Job seekers: Practical strategies

Confidence affects every stage of the job hunt - from keeping resilient after months of rejections and ghosting, to coming across well during the interview and salary negotiations.

As a job hunter, it’s normal for your confidence to decrease over time after the first weeks or months of unsuccessful hunting.

It’s very human to start thinking: Is it me? Am I - too old/young, overqualified/underqualified, just not good enough? Have they discovered somehow that I really don’t deserve the success that I’ve had up to now?

It’s not you. No, they haven’t discovered all your secret flaws.

Jul 2025 stats from the ONS, who are not known for their hyperbole:

• The estimated number of vacancies in the UK fell by 56,000 (7.2%) in the quarter, to 727,000 in April to June 2025.
• This is the 36th consecutive period where vacancy numbers have dropped compared with the previous quarter.
• Total estimated vacancies were down by 143,000 (16.5%) in April to June 2025 from the level of a year ago, and 68,000 (8.6%) below their pre-COVID Jan-Mar 2020 level.
• The number of unemployed people per vacancy was 2.3 in March to May 2025; this is up from 2.0 in the previous quarter (December 2024 to February 2025).

So yes - the market sucks. It’s not you.

So, apart from that dose of reality, how can you keep your confidence up?

• Self-care - simple physical changes can help.
• Control and action. Focus on these.
• Look inside. Negative mental habits can be changed.
• Look outside. Support from others – and use of your networks – can help a lot.

Self-care

Simple physical factors contribute a huge amount to how we feel. On a purely physical basis, just doing the ‘good’ rather than the ‘bad’ things below is likely to shift your positive confidence feelings by around 20-30%, according to a wide variety of sources. 

Feel good?

We all know the basics of what makes us feel good:

• Exercise – whether it’s a walk or a marathon, yoga or weights – all help.
• Getting out into nature and sunshine.
• Enough sleep.
• Healthy food and hydration.

Or - feel bad?

We also know what leaves us feeling bad:

• Endless screentime: scrolling socials, news, etc, and sitting in the same position for hours.
• Applying in despair for every job with the ‘easy apply’ button - and despairing further at no results.
• Bingeing on unhealthy stuff - food, drink, drugs, etc.
• All of these usually affect our sleeping patterns, contributing further to the negative impact.

Control and action

Focus on what you can control.

• Check what’s filling your headspace. We often dwell in the “zone of concern” – wars, the economy, who else is applying – things we can’t control.
• Instead, focus on the “zone of control” (your own actions) and the “zone of influence” (where you can affect - though not control - outcomes).

You can’t fix world events, but you can learn new skills, craft strong applications, and prep for interviews.

Working in these zones builds confidence, while staying in the 'concern' area only drains it.

Notice positive choices and actions

The self-care points above give a small lift on their own, but paying attention to your choices and actions multiplies the effect.

Going to the shop mindlessly is better than endless scrolling. But consciously deciding to stop scrolling, walk outside, notice the sunshine, smile at someone, and pick up fruit for a healthy snack – that builds much more confidence. Pay attention to your positive choices and actions – whether it’s a great job application, finishing a course, or cooking for friends: notice and congratulate yourself on these. 

These small day-to-day choices and actions act like a “rep” for your confidence muscle. Whereas drifting with the ‘bad’ habits lessens your sense of control and confidence in your ability to do things. So, these small things wind up being big in how you feel.

Look inside: Inner work to change your mental patterns

Confidence isn’t a simple ‘thing’ that you can win overnight. It’s usually a blend of emotional habits and mental frameworks that takes long, slow practice to change. A coach or therapist is often helpful to unpick where the unhelpful thoughts and feelings came from, and replace them with a more positive internal narrative. But without these, there are still some practices that should help:

• Mindfulness. Mindfulness helps detach from negative thoughts. Even a few minutes a week can make a real difference - worth trying if you haven’t recently.
• How you measure success. If success only means getting the job, you’ll feel defeated for months. Instead, track what you control: tailored applications, networking, and skills progress. Celebrate these wins to stay confident. Treat it as a numbers game; take a scientifically detached approach to experimenting with new things and assessing the results.
• Positive journaling. Journaling trains your brain to notice positives instead of negatives. By looking for positive things daily and recalling them at the end, your brain shifts its focus and patterns.

Look outside: Support networks

The final section is fairly intuitive – but still essential for keeping your confidence high, whether job seeking or not. 

• Talk with your supporters. Make sure you’re surrounded by supporters rather than detractors. Some people will boost your confidence and leave you glowing; others will drain your confidence like vampires. Consider what changes you can make to your friendship networks to protect your confidence at this point. And talk to these friendly folks. Just sharing how you’re feeling can help a surprising amount.
• Use your networks consciously. You don’t need a slick sales pitch – just be able to share confidently what you're looking for, when it's relevant. Fun fact: 70-80% of jobs never get advertised – so networks matter a lot.
• Join networks of other job hunters for mutual support. Seeing only “wins” on LinkedIn can be demoralising, so peers in the same boat help. And they might share something that didn’t work for them but might work for you.
• Use your existing networks. Whether it’s work or other interests - just keep in touch, and let folks know you’re looking.
• Expand your network. Use your interest areas, work-related and beyond. Meetups and courses can lead to unexpectedly useful connections

The job hunt is painful, and it’s pretty normal for confidence to take a hit over the months that most people will take to find a role. To help you recover and stay resilient:

• Do good self-care. The simple physical stuff makes a difference to how you feel.
• Focus on control and action. Notice whether your focus is on things in the zone of control or concern. Take action on what you can, and pay attention to the good choices and actions you're making.
• Look inside. Mindfulness and positive journaling help shift your focus; treating it as a numbers game and measuring success against the numbers helps a lot. 
• Look outside. Talking with supportive family and friends (and other jobhunters!) helps. And your networks could lead to the next opportunity - maximise your luck surface area by meeting new folks and keeping in touch.

Good luck. And take care.