It’s rare for someone to start a job search when they’re already in a comfortable position and have the time, energy, and financial security to make a change in their career. Most often, people job search when they’re unhappy with their current position, or they are forced to change due to layoffs or a family move. 

Military spouses are no different. PCS moves are stressful in themselves. Tack on a job search, and suddenly life feels increasingly fast-paced and chaotic. It's understandable many military spouses want to put the job search on hold until they get situated after a PCS. But by doing so, they are losing out on precious weeks and months they could spend building on their professional experience, while giving their next employer a return on their investment of hiring them before the next PCS. 

Finding ways to conduct a successful job search during times of uncontrolled and overwhelming chaos is necessary to land the right job with the right company with the right compensation package.

After making several successful transitions myself — all during highly stressful times — and assisting many people during my five years as a dedicated resume writer and career advisor, I offer up these three sanity-saving tips:

1. Do the hard work early. Think about the most difficult and time-consuming part of a job search. Is it figuring out what you want to do next? Putting your resume and other professional portfolio documents together? Connecting with the right people online? Updating your LinkedIn profile? Preparing to answer questions about yourself in an interview? Researching opportunities? Researching the area? 

Create a checklist of all of the actions you know you need to take, and then identify which ones are the most difficult and challenging. If they are a critical part of your job search plan, start working on those right away. Break goals down into small steps you can meet so you can keep your job search moving forward. 

If you are PCSing, check out the PCS Job-Search Checklist. 

2. Constantly reprioritize. When so much is changing quickly, it is important to constantly reprioritize. Always keep your ultimate job-search goal in mind, but you might need to adjust your timeline and approach as life gets squirrely. Make sure you give your job search proper priority too, though, because letting it always fall to the bottom of the list will stagnate your attention, energy, and progress toward your goal. 

If you commit to constantly reprioritizing, you give yourself the chance to adjust as those curveballs come your way without feeling like you have abandoned your goals. Your mental fortitude and believing you are on a path to success is extremely important to attain ultimate success when the journey getting there is treacherous. 

3. Think long term, but don’t forget the short term. During times of stress, it is easy to want to accept a “good enough” offer. The urge is compounded if there are feelings of inadequacy and lack of worthiness when it comes to market value. Military spouses are often plagued by a history of underemployment wages, periods of unemployment, and experiences that do not directly meet desired qualifications for jobs for which they are capable and qualified to perform. 

To get out of this situation, every military spouse must actively work toward changing this unfortunate reality through self-advocacy. They can do this by educating employers on the value of hiring military spouses and sharing the best practices used by employers who recognize these negative perceptions are keeping military spouses from activating their potential. They can also provide examples of employers that have developed programs and processes to hire and leverage military spouse talent. 

As with any job search, it’s important to properly assess the immediate situation and consider the opportunities available and your capacity to continue. However, it’s also important to look past the current day to know when it is essential to keep job hunting, negotiate more, or press harder for advancements. The “good enough” opportunities might relieve some of the stress and chaos today, but they are sure to create mounting stress in the coming years.

Share your sanity-saving tips in the comments and make sure to download our free Military Spouse Employment Guide.