Perfectionism, procrastination, pessimism sabotage job hunts
Stress for Success
July 5, 2011


If you’re going through a stressful job search, I hope you allowed yourself to enjoy the holiday weekend and took time off to relax and renew. Now it’s back to the job of finding a job.

How much stress you face when unemployed is influenced by several factors, including:
· Are you an optimist or a pessimist?
· Are you mostly unflappable? Or do even small disappointments throw you off balance?
· Do you react to life circumstances with guilt or are you relatively free of this emotion?
· Were you an executive with a generous severance package or were you laid off without notice?
· Have you lived within your means or paycheck to paycheck?

These considerations contribute to the degree to which you feel out of control due to your job loss. The sense of losing control creates anxiety and prospective employers can smell insecurity a mile away.

Establishing greater personal control reduces anxiety, which allows your enthusiasm, self-confidence and composure to shine through. Reduced anxiety also helps you stand out from your competitors by positively influencing how you feel about and how you project yourself, like during interviews.

To reduce your anxiety, avoid these three traits:
· Perfectionism: Getting lost in making every detail of your updated resume or your job search tracking system perfect wastes time. Reduce how your perfectionism expresses itself. Only allow yourself to be “perfect” in areas that are very important to your job search.
· Procrastination: Putting off the undesirable, normal as it is, also causes anxiety. Perfectionism is often a method of procrastination. To minimize it write your specific job search goals along with the steps to achieve them with firm deadlines for each step. Assign your spouse, a friend or a coach to keep your toes to the fire to meet these deadlines. Be forgiving of yourself if you don’t meet a goal here or there. But if you miss most of your deadlines, you’re procrastinating.

For example, estimate how much time is required to apply for three jobs weekly then establish a firm schedule to accomplish this. If researching, contacting possible employers, sending out resumes and following up require four hours then set aside an untouchable four-hour time frame to get it done. The sooner in the week the better as it helps you feel better about your accomplishments, which can motivate you to apply for more jobs this week.
· Pessimism: It’s easy to feel down when you’re down. Counter all negative assumptions with real evidence – not just positivity. Counter “I’ll never get a job in this competitive market,” with reminding yourself of other jobs or assignments you’ve landed that were also competitive. Every time your mind goes to the negative, refresh your memory with your successes. Focus on your strengths, the benefits you offer a prospective employer and on what’s hopeful rather than your anxieties.

Tempering these traits reduces fear, which automatically increases personal control, leaving space for your hope and energy to expand.

Jacquelyn Ferguson, M. S., is an international speaker and a Stress and Wellness Coach. Order her book, Let Your Body Win: Stress Management Plain & Simple, at http://www.letyourbodywin.com/bookstore.html and request she speak to your organization.