How to Look After Your Mental Health When Job Hunting

• Trying to find work can be challenging, especially when managing other responsibilities.
• The Growth Company offers tailored health and wellbeing support to people across Greater Manchester and the North of England.
• Read our seven top tips for achieving your career goals and looking after your mental health along the way.

Looking for a new job can be challenging even at the best of times, let alone when you’re juggling other responsibilities.

That’s why it’s so important to focus on your mental health as well as refining your CV and interview technique.

So, to mark this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week, we thought we’d share some strategies to help you boost your wellbeing while job hunting.

   1. Continue to Enjoy Your Hobbies

Let’s face it, searching for work can be an exhausting experience, especially when you’re unemployed, suffering from ill health, or dissatisfied in your current role. It’s vital, then, to continue to do all the activities you usually enjoy, from obscure hobbies and going to the gym to spending time with family and friends and getting involved in community activities.

   2. Establish a Routine

Being on the hunt for a job can be demanding and may consume a lot of your time. To manage this, try to create a routine for searching and applying for jobs. This approach allows you to take regular breaks and make room for the other things in your life. Treating the job search as a ‘job’ itself can help you to set healthy boundaries and prepare for the structure that employment will bring.

   3. Enrol on Courses and Training

While it might be tempting to focus entirely on job applications, participating in training courses can be useful for both your application and wellbeing. Learning new skills can improve your mental health and enhance your qualifications, boosting your self-confidence and, happily, making you stand out to potential employers.

   4. Prepare for Interviews

It might sound obvious, but giving yourself plenty of time to prepare for interviews can make things a lot less stressful. Research the company you're applying to, try to understand their vision and values, and look up common interview questions for the role. You can even run through the questions with a friend or family member!

   5. Recognise Your Achievements – Be Kind to Yourself

After each step in the job application process, take a moment to acknowledge your accomplishments. Job applications require a lot of time and effort, and you may not always receive feedback from employers. It’s always important to appreciate your hard work and stay motivated.

   6. Accept Rejection as Part of the Journey

Job searching often involves facing rejection because so many other people are also competing for the same positions. Try not to take this rejection personally; it's a common part of the process. Eventually, you'll receive a positive response.

   7. Find The Right Support

Remember that you don’t have to face any of this alone. There are many ways to get support with your job search. The Growth Company offers personalised job support and wellbeing services in Greater Manchester and further afield to help people stay in, return to, or find work.

Find out more about the wellbeing and employment support available to you. 

For those with more complex barriers to work, the Growth Company also run several Individual Placement and Support services across Greater Manchester, which offer employment support to people with a wide range of health conditions and disabilities.

Find out more and access the support you need. 

The Growth Company

The Growth Company is an award-winning social enterprise with a 30-year history of enabling growth, creating jobs, and improving lives. We help people and businesses to develop, grow, and succeed through a range of employment, skills, and business support services. We provide employment, justice, and health services across the North of England and beyond.

Contact us today to find out more.