How to maintain motivation while you're looking for work

Job seeking can be a demoralising affair. Here, career coach Marina Pitisano explains how we can maintain our spark while looking for work.

Work is important. For some of us, our job is our identity. So, when we’re between jobs, there can be a sense of identity crisis. You might think, ‘If I’m not working, what am I really about?’ Even if your career is not central to your identity, work has the capacity to add meaning to everyone’s life. It’s not just a job.

But today’s employment market is tough. Looking for work has the potential to become very demoralising, which is why it’s imperative to stay motivated.

Job seeking is really about healthy self-belief. You need to have that strong, inner voice saying, ‘I can do this.’ Especially over a long job search, people can spiral into thinking, ‘I must not be good enough, I must not have the right stuff.’ Even if they’ve got lots of achievements, lots of skills, and a great background.

Instead, try to adopt an unstoppable mindset: ‘This is not going to hold me back. I’m good enough. I'm not going to reduce how I think about myself based on other people's feedback.’

You can't control if the job market is tough. You can't control the fact that you're not always going to get the great feedback you need. One thing you can control is what you do on a daily basis: have a routine, plan your week, and organise what you're going to do each day.

When you structure your time, you give yourself purpose. Who do I need to follow up this week? What applications do I need to send? What network event or seminar am I going to? Which recruiters can I reach out to? Who can I research on LinkedIn? If you set in place what you're going to achieve, that gives you the motivation to get up every day.

It’s very easy to feel isolated during a job search. You might be used to going into an office every day or being part of a team, then suddenly you lose that support mechanism, and maybe you forget how to reach out. That’s why it’s important to schedule social activities: visit friends, go to the gym, volunteer your time. Go and engage with the people around you. You won’t feel so alone.

You can also invest in meaningful conversations with key people in your life – with your parents, with your spouse, with your friends – to talk through how you're feeling. They can reassure you that this period of unemployment won’t last forever, or remind you of the great work you’ve already done. Let the feedback they offer bolster your self-belief.

Unfortunately, rejection is an unavoidable part of any job hunt – you have to remember it’s just another ‘no’ and not take it personally. The key thing is: what are you going to learn from it? Is there a way that you can now look at things differently? Rather than thinking of rejection as a ‘no’, try thinking about it as a learning experience. How can you improve for the next one?

Move on from the negativity by finding things that motivate you. Maybe that means having affirmations around you, or reading something motivating, or watching a TED Talk, or doing an activity that puts you in a positive mind frame.

If you’re really stuck, you might want to invest in a career coach. Someone you’re comfortable with, who can provide you with job-search tools as well as a different perspective, and help manage you through rejection. Success will come, you just have to believe it will arrive.

I often talk about building an online network and an offline network. For online networking, LinkedIn is really critical because it allows you to reach out to people. Think of the companies you want to work for and follow them, follow the directors, follow key people. For offline networking, analyse your potential employers’ network, and go network with them. There are always industry seminars to attend, or workshops, or speeches. The object is to get in contact with potential employers in the audience.

When you meet those people, learn about their network and talk about the fact you're looking for opportunities. It's really important to be out there educating yourself and understanding what the market is doing so that you can be one step ahead.

Volunteering is really valuable for jobseekers because you're giving something back. It gives you a sense of worth, a sense of purpose and a sense of perspective. It encourages you to build different relationships, taking you out of that lonely place. And there’s a potential to learn new skills.

When you're volunteering, you might be part of a project team, you might end up being a team leader. You might get your first project management role and gain experience in organisation, allocating funds, delegation, decision-making. Those are skills you can take into a new workplace and feel good about.

I believe you need to be a life-long learner. Of course, there’s upskilling in a technical sense, but don’t forget about ‘soft skills’, too. You might need to improve on communication, networking or pitching. There are many courses, seminars and opportunities for you to go out and improve those skills – including online options, which are generally cheaper and more accessible.

There’s a rhythm to learning, and there are deadlines, which are good motivators on their own. Now you have a reason to be active on a daily basis because there’s a deadline to meet. There’s something else driving you forward to do more, to be more efficient, to learn – and it all builds your self-esteem.

It’s really important to be disciplined, and that can be a hard thing to achieve. A lot of people just keep applying, applying, applying – building that sense of possible rejection and eroding self-esteem. They’re driven, but sometimes those people can burn themselves out and then they’re not going to be good for anyone.

That’s why you need to plan your time and stick to it: ‘I will work through the week on finding a job, and then on the weekend I'm going to use that time for my family, be with my friends, and do something that I love.’ It’s important to have that balance and not feel guilty about it. Because this is part of your job search, too: staying fresh and optimistic, so when you do get in front of a potential employer, you’re working at your best.

Marina Pitisano is the director of Letz Create, a career coaching and job-hunting consultancy. After 20+ years in the corporate world, Marina now partners with employees on difficult career paths though redeployment, retraining or retrenchment. She says that helping others achieve career satisfaction is her greatest passion.

Disclaimer:
The information in this article is general information only and is not intended as financial, medical, health, nutritional, tax or other advice. It does not take into account any individual’s personal situation or needs. You should consider obtaining professional advice from a financial adviser and/or tax specialist, or medical or health practitioner, in relation to your own circumstances and before acting on this information.