Is Your Job Search Stressing You Out? How exactly to Set Realistic Goals

[Micheal Jorden]

Maybe you have held it's place in the work market longer than you expected? Have you been frustrated because you only don't see as much progress as you would like and because you are feeling like success-the perfect new job-is eluding you?

There is no doubt that job searching could be stressful. Not just are you experiencing to manage using what often feels as though rejection, if you are currently unemployed, financial concerns might be an extra stressor. It may not be much better if you are buying new job while currently employed, while probably wanting to juggle a lot to do in too little spare time, and may also be worrying that the current employer may learn about your job search prematurely.

Irrespective of the method that you view it, job searching is stressful!

But, could your beliefs be making your job search much more stressful than it could be otherwise? Let's look at a couple of the most common beliefs that many job seekers hold, and that may cause undue stress.

1. Comparing yourself to others.

Did your neighbor Mary land the work of her dreams after searching for just a week? Does cousin Bob brag that he delivered his resume to 20 companies and got requires 20 interviews inturn?

Each person is unique. The qualifications and credentials they offer, the experiences they bring to the table, the achievements and results they've stated in the past-every job seeker is different. Also, each situation is different recherche d’emploi. One industry might be expanding while another is contracting. The economy in a single geographic area might be booming while another is declining. Certain professions are far more in demand than others.

It is simply a mistake to compare your job search to any other...not even to a friend with very similar qualifications and goals as yours. You can't compare apples to oranges...you can't even accurately compare a yellow delicious apple to a red delicious apple.

Instead, be willing to let go of the comparisons and see if instead there is a training in the other person's job search. While the situation differs, perhaps they used a particular technique that you may adapt to your own personal search. Comparisons almost inevitably cause unnecessary worry and stress and oftentimes blind you to a training that will help you along your path.

2. Holding unrealistic expectations

Sure, it's possible that you may distribute your resume Friday and have a job offer Monday afternoon. Anything is possible. But it's unlikely.

It is essential to recognize that even the AVERAGE job search often takes months. The traditional guideline is always to plan for a month of job searching for each $10,000 of salary you are seeking. Whether this really is accurate, is debatable. But, what's clear is that job searching often takes time. Just taking a moment to look at the hiring cycle can tell you this really is true: an organization may solicit and collect resumes for an opening over an amount of weeks, they then spend another number of weeks interviewing and re-interviewing candidates, then another number of weeks conducting reference checks and creating a decision. It is the rare job search that'll conclude successfully in an occasion that's shorter than even the normal hiring cycle.

Obviously, you've no control over these external hiring processes. All you can control are your own personal actions. So, if you expect your phone to be ringing off the hook for interviews and you only sent your resume out for the very first time last week, or if you expect a solid job offer just fourteen days into your search, or when you yourself have other goals or hold other expectation that are not realistic, you are just setting yourself up for disappointment and stress.

So, what's the perfect solution is to these faulty methods for thinking?

Goal-setting-realistic goal-setting--is absolutely essential. You need to be thinking all the time about your job search and the goals you've set for yourself. This way, you maintain awareness and open yourself to recognize and act on opportunities that arise.

While the ultimate goal, obviously, is to attain your target job, setting this as the goal that you strive for every day and weekly can cause frustration. The particular timing of if you are offered and accept a job is usually centered on factors that are outside your control. Thus, setting a goal you will achieve an offer for the target job in 6 weeks, for instance, can just cause frustration and a loss of motivation when six weeks comes and goes lacking any offer in sight.

While I certainly encourage you to set a job offer that matches your target as your current INTENTION, as your actual working goals, I suggest that you choose goals linked to events and activities involved with searching for your new job. To help keep your goals manageable and motivating, I will suggest you set weekly goals. It's important that you write down your goals on paper.

To summarize, your goals should really be:



Attainable while providing a challenge
Written
Specific
Stated in a positive way
Manageable
Measurable and trackable
Timed with a deadline
Job searching might be stressful, but by resetting faulty beliefs and following some basic, proven goal-setting techniques, you can make it much less so.



Review your goals daily to make sure you stay on track and to regulate your schedule if necessary. To help keep yourself motivated, always remember to plan an incentive yourself at the conclusion of the week. This could be spending a balancing with friends, giving yourself permission to spend an afternoon in a hammock reading a book, or buying a new sweater that you really wanted. Whatever it's, make sure it's a thing that you enjoy and you will soon be motivated to work for. It is amazing how successful you will feel-how successful you will know you are-when you begin measuring your success by simply how much you've accomplished as opposed to be simply how much further you've to go!