Now that I am finally leaving the unemployed club, I must leave my (NON-EXISTENT) fan club with some advice.
Schedule phone interviews for the morning (aka before 11 am)
Schedule in-person interviews for the afternoon (aka after 1 pm); people are generally happier after eating and you won’t oversleep
This is the best time to take the trip you have always wanted to take; don’t let recruiters hold you back. This is your life!
Become an awesome moocher, like me
Volunteer—despite doing One Brick, I still stupidly never got a chance to work at 826 Valencia
Take up pro-bono projects
Do the stuff you said you would never have time to do while working—like learning to bike in the city and write a screenplay (both of which is still in progress for me)
Write greeting cards
Clean out your hard drive
Utilize your LinkedIn network and don’t be shy of leveraging connections to companies you want to work for
Schedule as many informational interviews as possible during the first month
Buy one of those people coffee or lunch
Make a powerpoint presentation about yourself professionally within the first month even though you have nobody to present it to—it really comes useful later (this pertains to people who actually have jobs that requires presentation)
Enlist the Presentation Zen
Attend as many alumni events as you can
Attend as many free museum days as you can
Keep a tap on the cultural events happening in your area
JOIN TWITTER
Constantly keep an ongoing schedule of events—for the first several months, my entire week was packed with reunion planning meetings, book club, cooking, parties, classes, meet with colleagues, dinner with friends, etc.
Prove to your parents that you have savings that can last a year
Really think about your monthly budget
Learn about where to find deals if you don’t know already—I now know where to buy bean sprouts and tofu
Don’t buy clothes
Now that you have extra time, don’t buy gifts for people. Make the gifts
Offer to host dinner parties
Check craigslist all the time, but not too often so you don’t get too depressed
Realize that craigslist is a sham. Most employers who post there get overwhelmed by responses and may never see the shining light of your resume
Sign up for unemployment
Consider freelancing and what you can do to increase tax deductions
Write up freelance invoices
Sleep late and sleep late
You did really well. Better than I did. I am proud of you!
haha thanks! maybe in some way, it was incredibly shameless of me.
:) awesome tips! since i’m part of the club now, i’ll have to reexamine my schedule and LIFE! woot!