5 Ways to Stay Positive When Job Hunting can help many of you looking for work at this time.   I have talked with many job hunters and have heard time and time again that searching for a job is much harder than the work itself.  It can feel that way.  No one looks for work as a full-time career, and it can be hard to know how long it will take, how many interviews you might have, and how many rejections you might have to navigate.  Because of this, I am sharing 5 Ways to Stay Positive When Job Hunting.

5 Ways to Stay Positive When Job Hunting

DBI works with many people who are exactly where you are right now.  Always upbeat, you put in hours each week scouring job postings, applying for positions that seem like they could be a match, checking your phone to see who wants to reach out for an interview, and then going to those interviews. You even follow up with a personal thank you note.

And then there’s nothing. No callbacks. No offers.  It becomes hard to stay positive when your job search stalls.  You feel out of control, and the lack of any feedback is bringing you down. You need these 5 ways to stay positive when job hunting.

Negativity won’t restart your job search and re-ignite the architecture and design passion within you. The longer you give in to negativity, the more pervasive it will become. Instead, fight back. There are many ways but here are 5 ways to stay positive when job hunting:

5 Ways to Stay Positive When Job Hunting

1. Find a support system. No person is an island. We all do better when we work together. Now is the time to develop a support system and rely on it. Talk to a mentor who can coach you, vent with a friend, or get advice from a professional architecture and design recruiter. Their insights may be invaluable.
2. Build a network (and make it visual). Continue your involvement with the professional organizations you belong to, and extend your influence. Try joining a speaking and leadership organization like Toastmasters or write and post industry-related articles on LinkedIn.
3. Take a training class. If you have extra time in your schedule because the job market has slowed, this is an excellent time to enroll in a course or learn a new hobby. Maybe you’ve always wanted to study entrepreneurship or learn how to do stained glass. Your brain creates happy chemicals like dopamine when you learn something new, putting you in a positive state of mind.
4. Treat the stall as a learning experience by being curious. The lapse in job search activity allows you to understand market trends and needs better. Explore new job titles, search with different keywords, and pinpoint geographically hot markets.
5. Enjoy the time you have right now. It’s okay to take some time for yourself to do some of the things that help you relax and have fun. Job searches exhaust even the most energetic candidates. Go out for lunch with friends, spend the afternoon at the pool, or try out a new BBQ recipe. Once you land your new job, you might not have leisure time immediately.

Re-energizing your commitment to your profession by finding ways to stay positive when your job search stalls are something you can discuss in your next interview. By showing how you used your time for self-improvement, you reveal your willingness to invest in the best employee a firm can hire: you.

Are you a professional looking for a new opportunity?

Contact us to discuss your career options, or browse our open positions.  Another great way to keep up to date on 5 ways to stay positive when job hunting and all the other great things DBI is doing is to follow our LinkedIn page.