Tips to help you stay motivated during your purposeful career search

Written by: Martha Jameson

When you begin your job search, there are some harsh facts you’ll likely need to face.

First, it’s a competitive market out there – stay tough.
Second, it may take some time – stay patient.

Overall, it’s important to stay motivated during your job search otherwise that perfect position in your ideal impactful organization may just pass you by. Here are 5 tips to help keep you driven on your path to a purposeful career.

1) Be as specific as possible

Job searching, in general, can be an overwhelming task, if you are looking at it as a whole. Try breaking it down into more easily manageable tasks because when you’re feeling overwhelmed with something, it’s easy to want to give up. Smaller, specific tasks are easier to manage and can actually make it feel like you’re achieving more, which means you’ll stay motivated to continue onto the next task.

“Rather than setting out to explore job openings, a more specific task would be to contact three impactful organizations that you’re interested in directly for more information about opportunities within. This makes completing the task easier to see up front, and more easily measurable,” explains Australia2Write and BritStudent recruiter, Bryce Garcia.

2) Put your career goals on paper

It’s hard to look into the future, but when you’re trying to stay motivated during your job search, you may want to ask yourself what you’re looking for in the long run. When seeking out different opportunities, you will want to have a good idea of where you may see yourself within the next 5 or 10 years. Take some time to list your short and long-term dreams, and examine whether the jobs and organizations you’re looking at will fit into those dreams.

Take some time to list your short and long-term dreams, and examine whether the jobs and organizations you’re looking at will fit into those dreams.

3) Criticism can be your biggest source of support

Although no one wants to hear criticism and sometimes it’s hard to give or receive, it can truly enhance your career skill set and improve your employment opportunities. Someone who truly believes in you will never want you to fail, and if you ask for honest criticism and are ready to receive it, they will give provide it. Everyone can improve in some way or another, so there’s no shame in being criticized. If you show your supportive critics appreciation for their feedback, they’ll likely continue pushing you towards success, and let you know when there arises another opportunity for improvement.

Someone who truly believes in you will never want you to fail, and if you ask for honest criticism and are ready to receive it, they will give provide it.

4) Examine the path your role model took

It’s easy to become discouraged when you’re reading job postings looking for people with years of experience in a given field. But what’s important to note is that most successful people have gotten to where they are today because they possessed the traits and skillset needed for the careers they wanted. Do some research into how they were able to achieve their success or, better yet, get in touch with them directly to ask how they created their path to achieving their dreams.

Related articles: interviews with leaders in the impact space.

“Find those people who you strive to emulate, whether it’s those who work in the organization you’re looking to get into or those who have your dream position. It’s not always about the typical road to the end goal,” outlines Donna Houser, HR Lead at Write My X and NextCoursework.

5) Take days off for yourself

As important as you may see your job search, it’s just as important to maintain your own mental and physical health. Job searching can be draining, so avoid burning yourself out by having scheduled days dedicated to taking time off of the job search. In the moment, it may seem like a waste of time, and you may be tempted to just do a little bit of work, but it’s important to step away, and refresh your mind, body, and spirit.

Beginning a job search can be a stressful undertaking. And staying motivated can be even harder. But, implementing these five tips can help make the job search easier and more successful, all while staying more motivated throughout.

Starting off her career as a web designer and manager, Martha Jameson moved on to writing at AcademicBrits before landing her position as content editor and proofreader at Dissertation Help and PhDKingdom websites. Sharing her experiences, motivation and knowledge with all of her readers has always been her main goal.

Starting off her career as a web designer and manager, Martha Jameson moved on to writing at AcademicBrits before landing her position as content editor and proofreader at Dissertation Help and PhDKingdom websites. Sharing her experiences, motivation and knowledge with all of her readers has always been her main goal.

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