{"id":34922,"date":"2013-08-16T10:30:07","date_gmt":"2013-08-16T14:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=34922"},"modified":"2013-08-29T13:32:02","modified_gmt":"2013-08-29T17:32:02","slug":"dont-let-job-searching-become-a-path-to-losing-your-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=34922","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Let Job Searching Become a Path to Losing Your Mind"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Fallon Bleich, Head Editor, INALJ Oklahoma<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Let Job Searching Become a Path to Losing Your Mind<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"FallonBleich\"<\/a>I have a dirty little secret: I\u2019m thoroughly enjoying NOT job searching at the moment. But, I just graduated and I need a job right now, right? And how can I work for INALJ and not be involved in a job search? The answer to both of those is that while I love librarianship and cannot wait to get started in my first full-time position with my newly earned Librarian title, I also need some breathing room. After 5 years of figuring out what I want to do, studying for the GRE, taking the GRE, filling out application after application, then surviving 3 years of LIS schooling\u2026I\u2019m a little burnt out<\/strong>. I\u2019ve \u201clost myself\u201d, if you will.<\/p>\n

Of course, this is all of my own making; I did take on volunteer gigs and a part-time library job in addition to my full-time non-library job. I also went to 4 conferences in a year\u2019s span (and presented virtually at a few in between) and completed the Emerging Leaders program this year. The benefits of all of that are amazing, but the stress that comes with it? Not so much.<\/strong> When I graduated in May, I did start the whole application process and put a lot of resumes out there. However, when I realized that I was not only feeling super stressed out (which should definitely not be happening when you just finished grad school!) but also depressed, I knew it was time to take a break.<\/p>\n

So, what can be done about the whole job search stress situation? My advice in 3 simple steps:<\/p>\n

1.)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Be ok with taking a break.<\/b> Repeat after me: \u201cIt is OK to take a step back\u201d. It really is. The number one thing that I was shocked at is that everyone I\u2019ve broken the news to about my job search hiatus has been incredibly supportive. Nobody wants to hire a burnt out person, and you don\u2019t want to start your job that way either. You\u2019ll just end up hating life and your job. So, don\u2019t do it!<\/p>\n

2.)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lay out some ground rules.<\/b> Now, what\u2019s not ok is taking a forever break. Don\u2019t let your stress burn you out to the point that you never want to apply to another job. Start out with setting out how much time you want to take (i.e. 6 mos, 1 year, etc.); also, for me, I can\u2019t completely ignore job postings as a.) they\u2019re part of my job here at INALJ and b.) I still want to know that what I want to do is out there and will be out there. I also don\u2019t say no to applying to jobs that I\u2019m a perfect fit for, but what I\u2019m not doing is massive stay-up-to-the-wee-hours job searches. In other words, I\u2019m not stressing over being unemployed in my field. Obviously, this is not for everybody\u2014some people absolutely need a job right now\u2014but if you\u2019re currently in a comfortable position and just not in your dream job, you have the luxury of taking the slower path.<\/p>\n

3.)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Re-connect with your life.<\/b> Take up your hobbies again. Read really fluffy books. Read non-fluffy books. Go out and enjoy summer activities. Take a vacation. Volunteer. Just whatever you do, remember this: Your life is not all about your career.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be the person who always strives for something and never enjoys the moment. A happy librarian is a more effective one!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Fallon Bleich, Head Editor, INALJ Oklahoma Don\u2019t Let Job Searching Become a Path to Losing Your Mind I have a dirty little secret: I\u2019m thoroughly enjoying NOT job searching at the moment. But, I just graduated and I need a job right now, right? And how can I work for INALJ and not be…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[69,5106,3592,5107,3835,3634,266],"class_list":["post-34922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-article","tag-balance","tag-blog","tag-burn-out","tag-fallon-bleich","tag-inalj-oklahoma","tag-job-search"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-95g","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34922\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}