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How to win back your confidence and land the next job: 5 steps to rebuilding your confidence in a cutthroat job market.
By Jo Miller

When Janine Haynes found herself unexpectedly back on the job market after a round of layoffs, her first instinct was to jump into action and start her search. "With fourteen years experience as a marketing manager at increasingly senior levels, I knew I was employable and that the right job must be out there."

Yet as the weeks continued to go by, she reached a daunting milestone. One month had gone by, and although Janine was searching full time, there was no job in sight. Janine felt a twinge of frustration, but resolved to keep looking even harder. But as weeks went by and she tried to figure out what she was doing wrong, she over-analyzed every step she took, and started to second-guess herself. When two months had gone by and her search remained fruitless, Janine was no longer feeling like the self-assured, proactive job seeker she had been.

As her confidence further eroded, she found it harder to kick start herself each day. She procrastinated on sending applications, fearing yet another "no." With fewer results to show for her effort, her confidence dropped even lower.

One morning she awoke, ate breakfast, and checked email. There was not one single response to the fifteen applications sent out the day before. Janine said, "I felt total frustration. I had thought I was so much more competent than this."

When embarking on any new challenge or goal, it is natural to start out feeling as upbeat and hopeful about the future as Janine did. But when her search did not go as expected, Janine felt blind-sided by events outside her control.

So what makes the difference between giving up and bouncing back?

Successful people are affected by changes just like everyone else, but they have the ability to rebound, recommit to their goals, and get back into action.

There are five steps to building resilience when your job search is unexpectedly prolonged and difficult.

1. Set goals
Write down your goals. Write your goals on a sticky note and place it where you'll be reminded of them often, like on your bathroom mirror, or inside your calendar. 2. Be overtaken by events but not by emotion
It is almost inevitable that your job search will go differently to the way you planned it. But you need not let that hold you back. When you strike a roadblock, take a moment to notice the emotion that wells up inside you. Is it fear, anger or blame? Is it hopelessness or helplessness? What do you say to yourself in that moment that you let that emotion take over?

In Janine's case, she felt a wave of frustration and told herself "this is hopeless."

The key to resilience is to realize that it is your emotion and self-talk that is stalling you, not the actual events.

3. Recommit to your goals
Next, remind yourself that your goals have not changed, although the timeline may have. This is OK. Take time out to review your goals and if necessary, assign new deadlines. Don't try to force yourself to accomplish the whole goal today. Taking time out from your search to do something you enjoy will help you re-focus. 4. Size up the opportunity
Inside every challenging situation is an opportunity to learn. When you get stalled, listen closely for the new opportunity that is knocking.

Janine realized she was placing too much emphasis on searching for open positions, and re-balanced her search strategy by adding more networking for unadvertised positions.

5. Get back into action
Identify a small action you could take to get back in the game. If that task seems too big break it down further into even smaller steps. You will know the task is small enough when you feel a readiness to leap into action.

After an encouraging meeting with her job search buddy group, Janine reviewed her goals. She forgave herself for the past two months and decided to put the experience behind her. She felt nervous about making the same mistakes again, but she resolved to not let fear tighten its grip on her again. She took a break that weekend and went hiking with friends. She was relieved to discover she could enjoy time away from her the job search again. When Monday came around she was re-energized and got back to what was eventually a successful search.