Finding Confidence During the Job Search

Searching, applying, and interviewing for a job (no matter what stage of career you find yourself in) is a long process that can quickly drain one’s confidence. When you send out dozens of applications a week and hear nothing back, it’s easy to feel as though you’ll never find a job. When you go through second, or possibly even third, round interviews and then don’t receive an offer of employment, it often feels like a very personal rejection.

Working for Contemporaries allows you to bypass all the waiting because our connections and relationships get your foot in the door without us having to send your resume, and usually without you having to interview. For those who don’t work for Contemporaries, Jane Burnett offers tips on maintaining your confidence through the long job-search process in her article “How to Feel Less Insecure While Applying for New Jobs.”

Here are our favorite points:

• Volunteer. If you’re unemployed, nothing will drain you faster than sitting at home all day applying, thinking about applying, and remembering all your unanswered applications. Volunteering in your local community will benefit those around you while also filling the gap on your resume between your last job and the one you’re searching for.
• Visualize your goals. That’s right, it’s arts and crafts time. Making a vision board allows you to quickly see all the goals you wish to attain and provides a motivating reminder each time you glance at it. A written list isn’t as effective as a board with visual cues– we are visual creatures, after all.
• Maintain an attitude of gratitude. When facing an onslaught of perceived rejection, it’s easy to forget all the positive things we have going in our lives. Keep a notebook close by and write in it those things you’re grateful for, every morning or every night.

Photo: retrieved from Pixabay, available under the public domain.