How to fight back against job search fatigue

Even people who love their jobs will tire of them at some point. The spark disappears and it could take days, weeks or months for it to reappear — if it ever does. Obviously, the risk of fatigue is even higher for job seekers, who usually aren’t happy about looking for work.

Job search fatigue can be a much bigger career stumbling block, however. A person who tires of their job may be in a proverbial rut, but a person who succumbs to job search fatigue will likely end up looking for work for a much longer amount of time. The lengthening of a job search from fatigue can be due to several factors, including taking days or weeks off from your routine.

“It produces this feeling of ‘what’s the point’ and ‘I don’t want to put myself out there’ and obviously that’s a problem,” said Dawn Norris, who is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. “If you’re not seeking, you’re not going to find anything.”

Norris, who is also the author of Job Loss, Identity, and Mental Health, said job search fatigue can set in after searching for work for a long time — or after just a few weeks. She noted that it’s common for anyone to take a day off from looking for work here and there, but it becomes a problem when the break turns into several days or weeks.

“You might have a day or two that you’re fatigued,” she said. “The bigger problem is when it goes on. If you start to feel that way consistently for a week, you really need to address that job search fatigue.”

Protecting your identity

People tend to underestimate how much of their identity is tied to their work. I can say from experience that just switching jobs can sometimes come with a rush of unexpected emotions due to shifts in identity. For unemployed job seekers, that loss of identity can be much more direct.

“We often think of job search fatigue as an exhaustion of rejection and not hearing back,” said Norris. “For those of us whose identities were connected to our jobs, those rejections and not hearing back creates a mismatch. We’re constantly getting these feedback mismatches between who we believe ourselves to be and what we’re hearing. When we hear that, it increases our job search fatigue.”

If you’re experiencing that identity mismatch or your believe your job search fatigue is driven by the loss of a job, you may want to consider finding an activity or volunteer opportunity that aligns with your past work. 

In her work, Norris said the people who didn’t experience much loss of identity all seemed to take that route.

“If their identity had been connected in the past to a job, they would find some kind of role or activity that was ‘similar enough’ to their old job,” she said. “It wasn’t always paid but it would help them feel like they were the same person across time.”

A person she knew of in banking started volunteering to take care of some church finances after losing his job. People complimenting him on the good job he was doing with the church’s books helped reaffirm his identity during his job search.

People need people

You should also keep in mind that even the most introverted people need social interaction from time to time. Yet, many job seekers cut off communication with their connections because they are embarrassed about being unemployed or looking for work. 

You may recall a recent survey from LinkedIn that found nearly half of survey respondents said they had lied about being out of work. More than half said they had avoided a social event because of the way they feel about being out of work. You can read the results by clicking here.

“Our tendency because of the stigma is to self-isolate and not talk to others because we lost our jobs, but it’s really important to talk to others,” said Norris. “It provides the social support that we all need when we’re stressed. It helps us learn job search strategies. It helps you find work.”

 If you’d rather interact with other job seekers, Norris recommended exploring job search groups, which is also something we covered in a past edition of Get Hired. You can read about those by clicking here.

Routines are helpful

Another suggestion Norris has for you to guard against job search fatigue or to help remedy it is to create a routine.

“You need some organizational strategies so you don’t take a day off every day,” she said. “I would suggest regularly scheduling a time for the job search. For example, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. ‘I will search and apply for at least one job.’ When you’re done, you take those breaks. The other really nice thing about that is that when you schedule it that way it feels like you’re going to work and this helps maintain your worker identity.

You may also want to consider dressing for your job search to also help your identity and keep up your productivity.

“Dress for your search,” she said. “Similar to whatever you’d wear to work. Dress as you would for casual Fridays.”

It’s OK to ask for help

Norris said she’s a sociologist — not a psychologist, but said people may want to consider seeking professional help with combatting job search fatigue when it starts interfering with their daily lives.

“My general advice for anyone is whenever what’s going on is interfering with your ability to function in everyday life or you don’t find joy in the things that usually bring you joy,” she said.

How else can people combat job search fatigue? Join the conversation.

? Want even more #GetHired?

I spoke with Tracy Cote, who is the chief people officer of Zenefits, on the most recent episode of #GetHired Live. You can watch it by clicking here or on the image below.

#GetHired Live will be off next week, but I’ll be back with the last episode of the year on December 18 at noon ET!

? The follow-up

A person can turn down a job offer for a number of reasons. They may not want to accept the pay, for example. Or, they may not like the company. Regardless of the reason for turning down a job offer, it’s important that people strike the right tone when talking with the recruiters or hiring managers. LinkedIn members offered several strategies for turning down job offers in the last edition of #GetHired. They suggest being honest. Also, you shouldn’t keep the company waiting. You also shouldn’t ghost the company. While email may be OK on some occasions, calling the recruiter or hiring manager is best. Lastly, make sure you show gratitude for being selected for the role. Here’s what people are saying about the advice.

? Other news to help you #GetHired:

The global economic growth outlook is getting worse. Projected global growth in 2021 was cut from 5% to 4.2% by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which is an intergovernmental body focused on fiscal policy. One reason for the cut is the resurgence of the coronavirus around the globe, reports Bloomberg. The change was especially dramatic for Europe, including the U.K., where the OECD predicts growth of 4.2% in 2021, down from 7.6%. The U.S. forecast was revised to 3.2% from 4%. Here’s what people are saying about the change.

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Here’s who’s hiring right now. As I’ve said before, we’re doing our best to connect you with companies that are still hiring during these troubled economic times. Part of that effort is a regularly updated list of companies we know to be hiring. Some of those include Amazon, Walmart and CVS Health. Click here to see more.

? Up next:

We’ll be taking a look at how the pandemic has changed what’s happening behind the scenes in HR departments. From hiring to remote work, we’ll hear from a talent and HR expert on what they’ve seen change over the past year.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to reach out to me if you have ideas on topics or questions I should address in future editions of #GetHired. You can also email me at GetHired[at]LinkedIn.com.