How to get a job with social anxiety

Anxiety in general and social anxiety in particular make a lot of things more difficult. They make the person expend a lot of energy thinking and worrying about a variety of things, situations, regrets, and hypotheticals.

Social anxiety can make simple interactions like calling someone or even grabbing a cup of coffee with a coworker like exhausting, difficult tasks…

…this can affect a variety of areas of an individual’s life but getting a job when having social anxiety can be especially daunting.

How to get a job with social anxiety? Why is this so difficult?

To understand this, it is important to define social anxiety. Social anxiety is a type of anxiety problem that is associated with excessive fear and worry in social situations. Some people who have social anxiety worry excessively in specific situations while others have more generalized social anxiety.

For example, common anxiety triggers may include:

• Talking on the phone
• Speaking in public
• Disagreeing with someone
• Eating while others are present
• Talking to strangers

…and so on.

It is worth noting that many people might feel a little nervous in some of these situations, especially when there is a lot riding on a phone call or a meeting. However, for people with social anxiety, this becomes especially stressful, to the point where many will completely avoid an activity, or situation, where they have to engage in the task…

…this avoidance can make them lose a lot of opportunities or mean that they don’t get to engage with others even if they want to. For others, social anxiety is more general. It can become difficult to talk to friends or strangers or interact with people in social situations. This is something that is clearly difficult to cope with.

In a job seeking situation, this becomes especially difficult. First of all, there is the added pressure of having to make a good impression with the interviewer, the need to talk on the phone and sound  polished, and the pressure to get the job. This creates a stressful environment that might exacerbate the existing symptoms of anxiety.

Additionally, a job search is associated with being evaluated, something that most people with social anxiety dread in other situations already. However, everyone needs to find work, so what can people with social anxiety do to reduce the negative impact of this condition on their job search?

The strategies

• Rehearsal

The first strategy that can be useful is developing “scripts” for interview or job-related questions and rehearsing them many times. These can be the answers to typical interview questions, information about your professional experience, or even the way you will greet or say goodbye to the interviewer. These scripts can be applied on the phone or during in-person interviews.

The idea is that by rehearsing something several times, you become able to repeat these scripts or ideas without nervousness. However, there are some downsides to this technique. It can only allow the person to rehease some aspects of an interview and unexpected questions can still throw them off…

…it can help with many interview questions or situations, but not all of them, especially not those that were unexpected. Still, it is a useful strategy to have a few brief answers prepared in terms of one’s experience, achievements, mistakes, and other things that are very likely to come up.

• Relaxation techniques

Relaxation techniques involve a variety of strategies, usually focused on breathing in a specific way or relaxing the muscles, that help the person feel more at ease. There is a wide variety of strategies that help the person reduce the physiological manifestations of anxiety, so the person is able to feel calmer and more focused during a situation.

Some relaxation techniques involve breathing techniques that can be done anywhere. Others are more complex and involve muscle relaxation.

These can sometimes take a longer time to complete. The person with social anxiety can use relaxation techniques to calm down in stressful sitations.

A good idea is to practice these techniques beforehand to see which ones have an effect on one’s anxiety. It is best to practice them in situations that are still stressful but have lower stakes. This can help the person gain better control over their anxiety when they need to be more relaxed.

• Take the edge off with calming natural supplements

While practising the mental techniques is important it can be of great help to, at the same time, use some natural anti anxiety supplements.

Taking the edge off the anxiety with some of these supplements often increases the success rate with the mental tools because the person suffering will not be completely overwhelmed with extreme anxiety levels, and therefore he is able to focus more on the mental tools.

The owner of this website, Bob Castle, often recommends two special supplements , which he uses for his own anxiety. If you would like to know more you can click here to go read more about that

• Meditation

Meditation is sometimes considered as a relaxation technique but it usually goes beyond that. A meditation practice involves a state of deep relaxation and awareness and focus on one’s breath, a specific type of thought, or another form of stimulus.

There is a wide variety of meditation practices that promote a greater control over one’s state of mind and tend to reduce overall anxiety…

…however, meditation is a practice that becomes more effective the more you practice, so it might be useful to take it up as something you do daily and not just  in preparation of the job search.

• Mindfulness

Mindfulness is not a practice by itself but a series of practices. The basis for mindfulness is the practice of paying attention to one’s present experience without judgment and with openness and curiosity.

Paying attention to one’s present moment means that the person is focused on their feelings, sensations, environment, and other aspects of the situation and do not let the mind wander…

…this is another practice that can be more beneficial if it is practiced more but attempting to take a mindful approach to a job search can also be effective…

…it means that the attention is centered on the present and not focused on worrying about the past or the future.  Mindfulness can be a very beneficial practice for social anxiety but it does require some practice. 

How to get a job when having social anxiety
some final words

These practices can make getting a job while having social anxiety a lot easier. However, some people might find that their social anxiety remains too disruptive or severely interferes with their capacity to interview or get through the process.

If you feel you need more tips with natural ways to deal with anxiety take a look at our article 16 unusual ways to deal with anxiety.

If you feel you have tried everying and your social anxiety still is too disruptive, it may be important to seek counseling or therapeutic support to ensure that you really are doing everything you can to improve your situation.

 

-Natural Health Evolution Team-