How to stay inspired during a long job search

The task of searching for a new job can be a very challenging process, especially if it is taking longer than you expected to land a new gig. The moment you realize that your job search is taking longer than you expected, job search depression may set in. Its real.

Looking out for new job involves motivation within oneself. You may never know when the tide will turn in your favour. Managing the situation and how to go about your day is all that is needed. To help you keep your head up, here are ways you can stay motivated during a long job search.

• Pick yourself up: Have you been rejected from the first interview call? Not to worry, its not the end of the road. Thinking or brooding over the rejection will make you even gloomy and hinder you from moving ahead or taking the next step. Take it aside as it is not personal and you would definitely learn from this as to how you could do better.
• Opportunity to learn: All experiences should be considered as opportunity to learn. By considering each step of experience that made you a better person will definitely motivate you. In addition, you need to review your profile or interview process and find out what was lacking. Ask yourself how you could improve it. Try to overcome them by learning from those mistakes in order to avoid the same errors in the future.
• Recharge yourself: Often you may get exhausted after each interview. You would be excited entering the venue and slowly your enthusiasm goes down after each session. At the end of the day try to revitalise yourself or recharge yourself by doing things you love to. It could be spending time at home with your friends or family or whatever works for you. Try to allocate a specific time of the day for searching and filling applications. Spend the remaining part of the day for recharging yourself so that you are fresh for the next day.
• Networking: There are many opportunities that might arise from networking. Involve in socializing with friends who are employed to not only share but also get to know about other opportunities. It is also a way to make improvements in yourself. Through them you would get help in modifying your application including the covering letter to suit to the post applied for.
• Inspirational stories: Get yourself a book on the autobiography of people who have been successful. Reading their ups and downs will motivate you on how to handle life’s challenges. It would have taken days and years to these persons to get to that level. By getting to read about them you would be able to know how they got through failures and setbacks that they faced.
• Volunteer: Skills development does not always have to be purely industry specific. You can often achieve the same results while also giving something back. You should not let your job define you. Now that you have time, explore other interests and passions. Not only will this help your well-being, it will, once you do land that next job, ensure that your self-worth is not related directly to your career. Be pro-active, and stay positive.
• Prepare and plan for interviews: Having gone through interviews, you would have been seeing the type of questions asked. You could use this as an opportunity to review those points and use the internet to gather more details on how to present yourself. By opening yourself up you could come out of the negativity. Take this opportunity to make yourself understand the various techniques you will need to plan for interview.
• Keep pursuing: A very important aspect for everyone is to be patient and keep pursuing. There could be a time when it is favourable or it might take time. Even employers do take time to get their right candidate. Hence, don’t give up after a set of interviews. Think positively about your next application and expect interview call. Keep pushing until you get what you want.