With job searches taking longer, there are more jobseekers bumping up against their severance deadline (or their own mental deadline that tells them they should have found a job by now).

A popular question that I hear often is how long you should hold out for that dream job before moving to plan B.

The answer is different for everyone:

What is your time urgency? Have you run the actual numbers on your cash cushion runs out? The shorter the time you have, the wider your net has to be. Even if your dream company/ industry/ functional area is hiring, when you have a short timeframe, you need to have multiple searches well underway.

What is your risk appetite? Some people are energized by putting all their focus on their passion. Some people would be so nervous that they couldn't do their best work. Some people are distracted doing more than one thing at a time so they have to decide on plan A or B, but can only choose one.

What are your dream job prospects? Are you looking to break into the subprime mortgage origination business, or are you looking into alternative energy? Some sectors are hotter than others. Growing industries will hire faster. Newer industries will hire people with less experience (since by default everyone has less experience in brand new industries) and are more open to career changers. 你梦想中的工作前景如何呢？现在的你是希望进军引发次级抵押贷款危机的金融行业，还是考虑新能源产业呢？当然，有些行业较其它行业更热门。朝阳产业对人力资源需求更大。新兴产业不介意雇用经验不那么丰富的员工，因为大家默认在全新的产业领域所有人经验都会相对不足，相对也更愿对改行的求职者敞开门户。

These are just some of the issues that you have to weigh. The work involves actually thinking through these issues – calculating your financial obligations v. your reserves, examining your will, researching your target sectors. It is not a single right or wrong answer, but more of a process and series of actions. In this way, it is less about waiting and more about doing. The best jobseekers are proactive and don't wait.