You send a bunch of CVs to every company you saw offering a job, of which only 20% ask for an interview. And, from these interviews, no one gets back to you. This sums up the never-ending cycle of applying for jobs. Send email, get phone-call, go to interview, no response, repeat. Some companies are decent enough to send a rejection email 2 months after the interview. And you’re expected to feel fine about it. Everyone I talked to after graduating told me that applying for jobs sucks. But I never truly knew the pain until I had to go through it myself. Everyone told me it was hard, but I got anxious nonetheless. You can’t really rationalize with anxiety. However, I succeeded in limiting the time I allowed myself to be anxious about a single job. Let me walk you through it.
First phase: Sending out CVs
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This is the phase that should never EVER require any anxiety. First of all, you’re sitting behind your mobile screen basically forwarding the same email format. Don’t count that as applying to jobs. You can even refrain yourself from mentioning that in front of your friends. There’s only so much you can brag about when it comes to sending emails. So, this is the phase of 0 anxiety. Good job. You’re about to slide down the darkness. Brace yourself.
Second phase: Call for Interview
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Personally, this phase scares me the most. Getting a call from one of the 700 companies I applied for, trying to sound like I’m aspiring to work with them, hanging up the phone and forgetting which company I was speaking to. (They always text me the company’s location so I search for the email and find out what I applied for later. Saved!) Here you take a small trip round memory lane. You remember every time you went to an interview and ruined it. You remember how much you sweat. You take a deep breath in and go to the interview. That’s about 60% anxiety. Worry about mental health. Don’t let anxiety rule over you.
Third phase: The interview
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Did you succeed at taking care of your mental health last phase? Good. Now, throw it all in the garbage. It’s about to go down! 101% anxiety and nothing is going to stop it. Everything lies in what is going to happen in that small room. A good technique is to spend some time researching how to be a good interviewee. I don’t think I apply much of it, but researching it calms me down. Take a look at the road trip leading to the office, “will this one day be my everyday trip? I see streets are nice and clean and I’ve never really been to this place much. I think this will be a good place to work at.” This also decreases the level of anxiety, now you’re just at 70%. You’re basically walking into your own office. Chill. It’s just an interview.
Last phase: After the interview
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Now the interview is over. Just because you did the interview doesn’t mean you’ll get the job. Do your best not to think about it too much. Whether you’ll get the job or not is certainly out of your hands. You did your best, you went in with confidence and didn’t let the anxiety eat you alive. What happened in the interview room doesn’t define your value as a person. Some interviewers can treat you like you’re the one they were looking for and never get back to you. Other interviewers act like they’ve seen better and end up giving you a second chance. Bottom line is, this phase should also be 0% anxiety. Don’t live your life fretting over interviews and job applications. Give yourself space to relax and do things you love whilst occasionally applying for jobs. Rest assured that you won’t be spending your entire life looking for a job. You will get called for an interview. You will get hired. It will happen. Surely but slowly.
