You applied and you’re waiting to hear back. What now?

After finishing up our resume series and before we dive into our next, let’s take a pause and talk about one of the more difficult periods of the job search: the in-between.

The in-between is the collection of passive moments after you’ve done what you can do and the only thing left is to wait and maintain faith that eventually someone will see the potential in you that you know is there. There’s only so much you can control; the in-between is not one of them.

The in-between can be a space of discomfort. The longer it lasts, the more feelings of defeat may start creeping in. You’re never alone here. And you may even see updates from others in your network, sharing their own experience of the too-long search, along with a collection of supportive and empathetic comments from digital passersby.

But while it’s nice to feel less alone, it’s never really enough, is it?

During these times of transition, when uncertainty begins to settle in, there are ways to reignite your drive. Here are some ideas for empowering yourself when you’re feeling stuck in the in-between.

Make something fun.

Eventually, you are going to get a job. But right now, in the in-between, you have this unexpected open space to use your skills in whatever way you want to use them. So choose fun! Remind yourself why you pursued these skills in the first place, and how good it can feel to use them when the stakes are low.

Here are some examples:

• Interested in social media marketing? Share your gardening hobby with the world on TikTok.
• Aspiring data analyst? Create a spreadsheet to track your TV habit.
• Going into web development? Build a website dedicated to the joys of the color yellow.

To come up with your own idea, all you need to do is combine your skill with something else you like. It doesn’t have to be profound; it just has to feel good.

Plus, if you like the thing you make for fun, you can incorporate it into your resume or portfolio. This can be a nice way to demonstrate workplace skills like creativity and innovation alongside your sought-after technical skills.

Learn something completely different.

Once you have a solid resume and adaptable cover letter template, the job application process can feel tedious. Pull yourself out of the monotony by activating a different part of your brain. Learn something new.

There are chemical benefits to learning—if you haven’t taken Learning How to Learn yet, this is a good course to start understanding what’s happening in your brain when you learn. (And it’s free.) But more importantly, those brain benefits can activate mood benefits.

Learning feels good. It’s a confidence builder and it’s a way to gain a new perspective on the world around you. When you learn something new in one subject, you’ll likely start making new connections in completely different areas.

Restore your brain with a wildcard course. There are plenty of hidden gems on Coursera. Here are some recommendations:

Set boundaries.

Looking for a new job can feel like a full-time job in itself. The difference is, when you’re job searching, there aren’t always clear milestones suggesting that you take a step back and focus on something else. There are always more job sites to check out, more applications to send, and more people to network with. There’s also more life to live outside of your job search.

The tenets of maintaining a healthful work-life balance hold true even when your work is to find work, and setting boundaries to guide your job search is one way you can invite more balance into your daily routine.

Your boundaries can be anything that feel right for you. Perhaps you want to send a certain number of job applications per day, schedule one networking meeting every week, or stop checking your email after 7 p.m. every day. You may experience some trial and error as you figure out your boundaries, but it tends to be worth the effort.

This feels like a good time to mention The Science of Well-Being from Yale University. Another popular free course, this one explores happiness and how to achieve it from a psychological standpoint.

That’s all for this week. If you’re struggling with the in-between, we’re rooting for you. If you have tips for staying positive, please share them in the comments. Next week, we’re going to start our series on high-income skills and explore how you can incorporate them into your professional toolkit. See you then.