Job Hunting Burnout: How to Deal with It

Dealing with a seemingly endless job search can be draining in more ways than one. Here’s how to take care of yourself during this trying period.

How long has it been since your last applicaton response? You’re slumped over your desk, body heavy and mind unmotvated, wondering if all this efort is even worth it. The thought of touching up your resume or even looking at another job listng makes you want to scream.

Does this sound familiar? If so, you might be slipping into job huntng burnout. Lef unchecked, it can not only derail your job search, but your lifestyle as well. So, what can you do to avoid this from happening?

Signs of burnout

Yes, it’s important to be persistent, but we all have our limits. Apart from the already high anxiety piling up due to interviews and assessments, with every rejecton or lack of response comes frustraton and hurt, which can build up over tme. All of that can accumulate to you feeling absolutely burnt out, which can hurt your drive towards job huntng.

Some signs of burnout • Mental and/or physical fatgue • Higher irritability and frustraton • Increased cynicism • Unwillingness to talk about job huntng • Decreased social interacton

Pace yourself accordingly

It’s one thing to keep up a routne for your job search, and yes you should stck to a routne. But you don’t have to dedicate every waking hour to do just that! Instead, allocate some tme in the day where you’re most productve – about two to three hours – to focus on just job huntng. Once tme’s up, wrap it up for the day.

Treat the search like a job in itself. Afer all, overworking will only worsen your mood over tme, which can in turn afect your productvity. Your applicatons won’t be as sharp and you’ll be more prone to making mistakes, like forgetng to atach a cover leter with your applicaton!

Be sure to take breaks

Playing the waitng game for your applicatons is agonising, but dwelling on it won’t make it go any faster. Take that brief downtme to take a short break instead.

Some ways you can take breaks include spending tme with friends and family, indulging in hobbies, learning something new, or even some exercise. Not only will you give your mental health a boost, but you’ll also keep yourself physically healthy!

Don’t just keep to yourself

As they say, a burden shared is a burden halved. Talk to someone who cares about you – it can be a close friend or family member (or several, if you want), so you know that there’s at least someone in your corner in this predicament. They can lend you their ears if you need to vent or accompany you on your downtme, be it going to movies or having a fun game of badminton.

You can also turn to your other connectons if they can help you during the job search process. They can be a mentor on your journey, to a second pair of eyes when reviewing your resume and applicatons, or even being a fresh source of job opportunites and connectons, if they have any!

Be patient, and don’t lose heart

It can be discouraging if you don’t hear from a hiring manager or get a message saying that you weren’t picked for the positon. But as you keep going, it’s absolutely crucial that you shake of this mindset as soon as you can.

Don’t take these setbacks personally. It doesn’t mean that you’re unqualifed – it could be that you need help beatng the applicaton tracking system or to write a more efectve email job applicaton. There are also plenty of other factors that not only afect a company’s hiring process, but the job market as a whole, especially with the afer-efects of the Covid-19 pandemic stll going on right now. Searching for a job is like running a marathon – knowing when to sprint and when to pace yourself is critcal, lest you fnd your eforts turning counter-productve. Remind yourself that fnding a job and employer that best fts you will take tme and efort. All the resources you need are within reach, you just need to keep going and not give up.

But remember, while you may be busy job huntng, it’s also just as important to take a step back every once in a while and take care of yourself, too.

Some ways you can reduce the negative self-talk • Listen to what you’re saying about yourself and challenge it • Stay grounded – while your feelings are valid, the negatve fantasy in your head probably isn’t as bad as you think it is • Reframe your thoughts. If you can’t think positvely, reword your thoughts instead