Staying put for a while, and exploring new options part-time, could be a way to buy time and draw up a road map that gets you where you want to be. Ditch dying industries If you havent had a pay increase for a while, or if youre in an industry that has experienced waves of layoffs, it may be time to move your job search into high gear. Good luck in your search! Readers, in the past, how have you decided when its time to look for a new job or career? How did you start timing your job search?