Overcoming career anxiety

In the spirit of University Mental Health day, which is taking place across campus today, the Careers team have thought long and hard about the kinds of Career related topics that tend to cause people anxiety and stress. Below, we have provided you with some friendly and helpful ways to combat your career related worries.

As students, not only do you have assignments and exams to think about, there is also that constant nagging in the back of your mind; what career path will I take? In your final year of university, and for some it happens much earlier, there’s the feeling that you need to be planning your life, your future career, your next steps. You may start to get anxious about the process; how many jobs will I have to apply for, what will my CV look like, what if I can’t get a job that I want?

Worrying about leaving the student life behind and becoming a fully-fledged adult is something that is felt by thousands of students around the world, so you are definitely not alone.  

“Managing your own career, taking that first step onto your career ladder, starting a business and changing career all together can be really scary at any age. Self-doubt can creep in and prevent you from achieving your full potential. Reach out to a careers advisor, colleague or a professional you admire and gain the benefits of their advice and insights. You’ll be surprised at just how many people will be willing to help you realise your career goals.”

-          Jennifer Moorby – Head of Student and Graduate Employability, The Manchester Metropolitian University

So, to help you feel calm about approaching your future, we’ve put together some top tips and advice on making the job hunting process easier on your mental health.

Short-Term Goals

“Start to achieve your career aspirations by setting some goals which will challenge you but which are attainable. How about joining a Student Union club, or taking part in the Futures Award whilst at university?”

-          Marina Matosic – Careers Adviser, The Manchester Metropolitan University.

Setting a realistic goal is always important for any aspect of your life, but when it comes to careers you need to be even more realistic (if that’s possible)! Think about where you want your career to take you in the long run, and then think about the smaller, individual steps to take to reach each stage. Breaking it down into more manageable sections helps to combat anxiety surrounding the big picture. It’s great to have a long-term life goal, but focusing more on the smaller steps it takes to get there will allow your brain some time to fully contemplate each action you take and relax your mind.

“If you set unrealistic goals you will soon start feeling demotivated, so make sure to think broadly about your strengths and how you can pursue your passions through extra-curricular activities! Oh, and don’t forget to value your part time job too.”

-          Marina Matosic – Careers Adviser, The Manchester Metropolitan University

Build Your Resilience

Setbacks in your job search, applications, and interviews are perfectly normal. You won’t find someone you know who hasn’t experienced a setback of some kind throughout their professional career.

Try to avoid taking rejections personally, most of the time it’s actually nothing against you as a person. Instead, think of the positives; you got to interview stage – great, that means they loved your application and wanted to meet with you in person – you’ve got some feedback – brilliant, that’s exactly what you need in order to definitely get the next one! Take all the advice you can get, listen to what professionals and people around you have to say, and take the advice on board – the worst thing you can do is receive important feedback and ignore it, never improve, and then end up in a downward spiral of anxiety and become completely disillusioned.

Take it from the second man on the Moon, he knows what he’s talking about.

To be resilient is to be able to recover from difficulties, to be pushed to your absolute limits, and to bounce back. But it’s also to be able to understand your situation and to continually work hard, be motivated, and to pull yourself out of any position you don’t want to be in.

Seeking Feedback

As briefly mentioned above, getting feedback is massively important. Feedback highlights the areas you should aim to develop and provides you with something to work towards; it pushes you to your limits, builds on your skills, and reinforces the things you have done well on. Positive feedback is like praise, even if you didn’t get the job you wanted, you should view the feedback given as a way to inspire you to do even better in the future.

Don’t let your worries hold you back, address your issues with a positive frame of mind and whenever you feel yourself getting overwhelmed by the process, sit down, take a breath, and go back to your short-term goals – have a look over them and view your progress.

Your Support Network

Your support network isn’t exclusive to family members, it can be close friends, colleagues, counsellors, online communities, and it can even be in the form of self-care. Having someone to discuss how you are feeling with takes the burden off you and allows you to speak your mind. Whether you talk to your Mum, your friend, your colleague, or your pet – getting your worries and fears out in the open is the easiest way to make yourself feel better and more in control.

When discussing career prospects, applying for jobs, or going for interviews you should try to remain as positive as possible and think about how you brand yourself to others. Bouncing ideas off your support network is one way to ensure that you’re motivated, confident, and ready to take on anything!

Remember; you are not alone. Job-search anxiety is extremely common, every person who has ever gotten a job has more than likely been through the same anxieties you have. By using all the resources available to you there is nothing stopping you from fighting your fears and conquering the job world.

Make sure you check out our website for advice and guidance on all things careers related. If you are feeling like you’re struggling, whether in your personal or professional life, you can always contact the counselling team here at Manchester Met.

-          By Lucy Brown, TALENTmatch Graduate Intern