How to fall in love with your job search again

Beginning a new job search can be exciting, but over time, if it doesn’t seem to be going as well as you would have hoped, you can slowly start to lose the spark that motivates you every day. Although your job search is meant to be an exciting and new way to find you something fresh, it is still very hard work. You need to treat this as a full-time job, unless you are still working. Then you need to still spend a little bit of time every single day working on your job search. It’s important to stay motivated, even when times may seem a little tough.

Make a change

If something isn’t working, change it. Sometimes it can be as simple as making some changes to your CV or cover letter. Other times you may have to start over from scratch. For example, it might be your schedule that just isn’t working for you. If you feel over-worked and over-tired, then the likelihood of you enjoying your job search is going to be low. You should have a schedule that works for you. Don’t focus on the amount someone else is doing, everyone is different and need different time periods to do tasks. If you can only focus for a couple of hours an evening, then do that.

Make sure you are getting everything else you need as well. Take time for lunch, dinner and socialising. Although it’s all online at the moment, it’s still important to stay connected to your loved ones. Think about what you’re doing, why you’re doing it and see what you can do to make you enjoy it again.

Take breaks

Some days it can all get a bit too much. Just like at work, you need a few days off every now and again to re-charge. Taking a break can mean what ever you think is necessary at the time. It could be simply taking your scheduled lunches and finishing on time. But it can also mean planning a week away and getting away from all of the stress. Working solid day in and day out for a really long period of time can leave you feeling deflated, tired and leave you hating your job search! We all need a break, don’t leave yourself hating your job search for this reason.

Keep a feedback folder

It’s a good idea to keep a feedback folder in your inbox of all the emails where you received positive feedback from interviewers. If the feedback wasn’t via email, write a note to yourself about it and stick it in the folder. Looking at this from time to time is not only a real mood-booster for when you’re feeling a bit lost in your job search but it also serves as a reminder that you do good work and it is going to be worth it in the long run. When you’ve been rejected from an employer, it’s not necessarily because you’re bad at what you do, it just means they found the right match for them and there will be a match for you.

Learn something new

Something as simple as learning a new skill can leave you feeling ready to keep going. Often, learning a new skill can leave you with a sense of pride, you have done something to better yourself and therefore it motivates you to carry on and find exactly the role you are looking for!

If you are applying for roles and they all seem to ask for a skill that you maybe aren’t the best at, work on that! Not only is it something you can add to your CV, but you can talk about it in your interview. It can help you feel more confident in yourself and your abilities. Not only can it help you love looking for your new role again, but it’s impressive that you learnt a skill just for the job in question!

You could even take the time to learn a skill that isn’t a job requirement. All skills are valuable and if you think it will help with your confidence, then do it. We all seem to have a little bit more spare time than usual these days, so use this to your advantage. Learn a new language or take up running. These things take a lot of hard work and resilience, another skill employers long for! Something that is going to make you feel happier is always worth doing.

Always remember your strengths

Stress makes it easy for us to forget what we’re good at. It can blind us in a way that makes us only think about the negatives and our weaknesses. Having thoughts like this are inevitable, they happen to everyone. But what makes it better is when we shake off those feelings and focus on the things that lift us up. You have managed to get this far for a reason and whether you want to acknowledge it right now or not, you have great skills and advantages that make you a great job seeker and engineer. Ask anyone. Talk to your friends and family about these feelings, or if you’d prefer to keep things private, write them down. Come back with a fresh mind the next morning, read your worries and work hard to set things right.

Ask yourself why you started your job search in the first place

Whether this is your first job search, or you’ve done this what feels like hundreds of times, you’re all doing it for a reason. You want to better yourself, better your career and find something that will support you and that you can enjoy doing day to day. It can be easy to get sucked into a daily routine and forget the reasons behind why you’re doing something.

Think about what you want from this. What you have done so far to get to where you are? Sometimes, it can take a while to find the right job for you but enjoying the process can help you wake up in the morning and give it everything you have. Everyone has a reason, so keep going so you can achieve it!