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Job-seeking can be tough—leave time for pizza and movies, say experts

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Job-seeking can be tough—leave time for pizza and movies, say experts

Millions of Americans are currently looking for work.

The unemployment rate rose to 4.1% in June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, up from 4% in May. That means 6.8 million people were out of a job. Just under a quarter of those, 1.5 million people, were long-term unemployed, or those who have been jobless for at least 27 weeks.

That takes an emotional toll. A 2022 review of nine studies published in the medical journal JAMA and looking at 4,864 patients’ data found that unemployed patients scored 28% higher on the depressive symptom scale than employed patients.

If you are looking for work, especially if you’re doing so after a layoff or firing, here are a couple of methods to help quell the rollercoaster of emotions you might be experiencing.

Leave time for relaxation

To begin with, though it’s easy to want to spend your days sending out resumes, remember that even once you’ve stepped away, “all of the work that [you] have done thus far is still working for [you] in the background,” says Jasmine Escalera, career expert at MyPerfectResume. The companies that you submitted to are considering your application and perhaps even moving it forward.

That being the case, it’s important to establish a job search routine that prioritizes rest and relaxation as much as anything else.

Take some time away from looking and “give in to whatever vice you can that that is your healing vice,” says Dan Space, who’s worked in HR at companies like Electronic Arts and Spotify. “Order Domino’s, [hang] out with friends,” watch movies — whatever it is, take that time to relax and do something that feeds your soul.

Having those nourishing breaks is going to “minimize stress and burnout and the emotional toll” of the job search, says Escalera.

Curate content that will help you ‘stay in the positive’

The internet offers an onslaught of advice and opinions about virtually everything — your job search included. Be strategic in what you decide to take in.

“I would not be listening to individuals who are talking about applying to hundreds of positions and not landing anything,” says Escalera, “not because I don’t feel exceptionally bad for those individuals, but because that’s not the right message that you need to have to build your resilience.”

Focus, instead, on career coaches or job-seeking brands that are going to keep you positive and give you actionable and helpful advice to move forward.

You can also join or start groups for job-seekers, “not from the space of just talking about doom and gloom,” she says, “but really from that proactive space of sharing experiences that work, supporting each other, accountability. That can be wonderful and so helpful.”

‘The house is against us’

Finally, remember that even if you don’t get a job you’ve been interviewing for or don’t hear back from one you applied for: “It’s not about you,” says Space.

“I’ve been in that decision room so many times,” he says. Often there are three to four finalists who are all very good candidates for the role and the only reason one got the offer and the others didn’t is because there is “only one person who could get selected.”

When it comes to hiring, hearing back is not necessarily a referendum on your abilities or qualifications. It’s just that “the house is against us,” says Space. So keep pushing forward.

Want to land your dream job? Take CNBC’s new online course How to Ace Your Job Interview to learn what hiring managers really look for, body language techniques, what to say and not to say, and the best way to talk about pay.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.

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