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When you are faced with rejection, learn from it and grow so that you can approach the next application that much stronger. Surround yourself with positive people and refuse to give in to negativity and a victim mentality. While interactions with others may bring you some job leads, the bigger purpose is to feel connected to a broader community. Globally, there are over 2,000 helplines and hotlines, and the support they offer varies across topics and populations.
This feedback mechanism creates a conundrum where the longer you go without landing a job, the harder it weighs down on your mental and emotional health. For a while, at least, the job search itself may become your full-time job. Studying job boards, filling out online applications, and creating personalized cover letters for each potential employer is time-consuming, repetitive, and demoralizing. Always watching your email for positive replies or waiting for a phone call to schedule an interview can challenge your anxiety levels.
Why Job Hunting Depression is Real and What to Do About It
For some graduates, the overcoming job search depression search is a joyful, exciting adventure. For other job seekers, though, the job hunt leads not to a dream job, but clinical depression. Your struggle with depression, and the tools you’ve used to manage your mental health, can actually be framed in a positive light to prospective employers, Heath says. But she cautions that you should do so only if the question you’re being asked in an interview warrants it.
- Really listen to what they have to say and enact the necessary alterations to your approach.
- In a fluctuating economy, one never knows there would be a period of economic downfall causing lives to tumble upside down.
- Instead, he made changes to his resume based on feedback he received from interviewers, and he continued to schedule interviews as best he could.
I didn’t follow up to ask why or complain, I followed up to thank her and to see if new positions were available. That’s when I started thinking that maybe I should just go back to academia. Each time I was rejected, I felt more crushed and demotivated. Here’s what they were really saying—it’s not you, it’s me. Sometimes I felt like all of my efforts were for nothing.
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Just like you, recruiters are busy and you are more than likely one of many receiving the same email. Your first instinct may be to immediately trash the rejection email but your response is important. Simply respond and let the recipient know you are thankful for the opportunity to interview. Taking a few days off from an intensive project like a job search has been shown to alleviate frustration, change perspective, and spark novelty. Now, recruiters are contacting you and you’re getting industry interviews.
Why does job searching make me depressed?
They can slip into depression. There are a lot of factors that can contribute to the development of job search depression. In addition to the overall frustration of not landing a job, financial stress, feelings of inadequacy, anger, anxiety, and uncertainty are also often.
Fixed job-hunt hours also give you an opportunity to set boundaries. Once you’re finished with your work hours for the day, relax, recharge, and put the job search out of your mind, instead of feeling the constant pressure to chase down another opportunity. To prospective employers, job seekers with a positive attitude appear more capable. Even if you don’t have the right skill set or experience, walking into an interview with optimistic, confident energy will make you stand out.
Remember your situation is temporary
I found that there were tons of things available that way. Rejection can be heart-wrenching and leave you feeling so dejected that you decide to never trust or love someone again. Those emotional walls you put up to protect yourself from future harm are also the walls that will isolate. Don’t allow the painful events of your past to destroy your happiness in the future. None of these are fun things to feel, but they are all perfectly normal reactions, and you have to give yourself time to feel the feelings. Don’t forget to keep networking and meeting new people.