Job Search Depression

Hi All!

Has anyone here heard of job search depression?

I swear I have it. It's kind of a self esteem thing too though. It is a thing, I looked it up on the internet. There is job search anxiety too, which I think I've had on occasion as well.

Every time I do a job search, I feel depressed like I'm useless and rubbish at pretty much anything or everything useful enough to gain me employment. It makes me feel so low. It's like I'm only good enough to do a job that requires no brain cells whatsoever. Sticking labels on packets or lugging boxes etc etc, which I've done before, and the thought of quite frankly depresses me just as much as the uselessness, if not more. Not saying there's anything wrong with that kind of work but hardly challenging is it, and it's very monotonous.

It's a real concern though. I mention it to people and they just laugh. They don't understand. I just feel useless and spend no more than 10 minutes job searching until I close the newspaper or click off the website. I'm 40 and if you add up all the months I've worked since leaving school at 16, it adds up to about 3 years. I did have a lost decade though which I won't go into here. From 2001-2011. I haven't always been a bum lol! and spent 6 years of that time in education.

Anyway, just thought I'd mention it and see if people here have had anything similar, and if anyone knows what the answer is. I need a job, a job is vital for life to be honest and not having one is a vital factor in why I get low mood / depression. Not to mention it stops you from being able to anything due to lack of money.

Thanks!

Ugh yeah that can be the most depressing thing to do. I hate job searching, especially when you find ones you can do but they require "x amount of years experience". You can always still apply but depression and anxiety over job searching makes you think the opposite. It's nerve racking and frustrating. That's why I've stuck with jobs when I know I should get out, just the though of having to look for another job was terrifying. I'm lucky now and I have a job with a good boss and kind of lucked into getting hired.

SimonT said:

It's a real concern though. I mention it to people and they just laugh. They don't understand.

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That is because they are idiots. Oh yes this is a real thing. I got laid off in 2003 pretty much willingly and I thought "oh the fun I will have" but just thought I would go insane. Tons of time on my hands to think about the fact that I didn't have a job and or any rejections. Also couldn't do anything with friends because they worked.

What worked for me was to sign up with a temporary firm and get a "job" for a short 6 week period. Extending my unemployment and also allowing me to feel self worth and not focus so much on the fact that I didn't have job.

When were looking for work we feel useless and helpless because all we can do now is sit behind a computer and fill out a 45+ min application for just something as simple as McDonalds. We fill in the same lines over and over again and it makes us questions our life choices. "What high school did you attend?" "Did you graduate?" "Highest Education level completed?" "List work experience with most current first." You do this over and over and continue to question yourself each time. When you see your qualifications or lack there of you feel worthless. If you see a basic description of what you do for a living or been doing it makes you question your life again. Its a very depressing era no more dressing up goin store to store or factory to factory and speaking to the manager or owner. Now its sitting down and feeling out applications for hours while looking at a screen. This is what really makes people depressed you already not working so you feel like a "bum" then all you can do all day is sit and look at screen. It feels like an endless cycle. If you honestly dont like things or your qualifications you need to change them. There are many free programs goodwill offers trade classes and computer classes for free or low cost. Theres many government programs that will help you afford school in your down time. Some places offer free GED classes as well. You need to do something that makes you feel useful

I definitely relate, job searching seems like such an overwhelming thing that it can just drain you of all energy to persevere. It also stinks to know you're not qualified for the things you think you want and are just kind of stuck. It's hard to break out of negative momentum but I think the first step is the hardest.

It requires a lot of dedication and focus and positively to get through an interview process and it's hard to summon that when you're feeling crappy and hopeless. I'm not really sure what the best solution is though or what would work for you. Exercise, going outside or just getting out of the house from time to time can help clear the head. And maybe there are resources like a career center or staffing agency near where you live that can help you get something? That's really all I have in terms of solutions, but I agree that job searching can do a lot to contribute to or create depression/anxiety, especially if you are someone prone to that to begin with.

I wish you the best and hope that you can find better fortune.

Thanks for your responses.

Yeah Hybrid you're right. Sittin' behind a computer screen like a zombie, online form after online form. I was handing cv's out about a year or so ago and the amount of people who say, "We don't except cv's. There's an online application form." Annoying. You've took the time to get off your backside and go in in person, but no, go away and back to the computer screen like a zombie again. Stupid. I actually find it insulting.

I do however, have a serious job search self esteem problem. I don't feel good for anything be truthful. Also sounds silly but it's true.

I very much relate to this as well. I have found job searching to be extremely depressing.
I went to university and have 2 degrees. But I don't drive and don't have any experience. I'm not very good at presenting myself and making good first impressions. Never have been. I've always been introverted and quite shy. I'm more the kind of person that people underestimate but then I surprise them.

I applied to a few hundred jobs after graduation. Could not get anything in my field of study. It was extremely depressing.
Years after graduation, I'm at the point now where I have given up even looking. I now work in a production plant. Brain dead work for the most part. WAY beneath what I have went to university for, and kind of stuff I did with university projects. I used to be one of the better students in my studies. People used to come to me for help. Now, all my supervisors and pretty much everyone I deal with has way lower a level of education that I have. But I just stay quiet and keep going to work every day. At least with the job I have now, I'm pretty much left alone (which I like, and a big reason why I stay), the people are not too bad, and there is not much stress. I've been able to save up enough to get my driver's licence and hopefully get a car soon. Maybe in time, a position within the company or elsewhere more in relation to my studies will come up in the future.

I work for a group one day a week that is specifically aimed at getting people back to work after the age of 40 (although i'm 36). They basically help with cv's,interview techniques etc,social media to get jobs. I don't know if there is anything in your area that is similar to this. There are so many people who feel the same way that you do. I don't know if it can be any help to you,but you are welcome to PM me.

You feel this way because you dont have confidence in you you must find a way to dezvolt your confidence .Reading personal deveopment books helped me a lot on this path