5 Tips Against Choice Stress When Searching for a New Job

Finding a new job can be quite stressful, whether you’re just looking for something new or because you need a job. Fortunately, there are several ways to reduce this stress and make the search for the perfect job a little easier for you. In this article I give you five tips to make your search stress-free.

Do not hurry

Of course it is important to find a well-paid, fun job, but you have little control over it when you are invited for an interview. Finding a job takes time. Sometimes you are lucky and find your dream job within a week, sometimes you have to wait months to get a response from another option. You can start stressing about finding a job, but apart from applying for a job, you have little influence on it. Try to make the search fun by combining it with a cake in a nice café or take a day off to go for a nice walk. Taking care of yourself in between can really do no harm.

Make a schedule

Which brings me to my second tip: make a schedule. Finding a job and the added stress can ensure that you are still scrolling on websites during your vacation in no time. This is not fun, but it is not healthy either. Your brain needs a moment to recharge and recover.

By making a schedule you have an overview of which tasks you perform when and how long you spend on each task. In the beginning it will take some getting used to not being busy with your search, but soon you will notice a big difference!

Research the company

This is a useful tip for once you have a job interview, but also a good tip for when you are just writing a motivation. When you know which company you are applying for and what they value, you can use this to include in your motivation. This way you come across as very well prepared and they will be more inclined to invite you for an interview.

An added benefit of researching a company is that you may sometimes come across a more suitable position during your research. Or maybe there’s something in your application that appeals to the employers there that will allow them to offer you another position.

Keep all options open

You probably have a perfect job in mind when you start applying, so you turn down all other open positions. Or maybe you just found the perfect job and sent your application, so you stop looking before you get a response back. This is very natural behavior, but it does prevent us from using all available options. Maybe the perfect job is hidden behind a simple advertisement for an administrative assistant, you don’t know that in advance.

Even when you are almost certain that that one job is going to be it, you should not stop looking right away, because sometimes things suddenly change and you are without applications and without a job. If you do get the job and still have an application, you can always call or email to let them know you’ve already found another option and thank them for their time.

Don’t take rejection personally

It can happen that you are not accepted for a nice job, or that you may not even be invited. Don’t let this discourage you! Call the company or send them an email and ask for feedback. What makes you not the candidate they are looking for? In most cases they will just want to answer this. You can then use this information to work on yourself and to make your applications look better and better. If you are repeatedly told that you do not have enough experience, you can also look at courses that offer this knowledge to teach yourself more skills.

Unfortunately, finding a job is not easy, so it is important to do everything you can. Don’t reject friends and family with good tips either, they can help you with good references or maybe they happen to know when a position becomes available at their workplace. Don’t worry too much about the future, because with these tips you will get there anyway!