Stress is a normal result of job searching, and it has to be under control, preferably from day one. You need to be fairly tough on yourself, but you can at least sleep and function properly, if you do it this way.

Stress is perfectly natural, perfectly understandable, yet entirely useless and obstructive during job hunting. All it does is make things a lot worse, and there's no compensation, except for the absolute certainty that you'll feel lousy.

You're effectively driving yourself up the wall. If there was ever an appropriate usage of the expression 'get over it,' this is it. Stress during the job search is more dangerous than it looks or feels. It becomes an out. 'I can't do the job application, I'm too stressed.' It becomes a reason for being dysfunctional, just when you need to be fully functional.

Excuse us for not doing the usual 'feel good and stay positive' routine, because it just doesn't work at gut level. The fact is that only getting on top of the job situation is really going to convince anyone they're achieving what they need to achieve.

Suggestions: Managing stress in practical terms

Get practical. Get things done. You can worry when you have the time to worry, which isn't when you're looking for work. Wait for about ten years after you've got the job if you want to worry.

Make sure you're doing everything you need to do. This is 'self reinforcement,' if you like expressions like that. It's essential in keeping your personal drive strong.

Don't stagnate or get into a rut. The medical fact is that depression is sometimes caused, and often aggravated, by lack of meaningful activity. There's always something that will be there, reminding you it needs to be dealt with. So deal with it to stay busy and focused.

Don't tolerate failure or low standards. You're devaluing yourself, and that comes back as the ghost of everything you were trying to do. Push yourself, do some quality control, set standards, make things better than they were and you know you're achieving something.

Use your brain. Think about options, things you haven't tried, alternative approaches. Many problems are based on using methods that don't work. So come up with some new ones. Use multi-faceted job search approaches, keep working on getting results.

Don't stick with failed methods. If something's not getting results on a regular basis, it's part of the problem. Find out what's going wrong and fix it. Get feedback, get advice, and get rid of what's holding you back.

Check out additional sources of qualifications and training. This can often produce very useful results. Being unemployed allows time to do these things, and you can wind up with a very good new CV to work with, one that will get you your job.