Overcoming Discouragement and Getting Back to Work

I read this article post earlier today on LinkedIn and asked Linda if I could share it. I was working on an article about my own frustration with the job search and found this to be helpful because she has validated my feelings. yes, sometimes we all need a little validation.

Overcoming Discouragement and Getting Back to Work

Managing discouragement, and the other emotions that accompany a job search can be challenging when you are diligently getting your resume out to the world without the results you desire.What can you do to transform discouragement into hope that you will land another job? Engage in activities that will help you move through difficult emotions. Fear and faith make poor roommates because one dispels the other.You must fight discouragement.

Avoid beginning and ending your day with negative television and radio news reports about the economy and start your day early with activities that inspire and comfort you such as devotional readings, meditation, artwork, or exercise. The best form of workout for you is the one you are most likely to participate in. Begin your day early by first making a deposit into your emotional bank account–that is, your self-care plan.

If you are starting to give in to discouragement, it is time to tune in for self-care. Prepare a list of 10 self-care items that will help renew your mind, body, and spirit. You may find it difficult to do so, but it is completely worth your time. The items on your list do not even have to cost money. Participate in 2-3 of these self-care activities every day. Give yourself permission to take an overdue restorative time-out.

Many people work very hard while also attending to the needs of their family, but find it nearly impossible to be especially kind and tender to their selves. In an emergency, you have to put on your own oxygen mask first, and being out of work in an economic downturn qualifies as just such an emergency. You may need to go fishing or engage in other enjoyable and renewing sport activities—whatever it takes to think about something besides the ongoing job hunt for a little while. It’s not a luxury; it’s a necessity!

Address discouragement and other emotions by taking the time you need – not by doing what others think you should do. Talk to someone you trust who will help you to get rid of negative feelings and evaluate the emotional ramifications of what you’re going through. Get help from a friend in managing your emotions and when you are ready, launch into the tangible, practical components of job search.

After you’ve taken a step back, take stock of your expectations. Unmet expectations can lead to disappointment and discouragement. You may be very good at the work you have done in the past but your future does not live in your past. Industry changes create opportunities for new job growth. Do you need to take what I refer to as the ’transitional bridge job’ or two part time jobs to pay the bills while you think about seriously re-inventing yourself ?

Are you at a fork in the road? Do you want to return to a former, similar, or new job title? Research professional association websites in the industry you want to explore. Perform information interviews to help expand or narrow options and consider participating in other activities outlined in the Getting Back to Work book. Don’t let lack of information stall you indefinitely. New job growth is there. You will bring greater enthusiasm and success to your job hunting when you identify what you want to do. What does your heart desire for employment?

When you are ready, set a structured job search schedule that allows for concentrated job hunting activities, say between 10:00 am and 3:00 pm daily, or whatever time frame works for you. No matter what, though, it’s important to keep your work/life balance and self care in the daily mix. Your future work is ahead of you and you must move forward to reach your goals. Giving in to feelings of discouragement can only hold you back.


After being out of work for over a year and employing as many of the techniques to market yourself as possible, and really doing everything possible, what do you do when you still don’t have a job offer?

This is my question and my struggle. I’ve been keeping my blog focused on what I am doing, what my capabilities are and how I can benefit any company that hires me. But, there comes a point for all of us unemployed job hunters where we feel defeated, frustrated and ready to give up.

As we go through the challenge of unemployment we realize that not only do we struggle financially but emotionally as well. Some of us, me in particular, find it difficult to not work. And as much as we throw ourselves into the job search, which really is a full time job on its own, and try to get more involved with family and doing volunteer work, nothing can take the place of the joy and satisfaction of going to work everyday and earning a paycheck.

One of the interesting things I read was someone posted a comment on desperation. They have been out of work for a long time saying that the financial issues they were facing were making life so stressful that when they went in for an interview, they were later told that the desperation was a turn off to the hiring manager.
Now this had me worried. Those of us that have been out of work for so long and honestly attach some of our personal self worth on the work we do and are faced with financial troubles are desperate. We thrive on making a difference everyday in the work we do for our clients and the companies we work for. They don’t call us workaholics for nothing. We get a personal satisfaction from doing our jobs not just well, but excelling and exceeding expectations everyday.

So what do we do? We plunge ourselves into the job hunt by networking, writing blogs that may help others and trying to make an impact in other ways. Recently I was given an opportunity to work with an old classmate from Jr High to raise money for after school programs in Fullerton, CA where I grew up.

This was great for me as I was able to use some of my marketing skills for a great cause. The idea was to donate money to the City of Fullerton so that they could provide money to the after school programs for sports equipment, educational outings and special events. We first wanted to donate $600 and that number was increased to $1000 once we realized how much support we were getting from our fellow alum. We surpassed our goal and raised almost $1200 for the program.

I have been helping a friend with his SEO/SEM and building his website so that we can include case studies and update his before and after images more often. He used Dex Online and while he says he is happy with the results my analysis of the ROI is terrible.

Anyway, as Linda has recommended in her article, sometimes we need to take a step back, reevaluate goals and reexamine expectations.