The hourglass is so last decade to illustrate the passing of time (I’m looking at you, Days of Our Lives).

Time is on a stopwatch for working parents. From 32 minutes to 4.2 hours, reports range on how much free time is at the disposal of working parents.

No matter the minute mark, it can feel like a personal and professional tug-of-war. Not to mention when a job search is added to your already crowded calendar. Short work bursts are the name of the game when you're on the market (and on the clock). 

Try these 15 quick tasks that take 3 minutes or less to accelerate your job search in your in-between moments.

The small, red magnifying glass. Do you remember it?

The anticipation as the glass hovered over the marbled red and white paper spinner to reveal whodunit. It's where revolver and rope murder mysteries were laid to rest in living rooms across the U.S. in the nineties.

Keep your spyglass out because you aren't too old for the real-world Clue Junior in your job search just yet. The investigative skill you need to sweet talk employers in your career documents is the same sleuthing prowess you employed in the childhood mystery game.

The hourglass is so last decade to illustrate the transience of time (I’m looking at you, Days of Our Lives).

Time is on a stopwatch for working parents in the age of Coronavirus. You have three minutes and 24 seconds to get things done.

At least that's how long working-parents clocked uninterruptible professional time before their personal commitments (ahem children) interrupted their work, according to a Washington Post article explaining their experiment.

The parent duo was interrupted 45 times within three-hours, averaging about 15 interruptions every 60 minutes.

Are you experiencing the same personal and professional tug-of-war, too?

Working (or job searching) in short bursts is the name of the game with young or home learning kids in the house. Better yet (if possible), in-home childcare or assistance at the very least, to block chunks of extended work time.

So how can you use your few-minute work bursts to level up your career or job search?