We know underemployment is hard to measure. Even the government has difficulty measuring it.

But that said, you certainly know when you are unemployed. It’s when you have a job, and it pays the bills for the most part, but your talents are worth so much more.

Read Three Signs Underemployment Has Stole Your Soul

Getting out of the underemployment trap requires a shift in mindset. You have to understand your day job as the one that produces a check, and your night job as the search for your truly desired opportunity. It will be hard to manage both tasks at once, but you can’t disengage from either your current job or your job search. Making the most of your time is vital to your success.

You want a sustainable opportunity where you feel useful and fairly compensated – and you can have it. Just do these eight things to help you leverage your period of underemployment to your advantage:

1. Create Solutions to Build on Over Time

Employers are looking for people who can apply new solutions to their business problems. To compete in the job market, you must be one of these people. The modern job search is not about tricks and tips, but about strategies and your network. Don’t look for jobs; look for opportunities to contribute and create your network. In time, this will lead to the career you want.

Listen to Underemployment Trends: Your MBA or JD alone is not Enough

2. Cultivate Your Voice

Don’t be afraid of positioning yourself as an authority as your network grows. As you gain more experience collaborating with people who are more experienced than you, your voice will increasingly stand out. Learn to speak when expected, listen when it’s unexpected, and master both when they are critical to your brand.

3. Pay the Price

I am not suggesting you take one for the team, nor that you make yourself a martyr. Rather, what I mean is that there will be a cost to you of some kind.

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4. Use Your Strengths and Accomplishments as Motivation

Many things will pull you in different directions, but the core of your efforts must always be your desire to optimize your contributions to your industry. Your achievements can serve as daily reminders to motivate you.

5. Surround Yourself With People Who Will Support You

Don’t consider it a weakness to have people to remind you of your mission. All of us need people who can help lift us up when we can’t lift ourselves.

Read 6 Ways to Deposit Value While Under Employed

6. Be Uncomfortable With Comfort During Underemployment

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Persistence means trying different ways to open doors you find closed – or even break them down if need be. Don’t settle or wait for someone else to open the door for you. It will become a way of life, and you’ll pay for it in mediocrity.

7. Reconcile With Yourself 

Underemployment can be quite lonely, even if you’re around others who face the same challenge. You may feel alienated by people who wonder why you’re still “in that job.”

Surround yourself with those who understand what you’re doing. You need to hear the voices who are encouraging, truthful, and patient. Sometimes, there may be no such voices. In those instances, you have to reconcile with and rely on yourself.

8. Master Your Craft

You’re in it for the long haul, not just trying to “break through” to the next job. You should be crafting a body of work that serves as evidence of your value.

Underemployment is not a sentence you are obligated to accept. It is a battle you can win. It is a season of life, and you can weather the storms it brings by proving your uniqueness.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

My name is Mark Anthony Dyson, and I am the Founder of The Voice of Job Seekers. I am a career advice writer, but more importantly, I hack and re-imagine the job search process.. I've worked with hundreds of job seekers one-on-one helping them to construct a narrative and strategy that appeals to hiring managers and recruiters. I present at colleges and organizations, and facilitated many workshops including my volunteer effort through a Job Lab. I write and create useful job search content on this blog and write career and workplace advice for blogs such as Glassdoor, Payscale, Job-Hunt.org, Prezi and more. Media Feature highlights: Forbes, Business Insider, NBC News, Glassdoor, LinkedIn's #GetHired, and NPR Freelance writer and content contributor: Glassdoor, Payscale, job-hunt.org, The Financial Diet, RippleMatch.com and more. Contact me to contribute career, job search, or workplace advice for your site at markanthonydyson@gmail.com.

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