Combating Job Search Anxiety
The thought of job hunting used to send me into a panic spiral, but now it’s an opportunity to put my best foot forward
The thought of having to search for a job used to send me into a panic spiral. Shallow breathing. Tension in my body. The critical inner voices would come all at once, “What if I never find a job that fits me? What if I don’t get the right credentials for any job? What if no one calls me back for an interview? What if I’m the last one to find a job? That’s so embarrassing! What if I get paid very little at the job?” I was captive in a binding panic that wouldn’t subside. It got marginally better when I was able to calm myself down, but it was always there as low-grade panic. I could barely function. The panic about the job search took up all of the space in my head. Some nights it was difficult to sleep. My thoughts were just caught in a vortex of doubts and fears.
I started to realize that the job search anxiety I experienced was a recurring and debilitating phenomenon. After this happened over and over, I realized it was not normal. There are endless articles online about navigating the job hunting process, but when I Googled “job hunting with anxiety,” I seemed to find only limited and generic advice in every article I came across. Perhaps everyone else who experienced…
