Tommy Rollins
Tommy Rollins is looking for a job. He left Circuit City in January 2009 where he worked as a Digital Marketing Analyst in the company’s online marketing department. Rollins was responsible for strategy and management of the company’s email acquisition programs.
He’s managing to keep busy since being displaced by planning his June wedding and readying his house for a spring appraisal. Like many Richmonders, his days are chock full of networking, making calls and applying for jobs online. Here’s a peek into a day in the life of a Richmond Job Searcher.
2:00 am – 5:00 am: Wake up a couple of times during the night and re-strategize my plans for the day ahead. I'm not a big sleeper as I'm always thinking about or planning something in my head, so over the years I only require 3-4 hours of solid sleep.
7:30 am: Get up, make breakfast and watch Good Morning America.
8:15 am: Walk over to my office “aka my kitchen table” and fire up the laptop to officially begin my day.
8:20 am: Double check that I have all of my job searching materials ready “i.e. My to do/call list, Copies of my resume, Business cards, Interview Angel, Home/Cell phones, etc.”
8:30 am-8:45 am: Check my email accounts “Hotmail, Linkedin and Facebook” and respond to any emails.
8:45 am-11:30 am: Start searching and applying for positions per my to do list first and then check out sites like Monster, CareerBuilder, Hotjobs, Indeed, etc for any additional employment opportunities. Plus I start making follow-up calls or sending out emails for any positions, contacts or interviews from the previous week.
11:30 am-12:00 pm: Switch gears and begin working on finalizing plans for my June wedding.
12:00 pm-1:00 pm: Lunch time, break away from the computer and read the paper or a book outside.
1:00 pm-2:00 pm: Search the internet for any interesting stories or developments in my career field “i.e. marketing” and forward them to colleagues, hiring managers and recruiters at companies I’m interested in joining. If I have any interviews coming up, I conduct research on the companies and prep myself.
2:00 pm-3:30 pm: Update my job search spreadsheet with any new contacts, updates and positions..plus I search Linkedin for any additional contacts for positions I have am interested in or have applied for.
3:30 pm-4:00pm: Work on my personal website www.onlinemarketingfanatic.com and respond to any emails or interview requests.
4:00 pm-6:00 pm: Finish up any freelance or non-profit work that’s left on my plate and work on my new to do list for the next day.
6:00 pm-7:00 pm: Do dishes, pick-up around the house, make dinner and watch the news.
7:00 pm-8:00 pm: Check all of my email accounts again and play some drums via Rock Band to relax and afterwards work-out for 30 minutes.
8:00 pm-12:00 pm: Spend some quality time with my future wife in reviewing wedding plans and relaxing.
12:00 pm-12:30 am: Go to bed and get roughly 3-4 hours of solid sleep until it’s time to repeat the day again.
Rollins’ advice to current job seekers is to:
- Keep yourself busy and keep reminding yourself that things WILL get better soon!
- Network your tail off at any opportunities you have
- Due to the high number of folks looking for a job, find ways to make yourself stand out by volunteering, freelancing, building your own website or even working for free.
- Keep in touch and help fellow job seekers as it is good karma and an excellent way to keep a pulse on what’s happening around town.
- Stick to the budget that you devised as it could be awhile before you land a full-time job.
The biggest challenge that Rollins faces is the ‘black hole’ factor that many Richmonders deal with, where you apply for a job, leave messages with the recruiter and still get nowhere. Rollins says, "Don’t get discouraged when dealing with that black-hole factor. Instead, focus your time and energy on devising new ways to get your foot in the door. Continue to tell yourself to have faith and patience as the job market is improving every day."
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