Rebecca's Guide to Underemployment Without Losing Your Ever-Loving Mind

From an expert

If there’s one thing I’ve become an expert at over the five years since I’ve graduated college, it’s unemployment. I don’t mean I’m an expert at finding a job (for all the gripes I have about societal factors, I am at least partially to blame for not having better gigs lined up). I mean I’ve become an expert at navigating those months on end when you don’t have work, or enough work to fill your day and make your efforts feel meaningful.

A few quick notes which will expose me as a writer who came up on the Internet, because of my propensity for disclaimers. I have the luck of not worrying about housing or food during this period thanks to my fiance with a stable, AI-proof job (and my own savings, I don’t want to sell myself short). I’m also living in a place with a relatively low cost of living if you have at any point in your life earned a foreign salary while living here (disclaimer within the disclaimer: it does not have a low cost of living if you are on a median local salary).

Even with all those factors making my period of underemployment less stressful than most (and less stressful than my previous bouts of not having work), it’s really easy to slip into complete despair when this happens, so I wanted to put together a quick guide of tips that have worked for me.

Have Set Hours

One of the main traps of unemployment is that there always feels like something more that you can do. There’s another job application to fill out, another job board to trawl, more pitches to send out, work to do on your portfolio or website, and if you decide to save some for tomorrow, do you even want a job, you idiot?

When you don’t have a set task list or working hours, it never feels like you’re doing enough. I’ve often wound up in the bizarre situation of feeling burnt out while technically being unemployed, and I’m trying to avoid it this time. I give myself a goal each day that I know will take up a few hours, and once I finish I allow myself to rest rather than chasing the next elusive step.

Paradoxically, this method has worked better for me when it comes to getting gigs, especially in more creative fields. Honestly working on my Substack will probably get me closer to a decent-paying gig than sending out yet another Upwork pitch that I know is going to get rejected. If I’m not careful, I let the stress of gig-hunting impact my creative practices, which defeats the whole point of this career choice anyway.

Stick to a Routine

This is the most basic underemployment advice ever, but even when you don’t have a job, stick to a basic routine. Waking up at the same time, giving myself a relatively healthy morning routine, and maintaining healthy habits has made this period feel less disruptive.

Oh, and put your phone away. Seriously.

Learn Something That Will Have No Influence on Your CV

A lot of standard advice for unemployment tells you to use this time to learn a useful skill for your CV. My advice is to use this time to learn something that will never be useful on your CV. Take up flower arranging. Find a free online lecture on the Byzantine Empire. I’ve decided that I’m going to get really into analog photography and potentially sketching.

Whatever BS online course I would sign up for probably wouldn’t impress a recruiter anyway, so I might as well use the only resource I am currently rich in (time) to do something interesting, and feel as if there is a point to it all, even if it is an illusion in my silly little life.

Watch a Lot of Colombo

Actually, it’s maybe a good idea to limit TV time.

(In This Particular Moment in Time) Scroll LinkedIn

Normally, spending a lot of time on social media when you’re unemployed can make you feel like absolute garbage while seeing everyone else enjoying professional success. The first time I had a bout of unemployment, I used to weep over my old transcripts thinking about how I was disappointing every professor that I’ve ever had (I wish I was kidding about this).

However, during this particular moment in time, scrolling LinkedIn may actually be helpful because everyone else is getting screwed. The people I am friends with are also unemployed. The people I used to be jealous of in the alumni magazines are also unemployed, the same as my non-hustling self. The other marketers are unemployed, the other political science graduates are unemployed. We’re all unemployed! It’s the world’s worst club right now! And it makes me feel like less of a failure.

If You’re a Woman Living with a Man, Don’t Do All the Housework

This one is a bit personal, but if you’re a woman in a relationship with a man and you are unemployed, do not take on all of the housework.

My fiance and I generally have a fairly even divide of housework that changes depending on who has more work and who has more free time in a given moment. When I’ve had slow freelancing periods before, I made the mistake of taking on almost all of the housework, then growing frustrated because I didn’t have enough time to work on my creative projects or build towards better work. This time, I’m happy to take on a bit more since I do have the time, but we’re still maintaining a relatively even divide.

I know that as women we are conditioned to help others and bend over backwards to help others, but this martyr complex won’t get us anywhere. Protect your time, even if you’re unemployed. Not earning money for it doesn’t make it any less precious.

Have Daily Screaming Into a Pillow Sessions

Honestly the only thing that helps sometimes.