How to prevent job-search burnout, career expert says: 'Make sure you're taking care of your mental space'

In today’s labor market, it can be tough for job seekers to stay positive.

Laid-off workers are struggling to land new roles, and long-term unemployment is rising: the number of Americans who have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more has risen to nearly 2 million, an increase of 385,000 since last August, according to the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Jen DeLorenzo, a career coach and founder of professional coaching business The Career Raven, says that several of her clients are feeling demoralized due to long job searches.

“Folks who are used to getting a job within 1 to 2 months are now waiting 6 months to over a year just to get a handful of interviews,” she says.

According to DeLorenzo, burnout tends to creep in during those prolonged periods of job searching: “You start to ask, why is it taking so long? What’s wrong with me?”