How To Use Negative Job Hunt Emotions To Your Advantage

(Read time 4 min 10 sec)

Are you using your emotions to your advantage?

I’ve been hiring, firing, job hunting, and coaching job hunters for 13 years, and I’ve seen and experienced a wide range of emotions during that time.

Ask anyone about their job hunt, and they’ll share a journey of emotional highs and lows, twists and turns, successes and failures.

But ask someone what their emotions tell them about their job hunt strategy, and you’ll be met with a blank stare.

When emotions come to the surface, a common knee-jerk reaction is to shove them down, eliminate them, and ignore them.

But, identifying and acknowledging those emotions can allow you to create a tremendous advantage.

Your emotions can be the guide you need to determine what to do next.

It All Starts With Clarity

Every elite job hunt starts with clarity of your ideal outcome.

To create clarity, you need to know where you have been, where you are now, and your goal or vision for the future.

To learn more about why clarity is so important and how you can create clarity in your job hunt, read this newsletter I wrote a few months ago.

Once you know where you want to go - Great!

Now you’re ready to move on to the next step - breaking down the path to get there and crafting your job hunt strategy.

People typically run into two scenarios with two corresponding emotions when taking that next step.

Scenario 1 - I Don’t Know What To Do

Some of you have a goal but have absolutely no clue how in the world to achieve it.

In your job hunt, this could look like:

• Not knowing what kind of value you have to add to employers

• Feeling like you have nothing to offer

• Not feeling drawn to any position, title, or industry

• Not taking action

If this is you… you’re probably feeling HOPELESSNESS or SADNESS (there are other emotions, but this is how it manifests in me).

This is exactly how I felt when I was stuck in my cubicle data entry job.

I knew I hated my job and wanted to work in tech, but I had no idea what would take me there.

If this is you, know that it’s completely normal but that it’s telling you something.

Hopelessness indicates you lack choices because of a lack of knowledge or ignorance.

Ignorance doesn’t mean you’re stupid.

It just means you need more information.

The solution to ignorance is EDUCATION.

Educate yourself about the potential paths you could take by doing research on other people who have achieved the goal you have set.

Deconstruct the path walked by multiple people to identify similar strategies.

Pick which strategy feels the most aligned with the person you want to become and use that as your roadmap.

You can do this by:

• Speaking with people who have achieved your goal

• Reading about people who have achieved your goal

• Speaking with people who are currently working toward your goal

• Joining a community of people who are working towards your goal

• Working with a coach who has achieved and helped others achieve your goal

So if you’re feeling hopeless or sad as you think about your job hunt, choose education as your next step.

Scenario 2 - I’m Not Sure Which Path To Choose

The second camp of people has a long list of potential paths that could take them to their goal but are unsure which one to choose.

In your job hunt, this could look like:

• Taking lots of random actions that don’t seem related

• Consuming endless YouTube videos about strategies

• Lists of completely unrelated target companies

• Lists of job hunt tactics you could try

• Lists of industries to choose from

• Lists of titles to choose from

• Lists of people to talk to

• Lists of platforms to use

• Lists of tools to use

If this is you… you’re probably feeling ANXIETY or STRESS.

This is how I felt after leaving Uber after 7 years and trying to figure out which next step made the most sense.

I had 5 different options (big tech, startups, VC, consulting, start my own company), and within each of those paths, I could try to get there in many different ways.

It felt completely overwhelming and caused me severe anxiety.

A feeling of anxiety during the job hunt is completely normal.

But, like hopelessness, it’s telling you something.

Anxiety is telling you that you need PRIORITIZATION.

If you understand which actions will drive the most significant results and you prioritize those actions, the anxiety will fade into the background because the path forward will be clear.

You can do this by:

• Asking others, “What was most impactful in your job hunt?”

• Learning proven systems from people who have landed jobs you want

• Tracking your actions to see what drives the most significant response (ex: networking outreach tracking, application tracking, etc.)

• Learning from coaches on places like YouTube

• Getting direct “this not that” coaching from online communities and courses

If you’re feeling anxiety creep in, look at your priorities to understand if they’re clearly defined and if you’re focused on the things that will drive the most significant impact.

Job hunts are all about change.

Change creates an emotional response in all humans.

Some days you’ll be riding high.

Others, you’ll pick yourself up off the ground.

Elite Job Hunters pay attention to their emotions and what they tell them.

So use your emotions to your advantage.

Identify them. Understand them. Then use them to guide your next step.

We’re 9 days into June, and 52 companies have raised over $1.8 billion and are hiring people like YOU!

Click here to learn more about those 52 companies and the positions they’re hiring for.

There you have it, what hopelessness and anxiety are telling you about your job hunt and how you can use them to your advantage in your job hunt strategy.

Emotion: Hopelessness - Next Step: Education

Emotion: Anxiety - Next Step: Prioritization

I’ll dig into specific details and step-by-step formulas in future newsletters to help you educate yourself and prioritize like a Job Hunt Navy Seal.

But until then… let’s become career champions together 🏆

Kyle

Share UpEmployment

Don’t job hunt alone! Share this newsletter with anyone you know that is currently looking for that next career-accelerating opportunity so you can win together.

Forward them this email or just copy and paste this link: https://upemployment.beehiiv.com/subscribe

See you again next week!