…Sort of? So when I was finishing my grad degree, I did Rover to earn a little change and get myself out of the house. After a certain point, though, it was taking up too much energy that I wanted to devote to job applications, and I wanted to be able to start a new job right away without potentially screwing over my clients with a short notice period.
So I gave notice, wrapped my clients up within 2 weeks and stopped accepting new ones, and then like a week or 2 later I got a full-time job offer. Sending the same universe vibez your way
It did help that I had mentally prepared myself with contingencies if I didn’t get a job right away (for example I had researched a couple of staffing agencies near me, more “menial” jobs, stuff like that).
Sadly no. I had a date on the calendar to give notice (March 1, 2020!) but for obvious reasons when we got to March it seemed best to see how the new virus issue was going to unfold…
But you should do it! So I can live vicariously
Are you a YNAB user? I recently started more detailed savings categories for “6 months rent” etc. so I could see how far our emergency funds would go.
Hi! It’s still hard for me to believe I did this - I was always so risk-adverse in the past.
Practically, I assume you’ve gone through the practical stuff, like budgeting to make sure you can live off your spouse’s salary and/or savings until you find another job. Make sure your E-Fund is at the level you want before you quit. Emotionally, We did a lot of work together to make sure that we were both on board with the budget being “our” money and not “his” money when I’m not bringing in a paycheck.
I agree about being able to tell a story about why you have a resume gap. “Taking time off to care for a family situation which has since resolved” will be fine. Practically, it is easier to get a job while you have a job per the AAM wisdom, but as a hiring manager, a short gap (less than a year) wouldn’t bother me. More than a year, I would have liked to hear some details about how you stayed current on the field/what was happening in the gap.
I would look into the situations where your state unemployment agency will pay out if your voluntarily leave your job. Start documenting everything that could possibly support your leaving.
Koala and I were both basically forced into this in 2022/2023 so it was a bit different (health stuff for both of us). We both ended up with longish gaps but nobody blinked when we said health issues that had since resolved. Just keep it vague, IME hiring managers didn’t care about the details they just wanted me to have a story that they could fit a platitude into. And if you read AAM you know that some candidates say “I quit because my old job didn’t send me on a free trip to the Bahamas” and they want you to just…sound like a normal human lol.
Definitely agree that you should triple check your emergency fund numbers.
Pay attention to any numbers that might change once you’re not working or any benefits you might depend on… For example I did my calculations assuming my disability benefits would kick in within the first 3 months, in reality mine took months of processing time and Koala’s ended up being delayed seven (?) months (!!!) even though they eventually got paid. Our jobs both fucked up on returning money from benefits accounts too (commuter benefits, 401k deductions, etc) and we had to call and be like hey where’s my money. Hopefully not super relevant to you but triple check your last paycheck and ask…
I did! I started my PhD before I quit my old job but then I officially quit that like 2 years ago with nothing lined up. I agree on having a story and the single sentence is enough for anyone worth working for. The interview I had a month ago they didn’t ask for any detail and I’ve just landed another interview for Thursday, so it’s not stopping me from getting that far at least!
Absolutely agree. I got unemployment when I did this years ago. Even though the employer contested it, the state overruled them. The clincher seemed to be that they’d refused me a leave of abscence to try to recover from the health effects (even though I did not qualify for FMLA because I hadn’t been there long enough). I found some part-time work as an adjunct not too long after, but I stayed on partial unemployment for a while, too.
Insurance. There’s a contract waiting on getting all the client’s lawyers’ (unusually rigorous) insurance requirements in place, but they want this like yesterday, and that just isn’t possible, and getting it in place in a week or so has been challenging. But think we’ll be at the point where we’ve done all we can do soon.
Leads. Another client (local, small job) has something almost set up for Husband as a subcontractor. This guy’s a friend, but he’s not super good at getting stuff set up ahead of time, so we expect a sudden urgent need. Which is fine, for a friend, assuming the big contract with all the insurance requirements doesn’t come through first. The cool think about working with friend is 1) friend, 2) usually short interesting jobs 3) local.
Paying for stuff. Business credit card applied for. There will be a letter arriving by snail mail in 7-10 business days. Good thing the checking account was easy. I guess we’re about to use the debit card that came with it, but I don’t like using debit cards for security reasons. So far we’ve paid from our personal account (had to with the business license and LLC fee because we had to have those to get the business checking in the first place). I’m keeping records.
Small Business Association. Certification as a service-disabled veteran owned small business started (yes, it does have an acronym because feds: SDVOSB). OMG the fed bureaucracy. The benefit of this to us is special access to and prices on federal surplus equipment. And, eventually, maybe federal contracts.
License. The local business license came in the snail mail. so that’s set. A state license isn’t required in our state.
Business cards. I have to reorder; he’s almost out of the 50 same-day test run we did. Business cards are cheap advertising. I’m glad we went with a small run for an event; I’m adding the LLC to the reorder now that it’s in place.
Networking helps! A friend with a much bigger similar-but-not-exactly business talked Husband through a bunch of stuff the other day, and it’s been very helpful. She also recommended the insurance agent that seems to know what he’s talking about in this industry. Which is not the case for many of them, let me tell you. And she suggested rates he should charge for the first few months and what he should go up to thereafter, which is incredibly helpful. That info was findable online, but the range of rates was huge.
Other certifications. Also did the paperwork for state registration to do a specialized subset of his work - it’s low level but requires being on this special registry. Husband is wildly overqualified (they have a shortcut application for people with his professional license) and the pay is relatively low, but the upside is that there’s so much demand he could do very local only and have as much work as he wants.
Meanwhile, I think I have a moonlighting gig as the bookkeeper for an LLC that lives in my house.
Also one of them was like “ok cool sounds like you’ve done a lot of fancy weird for data management” and i stumbled because i HAVE but I’ve never used that word and i was like well I’ve not done proper IT data management stuff i just took on this extra responsibility because it was fun and i was good at it
So that was my cringe moment because instead of being calm and confident i brushed off shit i am great at because i was worried it would be a mark against me and also am not confident in the phrase used (which i cant even remember now dammit!) because i have no formal training in it.
Even if it was a little awkward and you didn’t claim the official label for what you can do, you got to show off that you take on extra responsibilities and you’re good at stuff outside your job description. Which is every hiring manager’s dream.
