You can't get a refund for your time. Anything that wastes a job seeker's time is dangerous, and must be eliminated. This applies to job searches, pseudo- jobs, or anything that consumes time and achieves nothing.

Job hunting does consume time, sometimes a lot of it. To make that time productive is the key to good time management. You can ask yourself some very basic questions about how you use your time wisely:

• What's worth doing?
• What's useless?
• What's using up the most time?
• Where can I save time?
• What are the best ways of using your time?

Job seekers have to live and eat, too, and the domestic routine is inescapable. Getting the domestic routine pinned down so it consumes less time and effort is always worth doing. If you've got commitments, they need to be worked around so you don't create conflicts with your job seeking.

Planning your time

You can easily work out a good, trustworthy routine for your day, so you can make sure everything that needs doing gets done. You know what's required to be done. You can schedule and plan ahead your time, so you can create a reliable working time management program for yourself.

However, there's more to it than that. Time management is about creating time for yourself, not just using it. If you can leave time free, you have time to work with. You can plan your days, to a degree, but let's face it, something will come up and upset the routine, eventually. You wind up with a situation that requires handling, and if you're in a strict routine, it can create delays in managing situations. Something you could get done in half an hour could take weeks if you're too locked in to your schedule.

So plan your time flexibly. An important, complex phone call can use up an hour quite easily. So you're not planning with hours. You section the day, into for example four parts:

• Early morning: This is best for job seeking. You're ahead of the 9 to 5 workplaces, and you're able to find the things you need. You can contact the workplaces early, and get that done before 10AM, and/ or do applications. You can also fit in school runs, etc, as a break.
• Late morning: This is the time for finishing off the job seeking, and getting the domestic stuff out of the way.

Early afternoon: You can do research, courses, follow-ups, and appointments during this period, which is when the working world is easier to schedule in.

• Late afternoon: Free time? Could be. At any stage of the day, you can balance these periods, so you have time and space for yourself for your projects, or any other positive use of your time.

Good time management makes time work for you, not against you. Find what works for you, and you'll never regret it.