J = Job Hunt & all the jazz

Job hunt – This is what I am doing since last couple of months. After a break of almost 1.5 years, I planned to join back work. Being a ‘too much planned’ couple, we first created our back up plan after brainstorming for long hours.

Many questions hovered over our mind. How would the li’l one react to the change? What option would be more feasible - nanny or daycare? How we can work out the daily household chores? I raked through all mommy blogs, forums & parenting websites to know more about the ways people juggle between home, Baby & job. The dilemma was high and I was not able to pin down any decision. But, after lots & lots of discussion we finally chalked out a plan.

The first step was to get a full time maid or house help who can support me with household chores. In that way, I can spend some quality time with my kid after coming back from work. Somehow, we were not keen on getting a nanny for my toddler. We got registered in an agency beforetime as heard about delays in getting a maid even after registration. Thankfully, we got a decent maid from that local agency.

Next step was to search for a reasonable and compatible daycare for my kid. We visited almost 6-8 local daycares and finally found a decent one nearby to our place. We wanted to get my daughter adjusted to this new regime first and then my proper job search should start. My li’l one cooperated a lot and now after almost 3 months, she just loves the place.

In the meantime I already uploaded my resume in various job portals and waited for my luck to show some positive sign. However, the timing was not quite appropriate. The first quarter remains a lean period for job hunters as new vacancy are not created in this time. It actually means that most of the companies have their annual appraisal & bonus time in March, and people who want to leave their job for any reason would stick till end of March to receive the annual bonus. Thus February & March went away in very few calls from different consultancies & companies and I appeared for only couple of interviews.

Another factor which I am realizing is affecting my job search in a veiled way is the break of 1.5 years in my career. Many consultancies approached me with job description, but chickened out stating employers do not want any break period for any reasons. Then there are other factors as well which is limiting me from exploring all options. I have to search for a job in Gurgaon only and I cannot go to work in Delhi or Noida because of extensive travel time. Although I have kept myself open for all shift timings (my job profile requires that) but still many employers perceive in advance that a married lady with a small kid in tow would not opt for any shift other than general one.

This is the third month in a row when I am just sitting idle at home. It is getting depressing now and has started taking toll on my mood a lot. I feel the void more as prior to this I was handling my hyper-active toddler for the whole day without any maid or nanny. So, suddenly, with the kid in daycare and all household chores except cooking taken care by maid, I feel myself completely useless sometimes. Although, I am getting now ample amount of time for my favorite passion – blogging & reading but still feel no interest in any of these activities. There are days, when I just shut my PC, throw away my book and sit idly staring the wall. I actually pulled up myself to join this blogging challenge so that it can be diverted from the void.