When the boy decided to quit his job, it was very unexpected. He couldn’t stand his job any longer, and we pretty much knew he was done with it. When he told me that he wanted to quit, I wasn’t mad. I knew it was the right decision for us and him!
However, we did know that we needed to find additional ways to save money until he found a job and we had an idea of what his income would be like. We also knew that there would be new expenses added to our budget since he would be looking for jobs.
Yes, we we would’ve been fine if we would have just kept living like everything was completely normal but we didn’t want to come out negative in our monthly cash flow, and we still wanted to keep on track with our normal debt payments.
Maybe your budget won’t let you quit your job completely. Maybe you have to work at least part-time while you’re looking for your new job, or maybe you don’t want to spend a ton of money on the job hunt and want to be more creative.
There are many expenses that I could cut (as I’ve detailed in this post) if it really came down to us needing to cut things out. Luckily, W found a job only a couple of weeks later (after turning down many job offers also).
Anyways, W applied EVERYWHERE. And had tons of interviews and even more job offers. This means that he did lots of driving and rushing everywhere. Yes, I am happy that he was able to snag so many job offers, but what I’m about to say will astonish you.
He spent over $600 in August on driving to interviews alone.
Isn’t that crazy? If he wasn’t so picky, then he would’ve spent less on gas, but we didn’t. Gas ate up a lot of our budget in August.
When applying for jobs, there are tons of expenses that need to be thought about. Are you going to have your resume professionally checked? Are you going to hire someone to find a job for you? What if you have a lot of interviews and driving to potential jobs to do, where and how will you eat?
1. Use career services at your school.
If you’re still in school, then check out the career services center at your school. I did this when I was still in school. Of course different schools offer different things in this department, but it’s still good to check out because it should be free!
Someone in the department went over my resume and critiqued it. She made changes and I was able to e-mail her until it was perfect.
She also gave me tips on applying for positions and having a great interview. Whether you’re looking for accountancy jobs, sales positions, and so on, it’s a good idea to check it out! Extra information can never kill you 🙂
2. Ask friends for critiques.
If you aren’t in school, or want extra tips and help, then ask your friends! Have others reread your resume (as there are probably small mistakes that you might have not seen). Also, if you have even more time and friends who care :), then have them practice interview questions on you.
Being prepared is a MAJOR tip for the interview and job hunting process. If your friend can catch you off guard with questions, then you can be more prepared.
3. Use the library!
If you’re like me, then you like to research everything and get books on everything. The library should have tons of job hunting books that you can read up on. Even if you think you are extremely prepared, there might still be one more thing that you don’t know.
If you have time, reading or skimming through one more book won’t kill me.
4. When applying places, call them first!
A mistake that the boy did a lot in the beginning was just driving around aimlessly and talking to managers. He would also drive back and forth a lot because he would realize that he skipped a place that he wanted to apply to.
While this did end up working in his favor (the place he was eventually hired at was a place that wasn’t initially hiring but liked him anyways), we also spent way too much on gas because of his aimless driving!
You can call the places first, or check their websites to see if they’re hiring. Save on gas money people 🙂
How did you save money while job hunting?
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CreditDonkey says
I agree, especially on aimless driving. There are online job sites which can be scanned first to find positions that would fit one's qualifications. After doing about a hundred (or more). you can then narrow it to the most promising ones before starting to write applications for specific jobs. Driving to interviews is a must, of course, after all the savings you got from gas money.
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brookevsworld says
Holy crap – $600 driving to interviews! We need more video type stuff in our world! Good luck with saving and your boy finding a new job.
MakingSenseofCents says
He found one last month. Thanks!
My recent post Saving Money While Job Hunting
brookevsworld says
Ah ok, missed that one! 🙂
Pauline @ Reach Financial Independence says
Glad it worked out! I used a lot of public resources when I was job hunting, like the employment bureau that has lists of jobs, offers free training if you need to learn more about a specific software or skill before you apply for a job… they also gave transport vouchers for you to go to job interviews.
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adahat1 says
Great checklist Michelle. One lesson I learned is that you make sure the salary expectations are clear up front. I dont know how many interviews I went on only to find that the salary range was way below what I was looking for. I dont know if this advise applies to all so take it for what it is worth, I also found that if their range is close but not quite at your range, it isnt worth it. The top of their range they are almost never willing to go to.
