“Nothing exhausts the body and soul of people as exhausting dreary thoughts. And people weakened from thoughts …”
— Maksim Gorky

Finding a job is always stressful, especially if you get rejected after rejection. When employers ignore you, it can be easy to doubt your own skills and fall into despair. The following tips will help maintain morale during this difficult time.

1. Don’t pin your hopes on one job

Imagine that you have sent a resume to some company and are very excited about the opening opportunity. You are confident that you will be an ideal candidate and already imagine how great it will be for you in this organization. But then you get a scary email saying, “Thank you very much for your interest in our company, but we’ve decided to opt for another candidate.” Just a nightmare. After all, you were so hoping for this vacancy, and you were not even invited to the first stage of the interview. How can you not despair and not doubt your own skills? But this is a wrong pattern of thinking. Don’t get so attached to one career opportunity. Create some sort of emotional barrier between you and the job you are applying for. And the next time you get rejected, it won’t hurt so much.

2. Reach out to loved ones for support

During your search, you may want to cut off all non-employment communications. It will seem to you that you need to focus all your attention on the search, and you should not be distracted by unnecessary conversations. And when you sit at home, there is less chance that someone will ask you what you work for.

But such isolation from society will not solve the problem and the new job will not magically materialize in your hands. You will only feel more loneliness and your status as unemployed. That is why you need to turn to your loved ones for support. For example, you can contact relatives every week or two. Tell your spouse about your feelings and sorrows. You can chat with your friends and ask them to wish you good luck. When you understand that you have people who wish you success and support you, then you feel better. They will remind you that you are not alone during this difficult time.

3. Do not turn searches into full-time work

Seriously, when you’re looking for a job all day, it’s terrible. You will constantly sit at the computer and get rejected. To put it mildly, this is not very useful for self-esteem. Treat your job search as a temporary activity (of course, if your financial situation allows it). If you receive unemployment benefits and it is enough to cover basic expenses, then you just cannot sit for days on sites with vacancies. If you live with your parents, or if your spouse’s income is still sufficient for a normal life, you can afford to take occasional breaks from writing cover letters and sending resumes. Finding a new job takes time, but that doesn’t mean you have to be looking every minute. If you do not rest from the search, then you will be only burn out and be disappointed. Don’t worry about failures and don’t give up trying to find the job of your dreams, not the first vacancy you come across. P.S. Several years ago I met the following statistics relating to the job market in Germany. On average, in this country, you should apply for 45 times and just after that you get employed…So you can count your application attempts, relax and keep on seeking your vacancy.