5 Ways To Keep Your Motivation When Job Hunting
Seeking employment can be an absolute slog if you’ve just graduated, and nothing grinds down motivation quite like numerous inevitable rejections. But don’t worry, here are some job hunting tips to help you break through and reach success.
1. Surround Yourself With a Support Network.
The first of these job hunting tips is to make sure you have others to support you. Humans are social creatures, and it’s not good for you to try and deal with everything all by yourself. The nature of your support can be anything. Family, for example. If you have a good relationship with your family then they can be reliable supports if you find yourself facing difficulty. This support isn’t just emotional, if you have friends or acquaintances who are employed, you can ask them for advice or recommendations. You can ask people you know and trust to help you out if you’re encountering stressful situations or can’t come up with ways to keep looking. The more supporters you have the better, as they’ll make your search less stressful, less draining, and less mentally demanding. You can breathe easier knowing you’ve got other people in your corner. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, there’s no shame in doing so at all.
2. Strive to Improve Yourself and Your Environment.
Next on our list of job hunting tips is the concept of improvement. You should dedicate at least some of your time to improving not only yourself and your skills, but your environment as well. For example, you could pick up hobbies or pastimes that will look good on your resume, like volunteering or learning a language. Not only will these activities build your resume, but they will grant valuable and rewarding experiences to you as an individual. Self-Improvement is a process, and employers often choose people who have a strong desire to become their best self. Self improvement will also help you to stay motivated if you set goals and meet them, as you will feel rewarded for the things you do and the improvement you’ve made. You can also try to improve your environment by using the time to make your living conditions more comfortable, getting yourself some plants, or reorganizing your workspace. If you’re going to spend a lot of time sitting around in one place, that place should at least be one you feel comfortable and safe in. Improving your surroundings will also be good practice for when you do finally land a job.
3. List Out Your Priorities to Find a Job That Fits You.
The third of our job hunting tips is to get your priorities and ideal job sorted out. You should make a plan for how to reach your dream job, but you should also figure out what kinds of work you’d want to do and look at jobs where you do those kinds of work. Let’s just get one thing out of the way, you’re probably not going to get the job you’ve always wanted straight out of college. That’s just how it is. What you can do is know what that job is, and work towards building up the needed experience and credentials to someday reach that job. Think about what skill you have, how much experience you’ll need to have, and look for entry-level positions that look for those skills. Build up your skills, either on your own or by taking on less demanding jobs opportunities. Choose what skills to prioritize, and think carefully about what opportunities are worth taking. You will be rejected many times, so learn to work around this, set long-term goals, and don’t let it get to you.
4. Balance Your Search with Your Personal Health.
Number four on the list of job hunting tips is to maintain a good balance between your job hunt, and your personal life and health. Burnout is real and can happen to the best of us, and stress contributes massively to it. You don’t need to spend every waking moment thinking about your search for employment. Letting a single thing consume you like that is unhealthy and self-destructive. Only if you eat well and sleep well are you truly able to work well, so make sure you’re taking care of basic needs. If you do eventually score an interview and show up looking like sleep-deprived ghoul, you probably won’t get that job. Taking care of your emotional wellbeing is another key component of staying healthy and motivated. Take time off to do things you enjoy, don’t force yourself to take up hobbies you hate just because they’ll look good on your resume. You have a lot of time when you’re between jobs, and not all of it needs to be devoted to finding a job. Use some of that time to socialize, relax and give yourself some well-deserved rest. While employers like people who show initiative, working yourself half to death before they get the chance is less of a power move than you’d think.
5. Don’t Stretch Yourself Too Thin.
The last of our job hunting tips ties into my previous points about health and stress. While it’s great to keep your options open and try to apply to many possible employers, you should only apply to as many positions at a time as you feel comfortable doing. You don’t need to send out 20+ copies of your resume every week, because past a certain point there’s no logical way you could possibly keep up with all of them. If you send out too many applications, there’s a chance your acceptance email might get buried under dozens of rejections. Also, the “apply for absolutely everything” mentality can end up with you getting accepted for a job you might end up hating, and nobody wants that. This doesn’t mean that it’s a bad idea to cast a wide net or to explore your options with the qualifications you have, only that you shouldn’t go crazy overboard. Know your limits and don’t overextend, and you’ll do great.
