How to Overcome Job-Search Misery
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By Laura McMullen
Say you're a boxer who's been taking some serious beatings lately. You show up to each match still swollen and sore from the last. You feel slow and scared and start expecting to get your butt kicked. The more pressure you feel to win just one stupid match, the more bummed you get when you don't. And you start thinking maybe you should just give up the whole cruel sport.
The job hunt is pretty brutal, too.
A long, arduous search can leave psychological bruises and hurl you into a self-defeating cycle. "It's a blow to your self-esteem," says David Reiss, a psychiatrist based in San Diego. The more confidence you lose, the worse you perform in the job search. This process "takes a half a step off your game," Reiss says.
