How to manage the stress of looking for a job

Credit to Author: Canadian Immigrant| Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2024 16:05:47 +0000

Reframing your thoughts can help you effectively manage the stress of looking for a job and see your problems through a different lens, assisting you to make smarter choices.

There can be little doubt that moving three quarters of the way around the world, landing in a strange place and starting a whole new life can be quite stressful.

Indeed, learning the norms and values of a new culture, not to mention a new language and unlearning old ways of thought, can also be daunting. Some come from regions that are less than stable and carry with them the anxiety of those experiences.

On top of that there’s this little matter of finding a job and that can be triggering and stressful as well. Fortunately there are resources that can help alleviate or at least help you manage the inevitable stress that comes with the settlement process. One of these is a form of psychotherapy called Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).

CBT helps you to identify and reframe negative beliefs into a more positive viewpoint that can improve management of anxiety, depression and other mental health obstacles. It’s based on the concept that your thoughts, feelings and actions are all intertwined, one element affecting the other parts. By modifying your thoughts and reframing them into more realistic positive and manageable thoughts you can improve quality of life.

When job search has been prolonged or appears to be going nowhere, CBT can help to see problems through a different lens and assist you to make smarter choices, while breaking these down into smaller chunks that improve coping strategies.

According to Statistics Canada, the recent coronavirus resulted in Canada losing 3.5 million jobs when the pandemic was at its peak in 2021. More than 225 million jobs were lost globally. Many of these jobs were in the service sector, which tends to be low paying at the best of times.  Fortunately, Canada’s economy rebounded fairly quickly, but the loss of those jobs had an undeniable impact on workers’ collective mental health.

Harness the power of CBT techniques

There are numerous CBT techniques that can be applied to help you combat stress associated with job loss and search. One of these is a thought record that helps you challenge cognitive distortions that you may have.

Mindfulness is another technique employed, often in tandem with CBT. Mindfulness can be defined as “the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.”

This may sound simplistic but think of how often our minds wander when we’re engaged in tasks. Mindfulness helps us reduce stress, gain insight and awareness by observing our own mind and increasing our attention to others’ well-being. Practicing mindfulness involves breathing methods and other practices to relax the body and mind. Learn more at https://www.mindful.org/.

Cognitive restructuring is yet another technique that therapists frequently employ. This technique is used to identify unhelpful thinking patterns and changing them to become more effective. This can include seeing things more clearly or navigating a problem more skillfully. Click here to find out more about this technique.

Job search is a continuum that moves from goal setting to job maintenance. Along the way there are multiple stops, including the interview which can be nerve wracking in itself, including deciding how much information to share, what to leave out and how best to market yourself. The CBT techniques mentioned above can help you see a situation more clearly and assist you with establishing SMART goals that can potentially lead to more favourable outcomes in your job search.

Another example where CBT can come in handy is with disclosure. Perhaps you are living with a disability and your thinking may be along the lines of, “if I tell this to an employer they will never hire me.” This is an example of something called “disordered thinking” that can be challenged and reframed into something more positive based on evidence you allow yourself to see more clearly alone or with the guidance of a therapist.

Access available resources

There are multiple resources available such as Canadian Mental Health Association’s BounceBack program that offers support to both youth and adults.  Other free resources include CBT-based apps such as those offered by Mind Beacon and Anxiety Canada’s Mind Shift app.

While CBT has proven itself to be an effective, accessible, evidence-based and practical short- term solution, it’s not a cure-all. It is however, one technique with a solid track record of success that just may prove itself to be helpful with some of the hiccups along the way of many barriers you may be experiencing in life, including landing that elusive job.

Carter Hammett is a Toronto-based social worker and writer. He can be reached at iwriteandedit@yahoo.com

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