Anxiety …isn’t Good for You!

By Mark Steinke, Chief Strategy Officer at The Barrett Group

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, the “unemployed feel anxious and stressed as they search for work in a struggling market. The pressure to find and keep a job, in addition to everyday work-related stress, can take a toll on mental health.”

This feeling of anxiety is very common among job seekers. Whether they are men or women, technical or professional, entry level or executives. At The Barrett Group, we assist executives in finding that next level of employment.

How clear are you on why you work so hard and whether you are earning the recognition you deserve?

Our Clarity Program helps Executives answer this question in three to four sessions.

Stress during the job search process brings up a significant amount of anxiety, desperation, panic, poor judgment and reactions. Prof. Markus Heinrichs and Dr. Bernadette von Dawans at the University of Freiburg, Germany, conducted studies that examined how men react in stressful situations – such as job searching.

Let me clarify that this study focused on men only.

Women’s reaction to stress had already been studied. The results according to Heinrichs and Von Dawans were “that women show an alternate “tend-and-befriend” response to stress. In other words, a protective (“tend”) and friendship-offering (“befriend”) reaction.” Whereas “men, in contrast, were still assumed to become aggressive under stress.”

The study goes on to say that, ”Apparently men also show social approach behavior as a direct consequence of stress. With this study, the research team experimentally investigated male social behavior under stress for the first time. The results are published in the Journal of Psychological Science.”

So, executives experience stress in job searching and both genders are moving toward a “tend & friendship – offering.” As a result, their minds focus more on obtaining guidance, assistance and coaching in finding that next job. A wise, lower stress and lower anxiety decision.

The Barrett Group offers executives the opportunity to reduce their stress even more. We provide a solution that expedites the next career option for these executives, the Clarity Program©.

Read next: 8 Key Career Lessons to Be an Executive