How To Deal With Family Asking About Your Job Search

Your friends and family probably have the best of intentions by asking about your job search, but it can be frustrating when they continue to badger you about your employment prospects. To keep the peace, thank them for checking in with you, but let them know that your job search is proving to be more challenging than you had hoped.

Use their concern as a positive and ask them if they have any contacts in your field or know of any openings that might be in line with your skill set.

You can craft a short, to-the-point response that will satisfy most family members.

If they continue to probe after your short answer, remain consistent with short, upbeat responses. We often think under these circumstances that we need to get detailed but if you think about many other conversations, especially around Thanksgiving time (with loads of people), they are usually fairly superficial and short.

The most important thing is to recognize you don't owe an explanation to anyone about how your job search is going. 

You can and should set boundaries with your extended family and friends by making clear what you will and won't talk about.