Negative emotions are an unfortunate byproduct of your teletherapy job search that often goes unnoticed. Many are held hostage on an emotional roller coaster throughout their job hunt. Before you can engage those emotions, you need to identify them. It is only then that you can reduce the suffering they cause and mitigate the destructive impact they have on the process.
1. Overwhelmed
You might be lost in the course of looking for a teletherapy job. At which websites and job boards should you be looking? How do you network? What can be done to enhance your resume? For what positions are you even qualified? Then, when you finally land the interview, how do you prepare to make it a smashing success?
Relax, being overwhelmed is par for the course. The key is to engage this emotion as if it were the job itself. You must remain focused, organized, and disciplined. After you perfect your resume, adopt a daily routine consisting of reading and following up on the job alerts sent to your email, expanding your network, and investigating new companies in your field. Transform the time and energy you have invested in being overwhelmed into consistent, constructive action.
2. Invisible
Don’t think that just because you don’t see them looking at you that you aren’t visible to them–even when you don’t hear anything. One recruiter said that her business was juggling nearly 150 prospects simultaneously. You can’t expect to have your email responded to promptly with this kind of overload.
There are any number of reasons why you don’t hear a response. Maybe the recruiter is following up on referrals or speaking with other candidates. For all you know, the company may be in the middle of merging two positions together. Whatever it is, your “invisibility” probably has nothing to do with you. The recruiter who thinks you are right for the job will find you.
3. Fear
Rejection hurts! You thought you landed the job, and then silence. Most of us are rejected at some point or another in our job search. Even so, it feels lousy when you check your email, and there it is, another rejection. Realize that this particular rejection doesn’t preclude other options, perhaps even better ones. Each rejection brings you one step closer to the right job for you.
But when this happens too often, you begin to wonder. Why is no one contacting you? Maybe you aren’t qualified. These and other doubts start gnawing at you and if left unchecked can put you at risk of losing confidence or suffering from feelings of fear and anxiety.
It has been shown that experiencing fear and anxiety constricts the brain, compromising optimism and creativity. Worrying partners with the imagination spinning images of pessimism and a future that is helpless and hopeless.
How then do you engage worry, fear, and anxiety amidst the throes of a long and frustrating search for a teletherapy job? The answer is: “Get creative!” When you access positive imagination, you are energizing your entire being while at the same time preventing the fantasies filled with fear from becoming entrenched inside of you.
You need to fit into your daily routine the time for activities that reflect your imagination and creativity. Write, play the guitar, draw, or whatever else stimulates your creative juices. Accessing your creativity and giving free reign to your imagination has tremendous power to heal. It may not land you the teletherapy job, but it could transform the search itself.
