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Transcripts
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Well, let's hop right into it. We were just discussing this
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before we started this recording. We've had a lot going
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on. That's pretty, pretty typical. A lot of people
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experience, overwhelm, and just a lot going on in their lives
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and at work. So today, we would like to talk about being
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overwhelmed in your job search, and what kind of tools that can
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take on you and how to maybe cope and get through that. So,
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Liz, what would you say to somebody a job seeker that's
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feeling overwhelmed?
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Well, I don't know how much of great advice I'm going to offer,
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I was just going to relate when you're overwhelmed, the the
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feeling that you're experienced is a lack of control, right? And
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the feeling that you're not going to be able to accomplish
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what you want. And so in order to tune out those negative
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thoughts, which they're, they're just thought they're gonna pass,
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you know, if you maybe get a little more sleep, maybe you
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won't feel that way. So sleep is number one, I guess as far as
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the tip and I was looking at, you know, a bunch of blogs this
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morning of like, how to not feel so overwhelmed in your job
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search or stay motivated. And sleep was something they talked
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about a lot. So having scheduled sleep, so getting eight hours of
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sleep, wink, wink, and setting your bedtime routine, take your
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phone out of your room so that your screen is not in your room.
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And those are all recommendations that others have
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made. And you know, you could even try if you're drinking
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caffeine after noon, stop drinking caffeine afternoon. I
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know this is curries, and coffee, but
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It's before noon, by the way,
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It's before noon. If it's interrupting your sleep
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patterns. It's not serving you and you know those habits that
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don't serve you are not going to serve your job search either. So
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that's one thing. Sleep. Get some sleep.
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Yeah, I completely agree with that. I love that thought. One
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thing that's always kind of resonated with me whenever I've
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felt overwhelmed, and something that I've tried to do is just
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get outside. Okay, that's great. You know, we're in early May now
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in eastern Iowa, the weather's generally on the uptrend, right?
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getting outside, it's, you know, going for a walk, going for a
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hike, run, you know, if you bike, just getting outside and
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trying to clear your mind a little bit. And just, even if
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it's just for 15 minutes over lunch or something like that. I
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found that to be extremely helpful by just just to spend a
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little time out in nature, and it's just refreshing re
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energizing.
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Yeah, I don't know, I think that's a really good tip. Yeah,
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I mean, just if, if you're sick of your surroundings, you know,
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the parks are open now. So you just take a short drive or walk
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to the park and and just kind of sit in a different space,
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sometimes just changing your perspective. So if your house is
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overwhelming, because you've been there too long. Believe us
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when we say we're tired of being at home, Dan, Dan, I think
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you're clearly tired of being home if you're going to buy a
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new house.
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So, so tired of being at home I buying a new house, yes.
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But yeah, the the change in perspective of just changing
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what you're visually seeing each day can help you kind of reset a
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little bit. And then once you've kind of like taken a breath,
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then it's time to start tackling. Okay, what is causing
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your overwhelm? Are you not clear on what your job search
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goal is? Maybe that's what's causing your overwhelm. Maybe
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there's too many focal points, or maybe you're good at a lot of
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things, but you're not sure which which you should focus on
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or what part of your job, you know, you should really kind of
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lean into for your next career. You think maybe that would help
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Dan? I don't know.
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Yeah, no, I love that thought. And this is probably where I can
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maybe offer just a little bit of advice on on, okay, because
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I've, I've had I think I'm on my seventh or eighth job title now.
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And, you know, a little over 10 years of employment. And so,
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I've definitely jumped around to different careers and tried some
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different things. And so, I think if you're overwhelmed, I
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think the a couple things to know are, you know, number one,
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you're not alone, right? A lot of people experience overwhelm
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or are not quite sure what to do with their lives. And I always
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go back to thinking like, Okay, what the, your career doesn't
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have to be a straight and narrow path. Right? Like even no matter
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what age you are, or what career you've been in, it doesn't
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always have to be the same thing. Right? You can, you can
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choose where you end up. Right. And so yeah, and, you know,
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sometimes like what I wanted right at when I was 22 wasn't
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the same thing as what I wanted when I was 27. So It evolves and
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changes over time. So I think, you know, for me exploring
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different careers and trying different things has been really
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helpful for me to kind of narrow in on what I, what I know I
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enjoy doing at this point.
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Yeah, that's a really good point. It's not a failure to
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change directions, then, sometimes to when you're not
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working currently working, you can see all the barriers, right,
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like, in there, there are real barriers for job seekers. So
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don't get me wrong, but I agree that there are potential
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barriers for individuals to find the job that they really want.
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But if you constantly are focusing on what those barriers
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are, you're not able to see right next to them is
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potentially an opportunity, right? So if, if you don't have
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the experience for the job that you want, and you're well, I'm
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never gonna get the job that I want. You could also just think,
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Okay, well, what, what is close to this job? What is like kind
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of adjacent to this job? And is there some opportunity there for
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me? and What experience do I have that I feel strong in? And
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could I apply that to a role that's going to allow me to gain
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experience in an area that is adjacent to that that is what
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I'm actually interested in. So you could be strong in a skill
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set that you're not exactly interested in pursuing forever?
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So let's just say you were really great at cooking. And
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you've been working at restaurants for a long time, but
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you want to switch? Well, what are some of those things that go
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into cooking is time management. It's fast paced environment,
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it's teamwork, customer care, all those things kind of go into
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working in the kitchen. The kitchen is a very high fast
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paced, high pressure situation, working with your hands, working
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with your hands, yeah, physically a bill able to stand
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for a period of time. And so could you could you say, Okay,
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well, I don't really want to work with food anymore. I'm kind
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of burnt out on it. But working in a warehouse, I'm doing
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packing sort that is very similar to you know, cooking up
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something, in some ways, like just some of the skill sets that
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are there, you have to stand. And so just kind of start
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thinking of like, Okay, I know, I want to switch. But I'm not
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exactly sure. But maybe you could just try something
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different. That would just gonna bump you a little bit over, you
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know, to a career path that's right for you. So you might be
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thinking, Okay, next step is this and then what's the next
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step after that, but let's just take one step.
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I love that one. One step. Like what what can we do one thing we
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can do to move forward and not feel so overwhelmed?
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Yeah. So tonight, we're gonna get some sleep. Yeah. Go outside
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today. And then maybe think, what is that one step? What is
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one step I can take next. That's going to help me feel a little
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more control and feel a little less overwhelmed. Hope that
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helps for this week's careers & coffee.
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All right. That's all. We'll see you again next week. Until then,
