The most important rule of stress management is to avoid stressful situations whenever possible. However, when you must face them, preparation is key – understanding what to expect and equipping yourself with the right tools and strategies can make all the difference.
Most of us will face the challenge of searching for a leadership role at some point in our careers — a challenge that few of us are truly prepared for. You live your life as usual, and then suddenly you are faced with the fact that the busy world around you has to stop, and you have to take on another project that leads to your new job. Of course, the circumstances of a job search for a leadership position are always different, but there are many similarities in preparing for the stresses and strains that come with the process, and even how to anticipate or prepare for them.
From our career mentoring programmes for senior executives, I have gathered, without being exhaustive, the most common job search stressors and other confounding factors, and suggested some solutions.
The first moment of redundancy stress
Losing your job, especially unexpectedly, can be an incredibly stressful experience, particularly if you were in a demanding or high-pressure role.
In such cases, it is no longer worth constantly wondering why it happened, how it should have been foreseen or how it could have been done better. If there are simple lessons to be learned, it is worth drawing them and moving on. Take this time to focus on yourself. Prioritize rest, self-care, and physical activity like intense cardio to release built-up stress. Allow yourself to embrace the freedoms you may have neglected before: indulge in personal time, reconnect with hobbies, or simply enjoy life at a slower pace.
Plaid shirts and jeans instead of suits, stubble instead of shaving, family cinema outings instead of late-night meetings, childcare instead of weekly reports—finding this harmony takes time. Spend the first 3–4 weeks recovering and recalibrating. Only after that should you begin actively searching for your next opportunity.
Further escalation of redundancy stress during a job search
Many times we are afraid of things that have affected us negatively or have happened to us (e.g. constant unsuccessful confrontations with an autocratic manager) and we do not want it to happen again. Because of this, we may develop a fear of certain situations. In a job search, this can lead an interviewer to perceive a candidate as withdrawn or insecure.
It is therefore worth processing these memories and talking through them with our close contacts many times. Expressing and reflecting on these experiences is one of the most effective ways to process negative impulses. This step plays an important role in helping us approach an important interview with a harmonious and self-confident mindset.
The pressure of time during a job search
As time passes, the urgency of the job search often increases, especially when the process takes longer than expected.
It is always worth discussing with your consultant what a realistic timeframe for securing a job in your industry looks like, and whether your expectations align with the market.
Several factors can hinder finding the right job quickly:
- A misaligned benefits package
- A lack of willingness to relocate
- Seeking a seniority level that may not be immediately achievable based on past experience
If we keep refining our profile of expectations, it can speed up the process of finding a job.
Managing financial insecurity
The continued depletion of our financial reserves is also a major pressure on the job search. It is therefore worth preparing for this well in advance with reserves. If it is a redundancy where an agreement can be reached with the employer, it is better to ask for a lower amount for six months and a notice period instead of a lump sum. This approach offers multiple advantages:
• Ensures liquidity for a longer period, reducing immediate financial pressure
• Counts toward pension eligibility, extending financial stability
• Maintains health insurance and other entitlements for a longer period
Job search uncertainty: How mentorship can help
The most frequently asked questions are:
- What exactly should I do to make sure I find a job?
- How do I go about it the right way?
- If I am doing something, will it actually lead to success?
- How long will it take me to reach my goal?
In such cases, it’s always a good idea to seek a career mentor, as it can speed up the process of finding a new job if you get a good mirror of yourself and can see much sooner what you should be doing and how you should be doing it to make better progress. Horton International Hungary is happy to help you in your executive job search as a mentor. This support service can in some cases be free of charge!
Overcoming fears and self-doubt during a job search
Fears are a human trait that we all live with, and some of these are particularly heightened when we are in a stressful situation for a prolonged period for other reasons. What do we fear most often?
- The new situation (What will I do tomorrow when I wake up, what will I do now? I want to go back to work tomorrow, but what?)
- Finding my next job and the circumstances surrounding it
- Whether that job will be as good/interesting/career-appropriate as the one I had before
- From situations that I have to participate in now, but I think I am not experienced in them and I am being judged now e.g. interviews, assessment centres, tests.
- From whether I’m really good if I’m dismissed and I’m not the one that’s been chosen the last many times.
- Whether what I am aiming for now is at all realistic in terms of job (level), responsibility, challenge, and salary requirements – and if I have to give in to this, will my family’s standard of living change in the future?
- What will happen in the more distant future if I fail to do this in the short term, as long as my financial reserves hold out?
A career mentor can also be most helpful in dealing with fears. A career mentor, like a good leader, can, by creating a realistically positive vision of the future, keep the candidate from spending time thinking about these things and performing worse than if they had applied without them. Unfortunately, by our fears we are moving the process we so much expect to see the outcome of, backwards rather than forwards.
The impact of repeated rejection and lack of feedback
Unfortunately, I often meet senior job seekers who have been looking for a job for some time and find themselves lost in the job search maze. This is most often because they have not had a realistic job search target area, method and documents specifically put together for this purpose, and the market also confirms that they are looking for the wrong job, or are misinterpreting or overvaluing themselves.
The consensus view of several candidates is that it is the lack of feedback, on several occasions in succession, and the only negative response is the fact that we were not chosen. These are the most confusing and, in the long run, create a sense of hopelessness because we know nothing about why we were not selected or what we should do to be shortlisted in one of the next competitions. If this is repeated over a long period, it can lead to depressive states, and emotional and activity slumps, which can completely slow down or prevent good performance in the application.
But we have to believe that the fault is not with us, but with the way “non-candidate-centric” tendering systems work, and that has nothing to do with the fact that we are the ones in the situation where this is happening!
In our career mentoring sessions, we have a frank conversation with each candidate. It’s also a great help to them if an application document or interview format is not appropriate so that they at least know what needs to change.
