Needle, Meet Haystack

One of the lousiest things about entering the job market after college is that you’re probably going to have to find health insurance or an HMO on your own.  Unlike the halcyon days at the university, when your student status allowed you to stay on your parents’ plan, your current situation leaves much to be desired.  However, jobless or not, there are a few things you can do to make sure that you’re covered in case you need a physical, tooth cleaning, or new glasses.

-Check with your parents’ plan: Many services will carry over your coverage until the end of the calendar year (or sometimes longer), even if you are no longer a student.  While a number of HMOs and insurances cut off at around 21, some will carry for a few years after that.  Find out what your provider’s rules and regulations are.

-Check with your school: Some universities offer health plans for students, and also will give the same to alumni.  While it’s no longer free, it might be worth your while to look into.

-Look into getting your own plan: I did this one.  For about $20 per month, I get full medical, dental, and vision coverage, although it’s not technically insurance.  Instead, it’s what’s called a “discount plan,” and the providers give you a list of physicians who can save you at least 20% on your bills.  In some cases, if you get insurance down the road, you can put the two together to bring down your chances of hitting your maximums.  Depending on the plan, you might also get prescription coverage too.

There are a number of different companies that offer these programs.  Do a quick Internet search to find them – in most cases, these companies will offer coverage even if you have preexisting conditions.  If you can afford it, look into getting your own insurance, but make sure you know about the premiums, deductibles and renewal options on your plan.

With companies scaling back on employee benefits, it’s a good idea to look into these programs even if you’re covered by a current or old job.

Every weekday morning, I wake up at around 8:00 AM, eat breakfast while catching up on industry trades and blogs (since I’m in advertising and marketing, this is stuff like AdAge, Industry Spy, AdRants, and so on), get showered and dressed, and then get to work on either a project I’ve set up (more on those in a future post), job applications, callbacks, or talking with contacts.  Besides the long run-on sentence there, I used to have a problem with doing something like that.

My old routine would involve sleeping in until whenever I woke up (usually around 1 PM), grabbing something to eat (ice cream for breakfast!), and eventually filling out some applications, the bulk of which would be done at around 3 PM.  Besides this being unhealthy and a bit lazy, there are a number of reasons why my old method failed, while the new one works to my advantage:

1. Working hours: By sleeping in and not getting started until 3 PM, I was cheating myself out of most of the day when I would be most effective.  After all, offices are open from around 9 AM to 5 PM.  If you don’t get in touch with the office while they’re open, you’re less likely to get an immediate response, and your application might move to the bottom of the pile or inbox.  I was moving myself to the back of the pack.

2. Bad environment: I treated my job hunt like most people treat summer vacation: a time to be lazy.  Most of the time, I wouldn’t even change out of my sleep clothes, unless I was heading somewhere that evening.  I was subconsciously keeping myself in that slump and relaxed state, which negatively impacted my productivity while working.  If you change your clothes and your environment (like working in a different room), you can be more focused on your task, instead of wandering off to watch reality TV reruns.

3. Poor sleep schedule: Even though I don’t have to be in an office by 9, sleeping until whenever I wanted (and going to bed at terrible hours) made me fall out of rhythm and routine.  Instead of remaining in a professional state, I was more lackadaisical.  Remember how you would forget everything you learned over the school year as soon as you were done with finals, and then struggle when classes started up again?  It’s the same sort of thing.

4. Un-educating myself: For a while, I was not keeping up with new industry news, developments, and so on.  This is practically career suicide.  If I don’t check to see who just got what big account, or who’s hiring and firing, how will I know where my best chances for work are?  I wouldn’t know what positions are in higher demand or what the industry considers cutting-edge.  Even worse, I was missing out on finding out about some smaller firms that were getting national notice – ones that would probably have less applicants than some of the big guys.

5. Application focus: I was only concerned with filling out as many applications as possible, rather than establishing a network of contacts, developing new portfolio material, or doing any number of other things that could be just as important to my job search than submitting my resume.  As a result, I was less prepared on the applications themselves, and was not presenting myself as well as I could.

Even if you don’t have work to go to, it’s a good idea to give yourself a routine, with time limits, short breaks, and so on.  No one can easily switch from napping till noon to waking up at dawn without some negative results.  After all, looking for a job is practically a career itself!*

I got myself into shape by spending a weekend analyzing what I was doing, and why it wasn’t working.  Once I keyed in on my bad habits, it helped to increase my productivity and feel more confident in my applications.

*Unless you’re working for a staffing agency or similar business.  Then it definitely is a career itself.

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

A little over a year ago, I graduated from a Top-100 school with a decent degree, some good contacts, and a plan for a long and lucrative career.  Instead, I’ve spent most  of my time since graduation working contracts or freelancing, constantly in search of the elusive long-term job (and benefits).

This blog is here to help explain some of the mistakes I’ve made (so you don’t) and offer some suggestions on dealing with an uncertain future.  Whether you’re another job-seeker or one of the lucky ones behind a desk that just enjoys some good old schadenfreude, I hope that you’ll learn something.

And if you’re hiring, pick me!