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John S @ Frugal Rules says
Good tips. One other thing to add is that some schools will still offer some of the same services to their alumni. Some may charge a fee, but I know that my university offers some, but not all of them for free. When I was looking a few years ago they reviewed my resume for free as well as my base cover letter. It was all able to be done over email and worked out great.
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DC@Young Adult Money says
$600 on gas is quite a bit, but honestly sometimes it just costs a lot of money to get a job. If I were in the job hunt I would likely have to get a new suit (or get one that no longer fits tailored) and I would need to drive to interviews. Even worse is if you are looking for a job in a new state or country – imagine the cost of flying out for interviews! Hopefully these expenses would be comp’d by the company, but there’s no guarantee.____I guess I’m the wrong person to ask how to save money job hunting because I essentially have given up with believing it can be done on the cheap!
Sean@OneSmartDollar says
I remember when I first graduated college and I was driving from Iowa City, IA to Chicago for job interviews. That got pretty old quick so I just moved without having a job lined up. It took a few weeks but worked out well.
Lance @ Money Life and More says
I do think there is an advantage to showing up in person but it definitely sounds like gas ate you alive. Maybe planning an efficient route would have saved some money?
Christine says
When we moved to Nebraska, I did a lot of job searching before we moved. Internet and telephone. I would spend an hour or so researching, and then call all the places I wanted to apply to. One thing with this though….be prepared for an impromptu/informal phone interview!
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Budget & the Beach says
Well unfortunately I'm probably saving money but nobody calling me back after I've submitted my resume. 🙁 Other than that I can't really think of anything. What it eats up for me is time. It takes me a long time to tailor my cover letter to each company, then scrutinize it for spelling and grammar, which I'm generally lazy about. So I wish I had more time…
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Financial Samurai says
Hi Michelle,
I wrote a book called "How To Engineer Your Layoff: Make A Small Fortune Saying Goodbye" where I teach people how to negotiate a severance package. That's my #1 way I'm helping people save money while looking for a job. Some have walked away with up to three years of base salary, and therefore even more years of savings.
I'm curious to know why he decided to quit instead of getting laid instead? Beside severance, there's the WARN Act, health insurance, and job assistance programs.
Thnx!
Sam
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MakingSenseofCents says
He worked for a union and it's against his union rules to lay anyone off, so that wouldn't have worked. And he wanted to quit because he couldn't stand working for a union anymore (because he does all the work while the lazy people make the same amount of money).
And he got to keep his insurance for a couple of months, and he didn't need any job assistance programs.
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Financial Samurai says
Gotcha. What does he want to do now?
Everybody thinks a union job is great cushy job with a nice pension after X amount of years worked. Perhaps he can write a post dispelling this view?
After working in the private sector, I'm thinking of working in the public sector b/c of this benefit. Take it down a notch, serve the country, and perhaps get some government loving when I'm old.
Sam
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MakingSenseofCents says
He works at a dealership now and enjoys it a lot. And yes he should make a post on it!
My recent post Saving Money While Job Hunting
femmefrugality says
That’s so much money! It certainly did pay off in the long run, though! These are all great tips…I never would have thought to check with career services! Our library will run resume writing workshops periodically along with practice interviews.
femmefrugality says
That's so much money! It certainly did pay off in the long run, though! These are all great tips…I never would have thought to check with career services! Our library will run resume writing workshops periodically along with practice interviews.
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savvyscot.com says
Glad he found something… It can be so expensive attending interviews… flights to Head Office, hotels, food, taxis etc. It seems that only graduate employers are willing to fund the cost of interviews – for experienced hires you are on your own!
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Christa says
I like to apply for jobs on the internet and do follow up calls. It saves on driving, but applying in person can be a major bonus in landing a job. Glad your guy found a great job!
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Cat says
Interview practice is a must! I found it so helpful – made me a much better interviewee. If you can record yourself, that's even better.
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Krysten says
I'm job hunting right now and I use the internet A LOT. I would never want to drive all over the place, considering how much gas my car eats up AND how awful gas prices are!
MakingSenseofCents says
That's great that you were so organized! I wish he would've been.
Holly@ClubThrifty says
$600 driving to interviews is insane! I'm sure it's necessary though. You have to make connections face to face sometimes to get the job. I hope he finds what he's looking for!!!