When You're Looking For Work
How to Stay Healthy & Happy While Job Hunting
Looking for work can be stressful and exhausting. Here's how you can stay healthy while job hunting, which will increase your chances of getting hired.
When you're looking for work you may also be dealing with health difficulties and financial problems. Taking temporary office work while you're job hunting may be a good solution. Not only will a temp job help you earn extra money, it will also boost your physical and emotional health.
Protecting your health when you're looking for work
People who are job hunting face a higher risk of health problems. Sheree Marshall-Williams, a behavioral scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta Georgia, studied women who were laid off or fired from their jobs. "Unemployed women who want to be employed clearly stand out from the employed and homemakers as being at high risk for cardiovascular disease and poor mental health," she said. "We are surmising that the unemployed women have more social stress in response to being laid off and being unable to locate a job."
Being unemployed when you'd rather be working can hurt your health and self-image. Unemployment can also lead to more drug and alcohol use, mental health problems, and suicidal thoughts. These tendencies make it more difficult to job hunt successfully - because who wants to hire a depressed person?
Earning extra money when you're looking for work
Taking temporary office jobs or doing temp work can help you get out of the unemployment slump. You're earning extra money, feeling a sense of security, meeting new people, and possibly opening new doors to job opportunities. You're creating a structure for your day and giving yourself a sense of purpose. It's easier to job hunt while you're working temporarily.
Even if you're overqualified for temp work as a secretary or office clerk, earning extra money may give you the boost you need to continue your job hunt. Temporary office work can help you network, learn different skills, or give you a difference perspective on your career. Temp work will help you pay the bills, which will make you feel better about life in general and yourself in particular. Looking for work is easier when you feel good about who you are.
If a temporary office job is a step down from your last position, it may motivate you to continue job hunting in earnest. Temp work could spur you on to make more cold calls and try different approaches when you're looking for work – and eventually find the job you want.
Temporary employment possibilities when you're looking for work
Finding temp work can be as simple as surfing the Internet. For instance, Craigslist jobs offer dozens of possibilities ("gigs"), from one-day to four-month contracts. Many "work out of your home" possibilities are advertised – though you should be cautious because some definitely sound too good to be true. Your local paper probably lists temporary employment opportunities.
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