Job Search Depression: How to Make the Process Easier for You

Job Search Depression: How to Make the Process Easier for You

“Job Search Depression” is a real thing

We’ve all been there: the stress and hardship that comes with looking for the right job is taxing to both the mind and body; the swaths of rejections waiting in your inbox, the weekly (or sometimes even daily!) interviews that you constantly have to prepare and drive for, and the research that you need to do on each company, its employees and perks…  and if you have kids? Then that’s double the average research efforts…

This amount of pressure can become too much to handle, which might lead to what we call “Job Search Depression.” This article from Gallup proves the existence of this modern phenomenon: A poll and study conducted by Gallup themselves show that drawn-out job searches, that have lasted more than eleven weeks, can greatly impact a person’s emotional well-being. People report feeling less fulfilled, unmotivated, and hopeless when it doesn’t look like they’re getting any closer to finding a job.

If you’re going through this difficult process of finding the right job, then this article might just be the motivation you need to keep going.

Here are our tips to make the job search a little more bearable.

First and foremost: Accept that It’s going to take time

While it could take more than eleven weeks of searching for a job to send someone into a depressive spiral, the reality is that it’s going to take time. As difficult as it may be, that’s just how it is. 

We’ve read so many success stories over the internet or LinkedIn posts online about how someone got a job at a fancy, multi-million dollar company in the span of a few days. These success stories come in all different shapes and sizes, and they can be detrimental to our motivation to keep going. 

Heck, who wouldn’t give up after reading stories like that that make you feel like an absolute failure?

Piece of advice? As cliche as this will sound, it still rings true: everyone’s journey to finding the right job for themselves is going to be different from person to person. Just focus on your own job search and the journey you’re taking to get to your final destination. 

Not-so-fun-fact: It can take up to eighteen months until you finally land a job, so trust the process.

Schedule a few hours a day for job searching

It’s so easy to get caught up in the job search; searching for job after job, reading job post after job post, jumping from interview to interview, and pulling all-nighters to perfect your CV.  If only you could get paid for putting all that effort, right? Let this be the wake-up call you need to remind you that searching for a job shouldn’t be your full-time job. 

And just like a full-time job, if you don’t watch yourself, you might end up overworking yourself and becoming mentally, emotionally, and physically fatigued. 

A quick and simple solution to overworking yourself is to set a fixed schedule. Create short time slots throughout the day dedicated to the job search process instead of just doing it without knowing when it’ll end. 

Think beyond job boards

Bored of the pages of job posts you have to flip through on LinkedIn or Glassdoor? A fun, more exciting way to find potential employers and jobs is to go to an event that centers around your field of expertise. Connect and meet with important contacts.

Networking is a powerful tool not many people utilize very often or properly even. Finding connections at events like these can act as catalysts to you eventually getting a decent job; you might meet someone one day, give them your email or phone number, and then receive an email from them or someone they know offering a job the next day.

Make sure you do your research before the event: find out who’s attending and figure out which one of the attendees you’d like to approach and strike up a conversation with. Look them up on LinkedIn and find out more about them online, that way you’ll know what topics to bring up to gain their interest and keep the conversation rolling. 

Learn a new skill

Are the rejections you’re getting putting you down? Why not try improving your skills a little bit? Rejections happen, but when they do, they could allow you to figure out what you need to improve and add to your CV. Some employers and recruiters go out of their way to give you feedback on your interview or your CV in an email or in person; pay attention to the feedback if you get any. That’s the exact thing you need to ensure you find a job fast. And learning a new skill or improving an existing one never hurt anybody, especially not your CV.

Look up workshops in your local area and courses that focus on the skill you’re trying to improve or learn. If you’re worried about the price, think of it more as an investment than a loss—you’re adding to your CV and boosting your chances of getting the job you want. 

Finally: Stay connected with those you love

We’ve talked a lot about the things you can do to make the job search process easier, but we can’t neglect your emotional health. When looking for a job, we tend to isolate ourselves from the people we love because we get so caught up in the search. It’s time to get out of your bubble and call up a friend or meet up with a close relative whose company you enjoy for some coffee. It might just be the kind of breather you need to push you to keep going.