After the job interview: How to deal with the long wait

An earlier version of this story first appeared on Kalibrr Career Advice. Visit this page for more on the ups and downs of navigating your career.

Throughout the job search, the wait after a job interview is unavoidable – and excruciating. After you send out your job applications, you have to wait for someone to call you for an interview. When you are at an interview, you have to wait for your turn. Once you’ve finished the interview and all the requirements, you have to wait, or hope rather, for an offer.

You spend every waking moment thinking about when if the company will call you back. Conversations take an easy negative turn and you can’t stop assessing what you did wrong during the interview. There are days when you lie in bed just praying, “Please, please, please let today be the day.” 

Coming from someone who did all that and more, I’m telling you now to stop. The wait is no one’s favorite part of the job search, but that doesn’t mean you can’t turn it around for yourself. Here are 5 steps to help you avoid going crazy during the wait.

1. The negative people around you? Cut them loose

The wait can make you moody, volatile, sensitive to everything. You need to find as much positivity as you can and surrounding yourself with negative people will only drain you further. Cut them loose and you’ll feel a difference.

2. Get out of the house!

You need to get out of the house where the wait hits you the hardest. Go out and take a walk, run some errands, or visit your family. It’s important to have time for yourself but too much idle time isn’t good for you. If, at any point, you get stunted by the job search, pause and get out of the house for a quick recharge. It’ll do wonders.

3. Find your kind of relaxation or meditation

The wait will make everything seem so fast and so slow at the same time. The lack of balance is off-putting. Meditation or even just sitting in silence for 10 minutes can help you re-center and re-organize your thoughts. You can also use this time to face your fears about the job search. Think about them and ways to deal with them. Author Heather Martin says that “Focusing on mistakes is only good when you learn from them.”

4. Exercise is always in style

Exercise is good for you. If you don’t regularly exercise, start. The job search takes up a significant chunk of your time and energy but you’re unemployed, you may still have the time to spare. Sweat the stress and worries away. Working out will help keep your mind and body busy and more importantly, productive.

5. Keep building

Oh, but you did. With every minute you’re able to set aside, find ways to build your resume and your skill set. Take an accounting class. Volunteer. Learn how to cook. The truth is, interviewers desperately want you to be the right person. But it’s up to you to make that happen. Research on what a company wants and find ways and activities to be that. It takes extra effort but ultimately, it beats spending another week in the wait.

Most importantly, remember that this, too, shall pass. – Rappler.com

Looking for your next step or starting a new phase in your career? Check out this jobs portal by Kalibrr x Rappler for options. You can follow Kalibrr on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Marga is a food enthusiast with the thighs to prove it. She will try just about anything (legal) once, twice if you’re paying. Her hair is real and it is full of secrets.