The time to apply for work is when you have a job.
I have seen this axiom proven many times over with people who are looking for new jobs. Despite my recommendation to secure a new job before quitting the old, a fair number quit and plan to start looking for work two weeks and a day later.
The traditional reason it's easier to find work when you have a job is twofold. First, having a job means you're less desperate for a job and this helps you look less desperate in the application process. Eager is good. Desperate is not. Second, being currently employed is having someone already vouch for your ability to work.
But without those two advantages, there's something I have discovered that makes finding a job when newly unemployed more difficult. I have called this a recovery loop. Every single person who has quit their job before looking for another one has said the same thing. "I hate my job. I need to quit it so I can take a break, and then when I have had some rest, I'll start the job search process." There is some logic to this argument. "This job is draining. How can I start another taxing process of job hunting when I'm just barely making it through the day?"
Recovery loops are when people recover from recovering. When people quit their jobs they want to recover until they feel better. They proceed to fail to do anything associated with work, such as shower, cook, clean, talk to people, go outside, exercise or any other activity of daily living. Many report sleeping, laying in bed, or distracting themselves with gaming and social media. The quitting of anything productive is complete, and so is the loss of sense of time, decorum, and responsibility. When they finally arrive at the moment of initiating the job search, even such a thing as waking in the morning can be a monumental task. If you're struggling to get out of bed in the morning and eat breakfast, how much more when you sit at a computer to voluntarily do a boring, high-stakes and stressful activity like job searching? Indeed, most barely get to the computer to do five minutes of job search before they're exhausted or stressed and go back to bed or scrolling. Meanwhile, the time they've been out of work is increasing. The window of applying for the jobs they've bookmarked is closing. The ability to do other horrible tasks like check email for employer replies is decreasing.
Because of delays, avoidance, and elimination of productive routines, the task of applying for work is not only hard, but becoming harder. Getting out of the hole dug requires a great output of energy. And since they believe they need to feel better so they can job search, they never truly complete the job search, even if they do some steps. Long term this creates other stressors such as isolation, low mood, money issues, health issues, and the like-other experiences from which a person needs to recover.
Job searching does require a great output of energy in most cases, but the output can be less when one is already benefitting from the efficiency of an established daily routine and a productive mindset. Many employment professionals do recommend taking a break between jobs, but this should only be considered once the next job is secured. Otherwise, you're setting yourself up for a recovery loop.
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