Feeling stuck in your Job Search? Tips to get back on track!

How often have you embarked on a new job search with high hopes only to have it stall? You feel stuck, you feel as if your efforts are in vain.

So how do you get out of that head space and embark on your job search?

The first step is to understand how and where you are stuck. Is it starting your job search or is it landing and interview or getting offers? Regardless, of whichever point you got stuck, it is easy to fell discouraged and get into a viscous circle of self doubt and hopelessness.

Good news though, there are ways to get out of that space.

Ask yourself these questions:

  • What am I avoiding?
  • What am I scared of?
  • What is really the problem?
  • What is really the problem?What is the worst that can happen when I send the application?

You will find ourselves in situations of asking ourselves questions like what if i get rejected, get judged from a typo in my resume and miss out on the job. Often we get in our own way, leading you to feel paralyzed and choose not to take any action.

If you are actively on the hunt but not getting anywhere, Gorick Ng, a Harvard career advisor and author of “The Unspoken Rules,” breaks it down into three key categories where you may be stuck:

  1. Figuring out which jobs to pursue
  2. Securing an interview
  3. Getting past the interview to a job offer

1. Figuring out which jobs to pursue

“It’s easy to get into a downward spiral” in your job search, Ng explains. You start feeling bad about what you’re not doing, then you feel bad about feeling bad. But really, you’re just stuck.

Ng said you should ask yourself these four questions:

  • “Where do I actually want to work?”
  • “What do I actually want to do?”
  • “Where do I want to be long term — and what next role would best put me on the path toward what I want to do long term?”
  • “Where do I have the best odds?”       

“A successful job search is all about navigating your way to the intersection of what you want and where you have the best odds of landing a position,” Ng said.

When deciding which jobs to apply for, Ng suggests asking yourself this following set of questions — and then focusing your job search on roles based on those answers:

  • “What have I done that I’d like to do more of?”
  • “Where do I know someone?”
  • “Where can I get an introduction from someone?”

For networking, Ng says, work on identifying those relationships and rekindling them,

2. Securing an interview

If you are stuck on securing an interview, probably there is something off about your CV/ resume or cover letter. .

3. Getting past the interview to a job offer

If you are stuck on getting past the job interview, –

Conclusion

Focus on progression not perfection. Stay in the motion, ypu won’t get to the next step by freezing and not taking action.

“The job search can be a real drag, especially if you’ve been at it for some time,” Ng said. “After one too many rejections, it can be easy to think, ‘Heck … I’ll just take anything at this point.’ Tough times are not the time to lower your standards for the sake of lowering your standards; they’re the time to (a) be realistic and (b) focus.”