u/HTxBarbz

Just added up how much time I was actually giving this job and it kinda pissed me off.

Everyone says "the pay is decent" or "you get great field experience," but nobody talks about living out of hotels Monday through Friday. You get back home exhausted, unpack, do laundry, and then it's Sunday again.

I started tracking everything (paid hours, driving, reports after I got back to the hotel). So my "40-hour job" was closer to 60 (maybe even over sometimes).

One thing that came out of it was a running list of projects and wins. At first it was just so I wouldn't forget what I'd worked on, but later it made updating my resume way easier. Threw it into resumeworded because I felt like my resume wasn't doing those projects justice. It pointed out that I was making everything sound way smaller than it actually was, so I rewrote a bunch of it.

I'm still in consulting for now, but I'm starting to wonder how long this is sustainable. I don't even mind the field work. I mind feeling like I don't have a life outside it.

Has anyone here managed to get into a role with a lot less travel without taking a huge pay cut? (US, PNW if that matters.)

Kept telling myself I just needed to apply to more jobs. Turns out I was making things worse because I couldn't even decide what I wanted.

One day I'd apply for PM roles, then ops, then customer success, then random analyst jobs. My resume was all over the place, recruiter calls went nowhere, and every interview turned into me trying to explain my entire career.

After a week of getting nowhere, I got so frustrated that I made myself stop.

I picked two job types and ignored everything else.

It felt wrong at first. Like I was closing doors I couldn't afford to close. But after a few days I realized I could actually answer "What kind of role are you looking for?" without stumbling through five different possibilities.

Around that time I was also trying to figure out whether I even wanted the same kind of job I'd just lost. Couldn't sleep so I tried things like the coached career assessment. Made me realize I'd been chasing titles more than the actual work. That was a bigger wake-up call than I expected.

I'm still unemployed. Still applying.

But at least now it feels like I'm telling one story instead of throwing darts at six different careers and hoping something sticks.

Hoping this little piece of advice helps other jobseekers out there. I'm also open to tips from you guys.