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Shopping at five different grocery stores to save money and improvising family entertainment is time-consuming and tiring. Accept that limited funds means more work and celebrate the creativity that lack of money inspires. When I can’t afford to eat out, I invite friends over.
I needed all my coping skills during an employment gap that spanned a year—due in part to new medications that led to bouts of agitated depression and hysteria. As the months without income rolled on, I became so consumed by anxiety over mounting debt that I lost 10 needed pounds and began to obsess about my financial straits. The challenge of finding a job that more than pays the rent can drag down anyone’s mood. However, the uncertainty, lack of structure, and financial pressures that characterize unemployment complicate the struggle to stay stable with bipolar disorder.
How To Overcome Job Search Depression
Your toolbox for getting through depressive episodes may include exercising every day, maintaining a schedule, or ensuring you get a set number of hours of sleep every night. Whatever helps you to keep your head above water, make sure you’re prioritizing it during your job hunt. Depression is one of the most common mental health disorders, with approximately 17.3 million adults experiencing at least one major depressive episode in the United States in 2017. Whether you have just recently lost your job or have been searching for a few months, these tips can get you through the worst of times in your job search. If the process is appropriately soul-crushing you are incentivized to accept a lower offer and be more reticent to leave a job you already have.
You could also try the anonymous helpline numbers available below if you need to speak to someone urgently but cannot figure out who. The companies that you reach out to overcoming job search depression know you. All they get to see is a document that highlights your career. Rejection here has nothing to do with your worth as a person but simply the hiring manager’s opinion on your ability to fulfill a role.
Federal Government Salaries: The General Schedule (GS)
Let friends know your situation, brainstorm possibilities with them, then move on to other topics, like which celebrity will get the next DUI. Being completely engaged in the present moment reduces anxiety and stress. Getting physical activity for at least 30 minutes a day, five to six days a week, gives you the maximum benefits from exercise, but even taking walks to break up your day will refresh you.
- What can be irritating sometimes is the anxiety that is built through the suspense of waiting.
- In fact, the Americans With Disabilities Act considers clinical depression a protected disability, which means you can’t legally be discriminated against because of your depression.
- A recent experience with being given a runaround absolutely scared the fuck out of me now – I’m scared I’m about to go through it again with another company who offered me a job last week.
- You might feel discouraged when things don’t progress in the job search.
- Your local medical center will likely have resources.
- Or you should have created three versions of your resume depending on the organization you will pass it to.
- Younger workers entering the job force have lower salary expectations due to their fewer years of experience, and have the tech competency that requires less on-the-job training.
The hiring manager had interviewed me for a position, and then sent me a standard rejection email. I was on the verge of giving up one day, when I decided to reach out to a hiring manager who had rejected me for a position. I’m in a toxic work environment, been looking for a job around 2 years now, and my self esteem has taken a beating. Nonetheless I am taking time every day to aggressively „upskill,” and reading this is a confirmation I’m doing the right thing.
Beating Job Search Depression
It can also help decrease stress by creating clear boundaries between work time (looking for a job can easily take as much time as a full-time job) and free time. Find a routine that works for you; maybe you need a break in the middle of the day for a long walk, or some time for self-care in the morning before you start your job search. We have some tips to help you care for your mental health while searching for a new job.
- That said, there may be times when you choose to disclose your condition—or when you at least shouldn’t be afraid of hiring managers finding out.
- Exercise, a balanced diet, and a good night’s sleep are already non-negotiable aspects when it comes to taking care of yourself.
- Instead, surround yourself with a positive community of like-minded people where you can share honest experiences and learn trade secrets.
- First, let me stress that I am not a trained psychologist.
- It’s important to focus on your strengths in life outside of work while you’re job searching while depressed.
- That’s why Resume.io has created our guide to identifying and defeating job search fatigue.
- You might also want to seek out an online support group—some groups are designed for the long-term unemployed or for people diagnosed with clinical depression.
She was recently offered a part-time copywriting gig at one such event. „I was kind of building up the courage to write and publish something like that for a while,” she says. And she ended up getting an outpouring of support, including dozens of comments and personal messages from people with whom it resonated, whether they were jobseekers themselves or not. Don’t take it personally when you don’t get the job.