A lot of people worry that they won 't be able to get another job because they don 't have time to find one. This is why hunting for a job from your cube is totally standard. It used to be that people stayed in their jobs 40 years, and a job hunt was an earth-shattering event. The expectation was that people would keep their job hunt out of the office.

Today, people might switch jobs every two years between the age of 18 and 32. That means that most peoples ' job hunts don 't have a start and finish they 're continuous. And this is smart, because so much of job hunting is being aware of the market (hello, workplace Internet connection) and networking (long lunch, anyone?) In today 's environment, job hunting from the job you have is totally mainstream.

Here are tips on how to do it right:

Don't feel guilty

Employers expect that you will look for a job while you have a job. Your boss probably did it. And if she didn 't, why not? Why would you quit a job before you have a new one when every statistic shows that people who are employed are more likely to get hired by someone else?

Rebecca Thorman, executive director of Madison MAGNET, agrees that looking for a new position while you 're on the job is standard. "I don 't think there 's a problem with it, " she says, "You just have to have a good relationship with your current employer and they 'll be understanding. " And, as it turns out, Thorman found her current position at MAGNET, while working at the nonprofit agency Saint Vincent de Paul. Madison MAGNET is a networking group for young professionals in the Madison area.

Also, consider that it would be impossible to do all your job hunting from home, because business hours are the hours that both you and your possible new manager are working. Get your work done well at your current job no matter what. You owe that to your employer. But beyond that, your time is yours, and that means you can job hunt if you want.

Schedule interviews for the beginning or the end of the day

The goal is to interrupt your current job as little as possible while you 're looking for a new position. This means doing an interview before you 'd typically need to be at work or at the end of the day. Less disruption means fewer inquiries about your intentions.

Don 't dress up for interviews if you can help it

It 's awkward to tell your current boss that you 're looking to leave. It makes working with her hard because she knows she 's not your first choice.

You don 't need to be sneaky, but you don 't want to antagonize your boss either. This means that if you have an interview, you can leave early from work simply by saying, "I have personal plans, " which would be true. But if you have personal plans and you look like you 're dressed up, people will ask. Who dresses up for anything at 4 p.m. except an interview?

Don 't do phone interviews from your cube

Your voice will sound insane. Like you 're running from the FBI or hiding an illicit phone call from a parent. Which you sort of are, and as soon as there is a hushed voice in a cube, the rest of the office hushes to try to hear. On top of this, there is no way that you will give your best interview when you are trying, in the back of your mind, to convince yourself that none of this is happening.

A potential employer will respect you for saying that you can 't do the interview immediately but you can at a scheduled time later -- at lunch perhaps? -- when you can leave the office. You will sound like a good time manager.

The most important thing to remember is that what you 're doing is in the range of normal and fair. If you sound unsure of yourself during your job hunt, you won 't land a job. So the first thing to get sure about is the fact that you should be hunting. From your cube.

Penelope Trunk is a national career columnist who recently took her own advice and moved to Madison, since she believes she can have a good work-life balance here. She has founded three companies and wrote a book called Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success. Read her blog at http://blog.penelopetrunk.com