How to Make Applying to Jobs Suck Less: 8 Tips to Stay Motivated & Land Your Next Role
Let’s be honest — job searching SUCKS. 👎🏼
Even when you know it’s time to leave your role, the thought of writing endless cover letters, tailoring your resume, going on interviews and getting ghosted by employers makes staying put a little more palatable.
I know how exhausting, frustrating and time-consuming it can be. 😵
But there is some good news!
There are ways to make the process easier, lighter, and maybe even a little fun!? (maybe…)
Here’s how to take some pain out of the job hunting process and keep your energy up while you search for your next role!
🎧 Listen to the adjacent podcast episode for this blog on SPOTIFY or APPLE PODCASTS
1. Stop Comparing Yourself to Other Job Seekers 🙅🏻♀️
One of the biggest hurdles in job hunting isn’t the resume writing or the interview prep — it’s your mindset.
It’s easy to feel defeated when you see other people posting about new jobs they’ve landed on LinkedIn, while you’re still waiting to hear back.
But here’s the truth: you only see their highlight reel, not the months of applications, rejections, and doubt they also faced.
Instead of focusing on others, focus on what you can control:
How much research you do — and where you do it
How efficiently you work on your resume and applications
How many people you connect with at target companies
Whether you ask for help when you need it
The tools you use to make the process easier
How much you prepare for interviews
When you stop obsessing over timelines or other people’s wins, you free up more energy to put towards your own success!
2. Curate a Positive Job Search Environment by Cleaning Your Feed 📱
Your environment — online and offline — can impact your mindset during the job hunt, which is already hard enough.
If you follow people on LinkedIn who make you feel discouraged, stressed or hopeless, it’s OKAY to mute or unfollow them for a while.
This means not engaging or following people who are constantly complaining about the job market, those you’re jealous of or people who are saying they’ve applied to 1000 jobs without hearing back.
This is NOT the energy you need going into your search.
You can still support them from afar while protecting your own peace. You can’t stay motivated when you’re bogged down by negativity and hopelessness. You need to protect your energy during this time and what you’re consuming, on any level, is a great place to start.
3. Use Resume and Job Search Tools to Save Time & Mental Energy 💻
We now live in a time where technology can take a lot of the hard work off your plate — so don’t be afraid to use it to your advantage! One of my favorite tools is Teal, a resume builder and job tracker that uses AI to help you on your search.
It can:
tailor your resume to each job by connecting job descriptions to mirror their language
grade your resume bullet points and use AI to improve them
keep track of your job applications all in one place
organize your job contacts with reminders of when to reach out
practice your interviewing skills with tips and tricks
While they offer free and paid plans, the paid plan can be worth it if you’re in an intensive job search. If not, free options (and even ChatGPT) can still help you save time!
The faster you can create quality, tailored applications, the faster you can get them in front of employers.
💻 TEAL: Grab my favorite Resume Builder & Job Tracker
4. Make Job Applications More Enjoyable 🤗
If job hunting feels like a chore, you can do things to make it more comfortable and even a little fun.
Ask yourself, “where do I do my best work?” Is it:
Working from my couch under a cozy blanket with some tea?
In a coffee shop with a friend?
With my laptop in a local park with my favorite drink?
Changing your environment can reduce resistance and make it easier to get started on a hard task. Don’t be afraid to try this for any hard task you need to do!
5. Set Realistic Job Application Goals You Can Actually Achieve 📈
Instead of aiming to apply to 10 jobs a week while juggling work, kids, and life, focus on quality over quantity.
👉 Two strong, specific and tailored applications are way better than 10 “easy apply” apps on LinkedIn.
YES, always opt out of “easy apply” applications and go to the company website directly to apply to jobs. This can also reduce the number of ghost jobs (fake jobs) you’re applying to on LinkedIn.
Make your goals so easy you can’t fail — like applying to one or two well-matched roles a week.
This will naturally build up your confidence and momentum to keep going!
6. Focus on Conversations and Relationships While Job Searching (Not just Job Applications) 🗣️
Applications are only one part of the job search.
Connections actually matter more!
To strengthen your application and increase your chances of getting seen, you want to start talking to people in the companies you’re applying to. You can do this by:
DMing 5–10 people at your target companies on LinkedIn with tailored outreach messages.
Requesting informational interviews or coffee chats to learn about companies goals, struggles and employee’s personal experiences.
Building relationships before jobs are even posted at target companies you’re interested in.
This gives you a higher chance to get seen rather than just relying on the online applications, which can easily get lost in an applicant pool.
7. Celebrate Small Wins During the Job Hunt 🎉
A lot of us only celebrate ourselves when we land a job, which can take anywhere from 3-9 months!
Don’t wait until you land a job to celebrate!
Recognize and reward yourself NOW for all the smaller wins and progress you made, like:
Reaching out to someone new on LinkedIn
Scheduling a coffee chat with an employee at a target company
Landing an interview
Asking great questions in an interview
Recognizing how to improve after an interview
Negotiating your salary
Learning from rejection during the process and continuing on
Keep a Win Tracker to remind yourself of all the progress you’re making along the way! Make sure you take time every day or week to remind yourself to update it. 😊
8. Job Rejections are Part of the Process: Learn to Keep Going 🏃🏽♀️
No matter how strong your application is, you will face rejection along the way and that’s totally okay.
Rejection and “failure” are part of the process on the way to success; it’s the only way to get there!
Building up your stamina is a part of the process job seekers don’t often think about. So factor in that you will get rejected and learn to keep going.
During this time, you want to remember that there are a lot of factors outside of your control, like:
Other candidates who also applied
Other candidates’ experience levels and skills
Other candidates’ relationships and ties to the company/role
Timing of the job opportunity
Luck (sometimes people are just in the right place at the right time)
Remember, we only want to focus on what we CAN control.
Rejection does NOT mean you’ll never find the right role; you WILL find the right role!
But sometimes it’s best to be more flexible with the timing of it. Use each experience as a learning opportunity.
For example, things you can do are:
Write down interview questions that stumped you so you can prepare better next time
Ask for feedback whenever possible (whether they give it or not, it shows you want to learn and improve)
Stay connected with contacts you made during the interview process (another job may come up later and they already have your resume and email!)
And keep this mantra in mind: What is for me, will not miss me.
Job hunting will probably never be your favorite activity — but it doesn’t have to feel so heavy.
By focusing on what you can control, building positive habits, using tools to your advantage and shifting of your mindset, you can make the process a whole lot more manageable! 👏🏼
