diff --git a/index-scheduler/src/lib.rs b/index-scheduler/src/lib.rs
index 8dd16f961..4ef218143 100644
--- a/index-scheduler/src/lib.rs
+++ b/index-scheduler/src/lib.rs
@@ -423,12 +423,12 @@ impl IndexScheduler {
                 #[cfg(test)]
                 run.breakpoint(Breakpoint::Init);
 
-                loop {
-                    run.wake_up.wait();
+                run.wake_up.wait();
 
+                loop {
                     match run.tick() {
-                        Ok(0) => (),
-                        Ok(_) => run.wake_up.signal(),
+                        Ok(TickOutcome::TickAgain(_)) => (),
+                        Ok(TickOutcome::WaitForSignal) => run.wake_up.wait(),
                         Err(e) => {
                             log::error!("{}", e);
                             // Wait one second when an irrecoverable error occurs.
@@ -441,7 +441,6 @@ impl IndexScheduler {
                             ) {
                                 std::thread::sleep(Duration::from_secs(1));
                             }
-                            run.wake_up.signal();
                         }
                     }
                 }
@@ -927,7 +926,7 @@ impl IndexScheduler {
     /// 5. Reset the in-memory list of processed tasks.
     ///
     /// Returns the number of processed tasks.
-    fn tick(&self) -> Result<usize> {
+    fn tick(&self) -> Result<TickOutcome> {
         #[cfg(test)]
         {
             *self.run_loop_iteration.write().unwrap() += 1;
@@ -938,7 +937,7 @@ impl IndexScheduler {
         let batch =
             match self.create_next_batch(&rtxn).map_err(|e| Error::CreateBatch(Box::new(e)))? {
                 Some(batch) => batch,
-                None => return Ok(0),
+                None => return Ok(TickOutcome::WaitForSignal),
             };
         drop(rtxn);
 
@@ -1010,7 +1009,7 @@ impl IndexScheduler {
                 // the `started_at` date times and `processings` of the current processing tasks.
                 // This date time is used by the task cancelation to store the right `started_at`
                 // date in the task on disk.
-                return Ok(0);
+                return Ok(TickOutcome::TickAgain(0));
             }
             // In case of a failure we must get back and patch all the tasks with the error.
             Err(err) => {
@@ -1050,7 +1049,7 @@ impl IndexScheduler {
         #[cfg(test)]
         self.breakpoint(Breakpoint::AfterProcessing);
 
-        Ok(processed_tasks)
+        Ok(TickOutcome::TickAgain(processed_tasks))
     }
 
     pub(crate) fn delete_persisted_task_data(&self, task: &Task) -> Result<()> {
@@ -1085,6 +1084,16 @@ impl IndexScheduler {
     }
 }
 
+/// The outcome of calling the [`IndexScheduler::tick`] function.
+pub enum TickOutcome {
+    /// The scheduler should immediately attempt another `tick`.
+    ///
+    /// The `usize` field contains the number of processed tasks.
+    TickAgain(usize),
+    /// The scheduler should wait for an external signal before attempting another `tick`.
+    WaitForSignal,
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use std::io::{BufWriter, Seek, Write};