Job searching is often a lonely and stressful pursuit. Hours of scrolling hiring sites, tweaking your resume font, and waiting for responses from potential employers can definitely fray your nerves. But it doesn't have to be such a downer.
Here’s how to set reasonable goals and boundaries to keep your spirits up during this process.
What Is Job Search Burnout?
Many people know about the signs of burnout at work, such as lacking motivation and decreased job performance. However, the whole process of finding a new job is also ripe for this particular kind of stress.
In fact, experiencing fatigue is a common side effect of job-searching, according to the Journal of Vocational Behavior. If you've ever felt flat-out exhausted by the job-hunting process, know that you are far from alone.
Unfortunately, even talented and successful people can take a while to land a new career opportunity. With that in mind, it’s crucial to make time for your own self-care and peace of mind.
1. Set Time Limits
When you’re on the hunt for a new gig, it can be tempting to spend every waking hour firing resumes out into the world. Although the optimal amount of time to spend job-hunting will vary from person to person, you need and deserve time to decompress each day as well.
Use a calendar app for time management and block off some downtime every day to spend however you like. Step away from LinkedIn, close your email, and take a well-deserved breather. You'll return to the process feeling more refreshed and rested.
2. Boost Your Self-Confidence
Putting yourself out there with a flurry of resumes and cover letters can wear on your confidence after a while. In many cases, it can take some time before interested employers get back to you, and dealing with the waiting game in the interim can be rough.
With that in mind, it's crucial to build yourself up while you wait for responses. For some people, self-affirmation tools such as the Affirmations app can help with maintaining a positive outlook. People from all walks of life use affirmations, or positive statements that help reinforce self-esteem, to combat doubt and pessimism.
There’s also a huge selection of eBooks, websites, podcasts, and additional resources to increase your confidence and self-esteem. Browse around until you find something that helps you feel more confident and competent. It's crucial to pump yourself up during the job search process, so create a little time for whatever makes you feel your best.
3. Set Yourself Up for Daily Successes
Similar to people who work from home, it's important to maintain some form of a daily work schedule and stick to it when you're looking for your next career opportunity. This creates specific times for focusing entirely on your job search, as well as taking a breather now and then. Plus, many people do well with a set daily routine.
In addition, setting specific, achievable goals for your day or week can give you a little more control over the whole process. For instance, deciding to apply to two jobs every day, or spend one hour reviewing potential job sites, are both attainable goals. This is also a good time to review the best ways to set SMART goals for your career.
4. Make Time For Movement
Even when job-hunting takes up the majority of your time, fitting in exercise a few times a week will help you combat stress and generally feel a bit more relaxed. Even better, just about any kind of movement can help lower your stress levels, according to the Mayo Clinic. Dance, do tai chi, or break out your roller skates: it's all good.
For more structured routines, there are plenty of excellent beginner workout apps for yoga, Pilates, gym routines, and more exercises. If you're pressed for time, then the HIIT apps with quick workouts pack a lot of movement into a few short minutes.
5. Connect with Other People
Call up a friend to share about your job search experience. Looking for work is rough for plenty of people, so even your most successful friends can probably relate and commiserate. They might even have some insight to help you land a new gig.
It's also a crucial time to take care of your own mental health and wellbeing. There's the opportunity to get counseling via telehealth appointments if you don't have a therapist already. Alternatively, consider some of the best websites to talk about your mental health, such as The Mighty or Calm Sage.
Searching for a new gig is often isolating, so reaching out to others for support can be crucial.
6. Streamline Your Job Search Process (As Much As Possible)
Ensure you’re making the best use of your time with the whole job-hunting process. Making your job search faster and more automated in some ways will help reduce some of the workload. Because there are so many sites, apps, and other spaces to keep an eye on for potential work, using targeted searches and other tools will do some of the work for you.
7. Prepare for the Next Steps Now
Even though it's what you want, landing a job interview often comes with its own set of stressors and worries. How do you know you'll say the right thing? Wherever you are in the job search process, it's a great idea to review some common job interview questions and how to answer them. You can even enlist the help of a friend to set up a mock interview for practice.
If virtual interviews are likely, then become familiar with the ways to ace your online job interview. Even simple things like setting up your home office space for video calls is smart. You may want to spruce up your background or invest in a ring light for more professional videos.
By preparing for the next steps ahead of time, you will be ready to go whenever a potential employer wants to set up an interview.
Simple Strategies Can Ease Job Search Stress
It can be easy to feel overwhelmed when scrolling through endless listings on job boards. However, making time for self-care along the way can help prevent job search burnout as you move to the next phase of your career.