As much as a job search takes a toll on your mental and physical state, you still have to find a balance with your family. Going through a job search affects your family indirectly more than you think. You may have gone from working 8-12 hour days and never being at home to always being at home searching for a job. There are some things you can do to help ease the transition. Here are some ways you can tend to your family and your job search without either one suffering.

5 Strategies for Tending to Your Family and Your Job Search At The Same Time

1. Create a New Routine

We all have routines in our families, some we may be able to identify, and some not. Sometimes you don’t realize how routine your life is until the routine gets disrupted. When you go from being employed to unemployed, you have to adjust your routine accordingly. You may now be the one to drop off and pick up the kids from school, cook dinners, or do other household chores. The best way to start establishing a new routine is to accept that you have to change.

2. New Goals

Set both family goals and job search goals at some point. One goal could be writing or tweaking your resume and cover letter each night after dinner for each job you want. Another goal could be determining when the best time is for you to land a new job. There’s a chance you don’t have to rush as much as you thought when you consider the family duties you have to take care of.

[RELATED: 6 Self-Care Tips to Practice While Job Searching]

3. Involve Your Family

Be transparent with your family, including kids who are old enough to understand what’s going on. Let them know as much as you can what all goes into personal branding for senior-level managers. It will require some time away from the home to network, meet with potential employers, or even take classes. When your family is on the same page with your goals, it will be easier for you to go about your job search.

4. Share the Responsibilities

It’s easy to get stressed just thinking about all the family responsibilities. Instead of stressing about them, involve the rest of the family in them. This will give you some time to dedicate to writing resumes and cover letters, but you can also have some family time as well.

5. Get Advice from Those Who’ve Been There

Talk to a friend or family member who juggled both and see how they did it. Or, go online and read up on it. There are a lot of options for career advice, and it’s a good idea to skim the offerings with the idea of getting a perspective rather than seeing them as a list of things you must do. Just like you don’t eat everything at an all-you-can-eat buffet, you don’t try to personally implement every piece of advice you read.