National Stress Awareness Day is upon us, and a recent study has revealed that the majority of the nation’s workers admit that looking for a new job always or frequently makes them feel stressed, according to a new survey.
The research also found that 83.5 per cent of professionals believe that job hunting stress is a real problem facing today’s workforce.
The study of workers sought to discover the impact that job hunting has on today’s professionals and what it is that they find most challenging. Participants were asked to share the aspects of looking for a job that cause them to feel most stressed. Respondents cited the following: Finding a role that matches their needs, being rejected for roles that they have applied for, tailoring their CV and cover letter for each application, dealing with recruiters and having to take time out of work to attend interviews.
What’s more, professionals revealed the areas of job hunting that often leave them feeling disheartened. Not hearing anything back from an application, not finding any suitable roles and being turned down for a role they really wanted were the top reasons professionals were feeling discouraged during their search.
Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library , comments: “Workplace stress is something we often hear about, but very rarely do we talk about the stress that can be caused as a result of job hunting. These feelings are very real, and it’s clear from the data that the nation’s professionals can become extremely disheartened when the job search becomes overwhelming.
“Recruiting professionals play a huge role in a candidate’s job search, and at the end of the day both recruiter and candidate have a shared goal – to land them a job! As such, it’s vital that recruitment professionals are working with job hunters to aid their search and reduce unnecessary stress levels.”
In a bid to find a solution to their anguish, professionals were asked what they think can be done to combat job hunting stress. Two key measures were identified. Nearly half of workers agreed that recruiters should always offer feedback, and a further 35.9 per cent said that candidates should always be sent an acknowledgement email, even if their application isn’t successful.
Biggins concludes: “It’s clear from the data that job hunters are becoming increasingly put out by not hearing back from their applications. The role of recruiting professionals is to offer feedback, even if this is something as simple as an acknowledgement email letting them know their application wasn’t successful this time. Leaving candidates in the lurch is causing them to feel unnecessary tension, but sending an email or giving them a call to offer feedback doesn’t have to be a huge time consuming task and can really can help to put job hunters’ minds at ease!”
