Being on the job search for a couple of days can be frustrating. Being on the job search for a couple of months can be downright maddening. And when a job search drags on for very long, it can leave the job seeker feeling discouraged and dispirited.
There’s no way around that. We won’t sugarcoat it: Job hunting is difficult, and facing rejection and dead ends is all the more so. The good news is that there are a few attitude tweaks that can make a dragging job search seem a little more bearable.
Use Rejections as Opportunities for Improvement
For starters, make sure you seize every rejection and every failure as an opportunity to make yourself an even better candidate for the next time around. Hopefully, the hiring managers who turn you down will provide you with some feedback—and if they don’t, you can always ask. More generally, you can use a rejection as a chance to update your LinkedIn profile, clean up your social media presence, or get your resume rewritten. You might also spend more time running job interview drills with a friend.
Take Some Time to Hone Your Skills
A prolonged job search gives you a chance to become a better candidate not just on paper, but actually in the workplace. You can take the time you have available to you to develop new skills or even attain new certifications. In many industries, online education courses are easy to come by, and generally affordable. And if you can’t find any, you can always sign up for some volunteerism or internship work—allowing you to keep your practical, hands-on skills sharp.
Give Yourself a Break
You may be itching to be back at the grind, earning a living for yourself and your family, but maybe this non-voluntary down time you’ve got is a blessing in disguise. You can almost certainly benefit from a few extra hours each week to exercise, or to give yourself some mental health breaks—ensuring that when you do land a new job, you’ll be rested, focused, and ready to thrive!
Again, none of these attitude adjustments will make the job search easy, per se—but they might help you stay motivated and positive, even when things get tough.
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