We’ve all been through the process of job searching at some point in our careers. While it is a time of excitement and hope for new opportunities, it is also a time of great uncertainty and fear.

You may be thrilled when you find out that you are the favorite candidate for the job you want, but sometimes you may be disappointed if you find out that it has gone to someone else.
The job search can be stressful, and it goes without saying that there are concerns about future careers and livelihoods.

Here are a few strategies to adopt for the job search:

1. Understand your emotions
   Activities such as mindfulness meditation and journaling can help you process negative emotions as they arise. Rather than avoiding repressing or thinking about emotions that have been found to correlate with anxiety and depression, processing emotions through mindfulness meditation and reading can actually help you feel your best.This ability to feel emotions without judging them or trying to change them allows us to move through them faster and more effectively. Emotions directly affect our energy and our daily attitudes.
2. Seek professional help
   A professional can provide the emotional support you need more than your friends and family.
   An experienced career coach who is an expert in the job search process can also help you normalize your experiences and emotions at certain stages of the job search. He or she will always be a good advisor to guide you on what to do if you are feeling anxious.
   This is a concrete help that will alleviate the feeling of loneliness that often occurs during a job search, and will create a sense of belonging to a community that shares the same career path.
3. Be prepared beforehand
   Like any process, the job search has its ups and downs and can take weeks or months. During a week of meetings, networking and scheduled interviews, of people answering your emails, you feel encouraged and hopeful, but all it takes is one radio silence to feel confused, frustrated and helpless.
   Knowing in advance what fluctuations in activity and emotions you will experience will prepare you to better anticipate and manage them when they occur.
   Indeed, you should always expect negative moments, and a rather monotonous rhythm during the course of this journey, which is necessary and indispensable to experience in order to recognize the challenges of the job search.
4. Participate in activities that inspire you
   Be sure to include energizing activities in your day, such as exercising, focusing on what makes you happy and motivated.
   Your mood and overall energy level is also reflected in your interactions with others such as coffee meetings with former colleagues, networking events or job interviews that boost your self-esteem, sociability, motivation, cognition to push you to do your best. These activities boost you mentally and physically, making you more independent and confident during job interviews.

5. Put things in perspective
   When a job search doesn’t go as planned, it’s easy to feel helpless and discouraged. Maybe the contact didn’t give you a major recommendation like they advertised, or the recruiter didn’t get back to you within the time frame they originally planned.
   Just take a step back and consider what other priorities exist. Your job search may not be one of your five priorities for the day. Seeing this perspective makes the situation impersonal and helps reduce the negative feelings surrounding it.