Well I’ve always had a big respect for stay at home mom’s but my new found role has made me appreciate them and the men who say at home with their kids even more.  Not sure if I mentioned this in another post but Colson is now home with me three days a week while I search for a full time or contract position.  The other two days of the week I search for jobs full time while he is at daycare.  That being said the day I find something he will be back in daycare full time.  I’m not saying I don’t cherish this time with him, in fact it’s been real treat minus his newfound refusal to nap, but we really see a lot of benefits in daycare.  We love the daycare he goes to and well they love and miss him. I’m not a huge fan of too much TV time at his age so being home with him means I need to plan activities and keep him happy and occupied for 8+ hours a day.  Today that activity was two hours at the community center playing basketball while at the same time trying to keep up with e-mails and calls from recruiters on my smart phone.  The afternoon activity so far is Colson dancing around the house thanks to the Raffi station on Pandora, thank God it isn’t all Raffi. Yeah he didn’t take a nap again. He has now switched to playing with his train table as I type!

So basically being a stay at home parent is a full time job and so is job hunting. Between updating LinkedIn, Monster, Career Builder, Twitter, Resume’s and Cover Letters and filling out some of the most time consuming applications (Taleo your systems are not user-friendly) the day is gone. Oh and yes I mentioned Twitter which is a great way to network and learn about new jobs especially if you have any idea of specific companies you want to work for. I tried explaining this to someone the other day who doesn’t buy into Social Networking and well I don’t think he understood why a company would Tweet open positions, I sure do. People that like your products or your company as a whole might just be the dedicated workers you are looking for.

The job hunting process this time has been positive so far due to support of my recent employer, friends, family and yes recruiters. The majority of recruiters I have encountered on this go around have been extremely helpful, actually met with a great one yesterday. So many people are so negative about the economy and the job market but I’m really positive about it all.  I see a lot of awesome jobs out there, it’s just getting in front of those hiring managers and proving yourself.  It’s also very easy to stay positive when your child is at home and Pandora is belting out Don’t Worry Be Happy from the Best of Bobby McFerrin.  Ok time to get back to parenting and I don’t think anyone is reading this blog at this point. Tonight I’ll probably hit up Starbucks or Caribou to write a cover letter or two.

Cheers!

-Tucker

Well I have some new found free time so I thought I would explore using WordPress again.