Does it feel like the time it takes to find a new job keeps growing and growing? As a technical professional with a full-time job, you shouldn’t spend any more time searching for a new job than you need to. These 5 tips will help you conduct that job search as efficiently as possible without sacrificing your work-life balance along the way.

1. Set Your Priorities

Sometimes, finding the right job can feel like it takes forever because you aren’t sure what the right job would really look like. Take some time at the beginning of your job search (or right now if you’ve already started but feel like it’s taking too long) to assess your job priorities. Do you value a short commute? Are you looking for growth opportunities? Is a short commute more or less important than growth opportunities? Evaluating your priorities upfront can save you time down the road because you won’t apply to or interview for jobs that don’t like up with any of your priorities.

2. Treat it Like a Side Hustle

Would you work on your side hustle at your full-time job? Probably not. Would you allow your side hustle to take up all of your free time? Hopefully not. If you treat a new job like a side hustle or side project, you’ll have a more realistic set of expectations for how much time it will take and it’ll become clear that you still need to carve out separate time for rest and relaxation so you don’t sacrifice your work-life balance entirely.

3. Set a Timer

Are you getting sucked into a job board vortex or tweaking and shifting your resume endlessly? A job search can really become a black hole for your free time if you let it. So don’t let it! Set a timer for yourself before you start scrolling the job board listings or editing your resume. Do the activity for the designated time and, when the timer goes off, leave it behind for something else you want or need to do. This will help you from feeling like the job search is taking over all of your free time and you’ll be more likely to focus on the task at hand during its allotted time.

4. Minimize Excess Distractions

Both at home and at work, any excess distractions during this busy time where you’re trying to stay on top of your current job responsibilities while finding a great new job can feel overwhelming. Is this the best time to pick up a new hobby, try to learn a new language, or deep clean your entire house? Probably not. Is this the best time to binge-watch the last season of your favorite show, build a table or learn how to bake a soufflé? Sure, if you value these activities and they help make you feel rested and relaxed. Decipher which activities are excess distractions and which ones actually contribute to your work-life performance, effective job search, and rest/relaxation. All of the rest can be put on pause for the time being, whenever possible.

5. Work with an Awesome Recruiter

Yes, there are some recruiters who just look for keywords and barely have a relationship with the employers they’re recruiting for. But, if you get the chance to work with an awesome recruiter (like our talented Search Executives at Camden Kelly), you’ll realize that they can be a major time-saving asset. They can get your foot in the door at highly desirable companies, utilize their strong relationships with employers to help prepare you for your interview and coach you through the process, and they can do the challenging follow-up and negotiation process for you. If you really want to save time during your job search, working with an awesome recruiter is essential. Managing an effective job search while you have a full-time job can be challenging but, with these 5 tips, you can make the process more efficient without sacrificing your work-life balance. Remember, this process is a temporary one and, once you find a job you really love, you’ll be happy you stuck with it. Check out our blog for more career advice!