Social Anxiety and Job Hunting

10. December 2009 by admin.

The unemployment figures are all over the news. The general consensus is that the economy is very bad.  It’s not a good time to find a job.

Social Anxiety makes this much worse.  I feel like I have done all that I can to find a new job and  increase my income. I have been passively looking for over 2 years. I intensified my search the last 6 months or so. I have applied for dozens and dozens of jobs, and I am not picky. The bottom line is I need income and am willing to work.  I have used craigslist, snagajob.com, careerbuilder, monster,etc.  I have applied for jobs directly on employer sites and submitted applications for non-existent openings.

I have been called or scheduled for a total of 4 interviews. Only two interviews happened. One never returned my return call. Recently a major corporation wasted a lot of my time without explanation.

What about the two interviews that happened? I thought one went well and felt like a pleasant conversation. I had experience in the specific job and expressed my willingness to fit their budget and do the work they needed. I never heard back.

I DID get hired for one “job.” I ended up scheduled for 1 day of work in 2 months on the schedule. I had to get up at 4:00 a.m. and drive an hour to a building in the middle of nowhere. Then I worked a shift where I was instructed to do the exact opposite I what I was “trained” to do and perform a task I was specifically told I would not. I accepted this “job” because I was very concerned my social anxiety would prevent any other offers.  I was right.

What does any of this have to do with social anxiety disorder?

Social anxiety has never affected my ability to do a job. It has only affected my ability to GET one. My S.A. is an automatic disqualification for many employers, even when it does not affect my work at all. My social anxiety is physically apparent, and it is easy to “screen out” during an interview.

( to be continued)

Posted in jobs, social anxiety | 2 Comments »