TL;DR, Big anxiety when job hunting, advice?
TL;DR, Big anxiety when job hunting, advice?
Hey everyone,
I [28F] need some advice on handling anxiety when job hunting.
Almost a week ago I finished school and I'm once again without work. I've been job hunting about 40-50% of my adult life and it has taken a huge toll on my mental health to the point where I'm barely able to apply for jobs anymore. I have gotten a few warnings over the years due to not applying to enough jobs. ( I live in Sweden btw )
I have tried taking breaks.
I have tried waiting for the anxiety to pass.
I have asked so many for advice but it's like they all give the same default answer. If their advice where enough, I would be a pro at job hunting.
I did get an autism diagnosis a few years back and I do feel better about myself, more confident and understanding of how I work so I think this time around will be different, but it's like the old anxiety still hangs around and I don't know how to get rid of it.
Please if you have any advice, I'd love to hear it.
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What has worked for me and may or may not help you (also lived in Sweden) is that I write down questions to ask and I go through them multiple times. I also write down questions I think they will ask and then answer them in a very thoughtful way so I can later deliver them in a shorter version but till get a across what I want. I also bring the notebook with me so I can read them at the interview or take notes. Taking notes are great if they have a multiple stages kind of interviews.
Also I put myself in the mind set of "this interview is for me and them to get to know each other and get a feeling if this is for me". That kinda removes a lot of the stress. I am there for me and my self and here to interview them as much as they are there to interview me. Also many first check the personality, my current job told me later that after the interview they ask everyone "would I like to hang out with this person". Many good bosses have said "personality can't or is hard to change and knowledge and experience is something you can easily obtain".
So you should also try to see if the workplace you try to be hired as is even a nice place for you to be at. I have so far liked small companies the best with 20 to 50 employees.
I have been on the other side of the table to (not in the room but helped my coworkers and asked them questions about the interview afterwards) and a lot of them are just as nervous or unprepared as the one seeking the job.
My dad told me that he thinks like this when he is holding a meeting for higher ups "they all shit in the same bathroom as me today". I don't know if that helps but it is kinda the same things as I what I tried to say above. Good luck! :D
God morgon 😊
I often get this feeling that if I don't get this job I'm gonna end up homeless and die. So it's practically life or death. Which is not true of course.
I've tried the notebook thing before, (it didn't go well as I didn't write fast enough) but maybe I should give it a go again! The only times I've asked the interviewer questions back have been to requesting companies and they seem to have very little knowledge about the company they work for.
Maybe a part of my job hunting is bad luck? That and just nervousness/anxiety.That is so true but I have a really hard time relaxing at an interview, I think next time I might ask to have at least part of the interview in another setting than their office. I think the context might make me extra nervous. After my autism diagnosis, I've learned I'm probably very understimulated during interviews.
I'll try to keep this in mind, I'm in a new chapter of my life, and things will be different.Smaller companies often seem to be more cozy than big ones, I agree.
I got a feeling that you might be a developer so I did check your other comments on Lemmy and saw that you're working fullstack. I just graduated as a frontend dev at a 'YH-utbildning'.Thank you for your insights!