5 Ways to Infuse Self-Care into the Job Search Process

April 20, 2020

By Joel A. Muraco, Ph.D., Ph.D. Career Counselor for the Graduate Center

As we seek resources and supports to help us plan and prepare for our career or execute a job search, well-intentioned others give us all kinds of advice: network early and often with others; diversify our experiences in and out of the classroom or lab; understand what skills and experiences will make us most competitive for the role we want next; be sure to speak the employer’s language. This is all good advice! However, it overlooks one important foundational element: first and foremost, we need to take care of ourselves during this process. 

Self-care is the practice of taking an active role in protecting our own mental, emotional, and physical health, especially during periods of stress. Self-care improves our mood and reduces our anxieties. The job search process can be long, stressful, and anxiety producing. As we undertake the process, and especially during it, we can easily become hyper-focused on the end goal or the rejections we experience along the way. Ultimately, focusing on these things can hinder our success and interfere with our ability to learn from our experiences. Similarly, as the process can take months, it can take a toll on our well-being and happiness. 

Thus, as we create our career plan, or evaluate the plan we’ve already put into action, we must include self-care. This is a non-negotiable piece of the plan. What is negotiable is what self-care looks like, as it will be unique to each of us. 

So, what might self-care look like within our career plan? Here are some ideas: 

  1. Create a Schedule – It’s easy to search for and apply to jobs whenever we have time, but this haphazard approach can cause undue stress. Just because we have downtime doesn’t mean we should be looking for and applying to jobs. Instead, we should plan time during our day to look for and apply to jobs and limit the work to the time we’ve set aside. 
  2. Take a Break – Stress manifests differently for people: headaches, skin irritation, muscle tension, teeth grinding, anger, stomach problems, the list goes on and on. If we experience stress symptoms during our search, we need to listen to what our body is telling us and take a break from our search. It’s better to take a few days off than to try and push through. Pushing through just ensures we suffer, and potentially our application materials suffer. Rarely do we do our best work when stressed. 
  3. Disconnect to Reconnect – In our ever-connected world, it’s easy to spend the bulk of our day staring at screens. It’s important we take intentional breaks away from our screens during our day, and over the course of our week. These can be short 10-minute breaks throughout our workday, and longer social breaks in the evenings and on weekends. The point is to disconnect from our technology and reconnect with ourselves and our loved ones. This reconnection can remind us of our value, our strength, and what’s important to us in our lives. 
  4. Continue Hobbies – During stressful periods of our lives we may discontinue our hobbies to allow us more time to focus on the things causing us stress. This may be the opposite of what we should do during our job search. Remember, the job search process can take months, so it’s important we continue to make the time to do the things we most enjoy. 
  5. Celebrate Victories – It’s easy for us to forget how much we accomplish during the job search process if we fixate on the end goal of getting a job. We should celebrate when we submit a large or challenging application, when we have a positive conversation with a recruiter, or when we get invited to a job interview. Small rewards, like going out for ice cream or buying a new shirt can also help the celebration.  

Lastly, recognize that none of us are in our job search alone and that we are supported at the University of Arizona. There are many others we can connect with via the University of Arizona Alumni Association’s Bear Down Network and the 208,000+ alumni on LinkedIn. Any of these people could provide insight and guidance to us about our job search. Further, the Graduate Center’s Career Counselor, Joel Muraco, is available for 1:1 appointments to talk strategies, review materials, practice interviewing, and provide general career support. Thus, while the job search process can be stressful, practicing self-care and utilizing available resources can mitigate the impact of the stress and maximize our chances for success. 

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