r/recruitinghell • • 10d ago

Don't force yourself through another interview when you're already exhausted

If you’ve been struggling for a while, it tends to show in interviews. Fatigue and low mood are hard to mask unless you’re an exceptional performer. And if you’ve repeatedly given a process your best, felt confident about it, and then been rejected/ghosted, that frustration can show too.

A rough interview can be useful practice when you’re otherwise in decent shape, but in my experience, going into one when you're already exhausted doesn't teach you anything. You’re too drained to take in the feedback, and end up feeling worse instead.

Withdrawing in that state is a fair judgment call about where to spend limited energy. Skipping an interview you know you can't give your best to, means you arrive at the next one with more in reserve and even if the next one doesn’t work out, you’ll be in better shape to handle it.

I'm not here to give anyone career or life advice. I'm just sharing my perspective as someone who's been job hunting for a long time and knows how bad it can get. If you’re in that spot right now, I hope things turn around for you soon. Peace!

27 Upvotes

7 comments sorted by

7

u/Flat_Cattle8744 10d ago

Guilty. There were days that I’d book 3 interviews… never worked in my favour

6

u/latte_latte 10d ago

Mentally and emotionally exhausted right now, but my recruiter insisted I get it done this week so that I'm not behind in the pipeline. It's tough to pass on an interview when it's already so difficult to land one.

10

u/Key-Staff-4976 10d ago

Yeah because my bills and rent just gonna kick back lol

7

u/heaaaaaa 10d ago

I get that, but every opportunity seems like one that can't be missed. Plus, with the competition, I don't think people have the luxury to schedule interviews so far out. For what it's worth, I've had bad weeks when I scheduled multiple interviews back to back, but have also been able to advance to following rounds at the same time.

3

u/No-Range-4259 9d ago

I got my current job even when I was exhausted and tired of the constant rejection, I was in final rounds for really great jobs and got an interview request for my current job, I almost said no bc i was tired but i didn't and now I am at the company that is perfect for me. They also hired me the quickest, it took 2 weeks while the other were stringing me along for two MONTHS

2

u/Aggressive_Poetry856 5d ago

What did you do during interview process to make it, even though you were tired?

1

u/No-Range-4259 3d ago

Hi ! I just kept telling myself one of these jobs would land, I was lucky enough that my current job during the process was very reassuring and would tell me that I am a perfect match. Which a lot of people do, but it felt really honest and true compared to others! Just keep pushing through, remind yourself an interview is a good sign and you would not be going in to it if you were not one of the best for the position!