Don’t Worry: Everyone Goes Through Job Search Blues

I recently received a few different messages from job seekers who were feeling beat down by the job seeking process.

One told me, “I’m stuck! I’m usually a positive, energetic person, but today, I’m just depressed. I just can’t take another rejection!”

While it’s hard not to take your job search incredibly personal, job seekers should know that frustrations and anxiety are common; the goal is to develop strategies so that you can continue a sense of constant and positive forward motion in your job search.

There are a couple of things I would recommend you consider for dealing with your job search anxiety.

Take Time Off

If you are full of anxiety and becoming depressed about your job search, then take a couple days off. Don’t jump onto any online job boards, don’t make any phone calls, and don’t send out any resumes. Instead, use this time to just clear your head and re-boot.

Everyone has individual motivation strategies that they’ve had to use in their life to overcome a problem or a challenge. Maybe it’s as simple as going on a long hike or hanging out with friends or family that can give you positive reinforcement. Start thinking about the things in your life that have helped you get out of a funk and also start thinking about the things that have worked in your job search to date to help re-focus your job seeking plan.

Do Just One Thing to Keep Going Forward

If you are in the thick of your job search and you don’t feel like spending the whole day job seeking, then at least commit to do doing one thing that will provide continued forward motion in your search for employment. Maybe it’s making one phone call, sending out one resume, or simply spending an hour on a job board writing down job leads that you can come back to later.

Stay Positive

Lastly, it’s easy to get to a point where we can get overwhelmed with negative thoughts about our job search. Let’s face it, for anybody, there is an unnatural amount of rejection tied to a job search. Maybe you are not getting the responses you hoped for or maybe you’ve been to an interview but didn’t get the job offer.

Most of the time, we are never told why we are rejected and are left guessing. In these cases, we can easily overwhelm ourselves with negative assumptions we make about why we failed. I call this ‘stinking thinking’. Don’t let stinking thinking overtake the focus of the positive things that make you a valuable candidate; your skills, your education, your experiences, your expertise, your accomplishments, etc. You always need to remain focused on the value you can bring to a future employer.

I’ve never met a job seeker who was “unemployable”! We all have things that are valuable to employers. The most successful job seekers I’ve met have one common thread: they are confident and focused on their core skills and how those skills translate to the jobs they are applying and they never waver from all the things that make them a valuable addition to an organization.