In this episode of Careers and Coffee, Liz and Dan discuss strategies for dealing with overwhelm while job searching. What about transitioning between jobs? Tune in for helpful hints to overcome these stressors and move forward with your life.
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Dan Holterhaus 0:02
Okay, good morning, Liz. How are you? Happy Friday.
Liz Kennedy 0:05
Happy Friday.
Dan Holterhaus 0:06
Cheerio. We
Liz Kennedy 0:07
both have our coffee here.
Dan Holterhaus 0:12
Before we start, yeah. Well, let’s hop right into it. We were just discussing this before we started this recording. We’ve had a lot going on. That’s pretty, pretty typical. A lot of people experience, overwhelm, and just a lot going on in their lives and at work. So today, we would like to talk about being overwhelmed in your job search, and what kind of toll that can take on you and how to maybe cope and get through that. So Liz, what would you say to somebody a job seeker that’s feeling overwhelmed?
Liz Kennedy 0:52
Well, I don’t know how much of great advice I’m going to offer, I’m just going to relate when you’re overwhelmed, the the feeling that you’re experienced is a lack of control, right? And the feeling that you’re not going to be able to accomplish what you want. And so in order to tune out those negative thoughts, which they’re, they’re just thoughts, they’re gonna pass, you know, if you maybe get a little more sleep, maybe you won’t feel that way. So sleep is number one, I guess as far as the tip and I was looking at, you know, a bunch of blogs this morning of like, how to not feel so overwhelmed in your job search or stay motivated. And sleep was something they talked about a lot. So having scheduled sleep, so getting eight hours of sleep, wink, wink, and setting your bedtime routine, take your phone out of your room, so that your screen is not in your room. And those are all recommendations that others have made. And you know, you could even try if you’re drinking caffeine after noon, stop drinking caffeine afternoon. I noticed this occurs in coffee, but
Dan Holterhaus 1:56
it’s before noon, by the way,
Liz Kennedy 1:57
it’s before noon. It’s interrupting your sleep patterns. It’s not serving you and you know those habits that don’t serve you are not going to serve your job search either. So that’s one thing. Sleep get some sleep.
Dan Holterhaus 2:10
Yeah, I completely agree with that. I love that thought. One thing that’s always kind of resonated with me whenever I’ve felt overwhelmed, and something that I’ve tried to do is just get outside. Okay, that’s great. You know, we’re in early May now in eastern Iowa, the weather’s generally on the uptrend, right? getting outside, you know, going for a walk, going for a hike, run, you know, if you bike, just getting outside and trying to clear your mind a little bit. And just, even if it’s just for 15 minutes over lunch or something like that. I found that to be extremely helpful by just just to spend a little time out in nature, and it’s just refreshing re energizing.
Liz Kennedy 3:00
Yeah, I don’t know, I think that’s a really good tip. Yeah, I mean, just if, if you’re sick of your surroundings, you know, the parks are open now. So you just take a short drive or walk to the park and, and just kind of sit in a different space, sometimes just changing your perspective. So if your house is overwhelming, because you’ve been there too long. Believe us when we say we’re tired of being at home, Dan, Dan, I think you’re clearly tired of being home if you’re going to buy a new house,
Dan Holterhaus 3:30
so tired of being at home I’m buying a new house.
Liz Kennedy 3:33
But But yeah, the the change in perspective of just changing what you’re visually seeing each day can help you kind of reset a little bit. And then once you’ve kind of like taken a breath, then it’s time to start tackling. Okay, what is causing your overwhelm? Are you not clear on what your job search goal is? Maybe that’s what’s causing your overwhelm. Maybe there’s too many focal points, or maybe you’re good at a lot of things, but you’re not sure which which you should focus on or what part of your job, you know, you should really kind of lean into for your next career.
Unknown Speaker 4:09
You think maybe that
Liz Kennedy 4:09
would help in? I don’t know.
Dan Holterhaus 4:11
Yeah, no, I love that thought. And this is probably where I can maybe offer just a little bit of advice on on, career, because I’ve, I’ve had I think I’m on my seventh or eighth job title now. And, you know, a little over 10 years of employment. And so, I’ve definitely jumped around to different careers and tried some different things. And so, I think if you’re overwhelmed, I think the a couple things to know are you know, number one, you’re not alone, right? A lot of people experience overwhelm or are not quite sure what to do with their lives. And I always go back to thinking like, Okay, what the, your career doesn’t have to be a straight and narrow path, right? Like even no matter what age you are, or what career you’ve been in. It doesn’t always have to be the same thing. Right? You can, you can choose where you end up. Right? And so yeah. And, you know, sometimes, like what I wanted right at when I was 22 wasn’t the same thing as what I wanted when I was 27. So it evolves and changes over time. So I think, you know, for me exploring different careers and trying different things has been really helpful for me to kind of narrow in on what I, what I know I enjoy doing at this point.
Liz Kennedy 5:33
Yeah, that’s a really good point. It’s not a failure to change directions, then, sometimes to when you’re not not working currently working, you can see all the barriers, right, like, in there, there are real barriers for job seekers. So don’t get me wrong, but I agree that there are potential barriers for individuals to find the job that they really want. But if you constantly are focusing on what those barriers are, you’re not able to see right next to them is potentially an opportunity, right? So if, if you don’t have the experience for the job that you want, and you’re well, I’m never gonna get the job I want. You could also just think, Okay, well, what, what is close to this job? What is like kind of adjacent to this job? And is there some opportunity there for me? and What experience do I have that I feel strong in? And could I apply that to a role that’s going to allow me to gain experience in an area that is adjacent to that that is what I’m actually interested in. So you could be strong in a skill set that you’re not exactly interested in pursuing forever? So let’s just say you were really great at cooking. And you’ve been working at restaurants for a long time, but you want to switch? Well, what are some of those things that go into cooking is time management, it’s fast paced environment? It’s teamwork. Customer Care, all those things kind of go into working in the kitchen. The kitchen is a very high fast paced, high pressure situation, working with your hands, working with your hands, yeah, physically a bill able to stand for a period of time. And so could you could you say, Okay, well, I don’t really want to work with food anymore. I’m kind of burnt out on it. But working in a warehouse, I’m doing pack and sort that is very similar to you know, cooking up something, in some ways, like just some of the skill sets that are there, you have to stand. And so just kind of start thinking of like, Okay, I know, I want to switch. But I’m not exactly sure. But maybe you could just try something different. That would just kind of bump you a little bit over, you know, to a career path that’s right for you. So you might be thinking, Okay, next step is this and then what’s the next step after that, but let’s just take one step.
Dan Holterhaus 7:53
I love that one. One step. Like what what can we do what we can do to move forward and not feel so overwhelmed?
Liz Kennedy 8:02
Yeah. So tonight, we’re gonna get some sleep. Yeah. Go outside today. And then maybe think, what is that one step? What is that one step I can take next. That’s gonna help me feel a little more control and feel a little less overwhelmed. Hope that helps for this week’s career coffee.
Dan Holterhaus 8:23
All right. That’s all. We’ll see you again next week.
Liz Kennedy 8:27
Until then, Cheers, guys. weekend.
Unknown Speaker 8:29
Yep. All right. Bye bye. Bye.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
