Hi Reader,

Hope you’re having a weird week, in the best possible way! In spite of anything and everything challenging your joy and authenticity, what are you doing to find joy, rest, and connection with yourself?

Question of the week

How do you stay positive after several interviews and no offers?

I’m so sorry to hear that you’re experiencing this. It can be incredibly frustrating to reach the interview stage, especially the final interview stage, multiple times and ultimately not receive an offer. It’s hard not to take it personally and feel like there’s something wrong with you, rather than the incredibly competitive job market we find ourselves in right now.

First, remember that it’s not you. With job postings receiving hundreds and sometimes thousands of applicants, to have reached the interview stage multiple times, it means you are doing something right and standing out. There’s just a lot of competition.

So, how do you stay positive? Maybe positive shouldn’t be the goal per se, but rather resilient. Toxic positivity, as in thinking, No worries, I’ll get hired next time! is not only not realistic but can cause more harm due to the cognitive dissonance required in order to believe it. This is why positive affirmations can sometimes have an opposite effect for those with low self-esteem.

Rather than doing the mental and emotional equivalent of sweeping the dust under the rug, give yourself permission to completely feel your feelings. If you’re angry that you haven’t gotten a job yet and that the job market sucks right now, express it! (In a healthy and safe way of course)

It can also help to remove your self-worth from your professional life. We are taught to craft identities around what we do professionally which is a product of capitalism, and there is so much more to us as beautiful, complex human beings. If you are feeling frustrated with the job search, this is a great opportunity to pull back some energy toward reinvesting it in other things that bring you joy and a sense of purpose and meaning in your life. That in turn will impact how you show up in future interviews, so when the right job (which is out there for you somewhere!*) finds you, you’ll be ready to give it your best.

*Wait, how is this not toxic positivity? Good question! There are lots of jobs out there that can be the “right job” for a lot of people. It’s not based on the idea that there’s a soulmate-type job out there for every person. There are a lot of cool things we could all be doing, and we hold many different jobs over the course of our working lives! This is based on the hope that you find your next “right job” sooner rather than later. Resilience can’t speed up the timeline but it can help you enjoy the journey more.

Lastly, if you are unemployed and reaching the end of your runway, if you haven’t yet found fun and creative alternate ways to earn income, that might also help ease the full-time search.

Submit your career question and it could be featured in a future newsletter!

An event that can help with all this!

The Get WEIRD to Plan Your Career Workshop is in one week! Sign up to gain the tools to plan your career with confidence and have a chance to get coached by me live! Accessible pricing is available. Hope to see you there!

Hang in there like a cat on a motivational poster, and I’ll talk to you soon.

Cee | Cultivate Your Weirdness​