10/01/2024

Empowering Clients to Manage Uncertainty in the Job Search

By Kathryn Smith

Job searches can be highly stressful. Many job seekers take on the “full-time job” of a job search on top of their full-time job, in addition to other life responsibilities. For others, the impetus for professional transition is also a stressful event, such as a layoff, financial pressure, a life change, or an unhealthy or unsatisfying work environment. This is all on top of the routine everyday stressors of living in the modern world,. and this typically does not pass quickly—on average, a job search will take about five months (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2024).

Career development professionals may focus on problem-solving with their clients, sharing practical exercises and advocating effective job search strategies. While these certainly support clients’ career goals, career development professionals can also address the mental challenges and strong feelings that can emerge in a job search or professional transition.

Navigating Uncertainty

Using the principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Dr. Russ Harris developed “F.A.C.E.” as an acronym to promote the mindful navigation of uncertainty specifically during the height of the coronavirus pandemic (2020). Psychologist Adam Hibma applied this structure to support graduate students similarly enduring the uncertainty of a job search (Hibma & Longiotti, 2022). Career development professionals can utilize this framework to support their clients in the following areas:

F = Focus on what is in your control

A = Acknowledge your thoughts and feelings

C = Come back into your body

E = Engage in what you're doing

Clients should be referred to a qualified mental health professional when their concerns are beyond the scope of a career development professional’s expertise. Particularly when their clients are experiencing high levels of stress, career professionals should encourage their clients to seek additional support from other health professionals or members of their support system.

Focus on what is in your control

It is normal to experience fear and/or anxiety during uncertainty. However, career development professionals can help their clients understand how rumination and worry are counterproductive to their job search, as many factors affecting the process are beyond their control.  

Acknowledge your thoughts and feelings

Job searches can be overwhelming and unexpectedly activate negative feelings such as anxiety, depression, sadness, jealousy, regret, shame, and disappointment. Further, focusing on strictly professional behavior can drive emotional suppression. Social media exacerbates the misconception that everyone else’s careers are thriving, which can intensify one’s perception of their own failure. Self-critical and catastrophizing thoughts can dominate one’s narrative:

• At this rate, I’ll never find a job.
• I am not successful.
• Without a [new] job, I am a failure.
• I didn’t get the interview/job; I must not be good enough.

Job seekers may not be consciously aware of these thoughts or feelings or how they might be affecting their goals. However, when individuals accurately identify their thoughts and emotions, they can better understand and manage them.

Career development professionals should offer a welcoming and nonjudgmental space to express these experiences. Dr. Russ advocates assuming the role of the “curious scientist” to explore feelings and what is driving them (2020, p. 4). Career development professionals can encourage their clients to take an active and intentional stance in understanding and managing their emotions during transitional periods. The “Feeling Wheel” (Willcox, 1982) can be a useful tool to promote emotional differentiation and specificity, which in turn can drive self-awareness and support effective coping strategies.

Come back into your body

Everyone can connect with their physical body in some way. While individuals might not be able to control their feelings, they can control their connection to their body and to their lived experience. In the midst of stress, career professionals can encourage their clients to adopt grounding exercises and promote intentional physical movement. Dr. Russ suggested doing the following slowly (2020, p. 5):

• Pushing your feet into the floor
• Straightening your back and spine
• Stretching
• Breathing

Engage in what you’re doing

Connecting fully with the current moment can help orient job seekers in the present experience, rather than in the past (associated with regret/rumination) or the future (associated with anxiety/worry). This can prevent catastrophic thoughts and other unhelpful thinking patterns. One way to bring attention to the present moment is to observe the surrounding environment using each sense. Dr. Russ recommended tuning in to what you can see, hear, touch, taste, and feel in the present (2020).

Achieving Overall Wellbeing

When appropriate, career development professionals can help their clients cope with common negative emotions that arise in a job search using the “F.A.C.E.” framework. Reducing stress can not only support a client’s job search but can enhance their overall wellbeing.

References

Harris, R. (2020). FACE COVID: How to respond effectively to the corona crisis. ACT Mindfully. https://www.actmindfully.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/FACE-COVID-eBook-by-Russ-Harris-March-2020.pdf

Hibma, A., & Longiotti, E. (2022, March 16). Managing stress, emotions, and the job search [virtual presentation]. Northwestern University.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2024, February 2). Economic news release: Table A-12. Unemployed persons by duration of unemployment. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t12.htm

Willcox, G. (1982). The feeling wheel. Transactional Analysis Journal, 12(4), 274—276.

Kathryn Smith, MA, RMHCI, is a career coach and mental health counselor. Currently, she is an Associate Director of Career Development at the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia and Therapist at Juno Counseling & Wellness in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. She may be reached at khg5rj@virginia.edu or kathryn@junocounseling.com