Getting into work

Former Member

Hi,

Just looking for some advice/thoughts.

To cut a long story short I had mental health problems at university and graduated despite them in 2007. Since then I feel I've taken the right course of action and done lots of stuff at my local MIND.

Work-wise I've mainly done voluntary but also a bit of temping and lived in France whilst completing some internships.

In general I feel ok and have done a lot to help myself with the problems I had. I've been seeing someone from the Richmond Fellowship who is helping me with getting a job and have just started seeing REMPLOY for help.

I suppose the things that concern me are :
1. I think it's going to be difficult to get a job in the current climate and how to stay positive whilst job searching if I'm not getting anywhere. I think maybe it's about doing other things and not devoting all my time to job searching - maybe a couple of hours a day would be enough.

2. I've not known what type of job I want to do, but through voluntary have tried things out and am now thnking of advice and guidance type work. I guess a lot of people aren't sure initially what they want to do and maybe trying things is best ?

Just looking for general advice/thoughts on how to get into work, and most importantly for me, stay well in work and the job search.

Olly_B

Hi Mark,

Sounds like you are taking the right steps in finding work.

To answer your second question first, as the Mary Schmich essay goes (you probably know it better in song form): "Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t."

I don't think five years ago I thought I'd ever be doing my current job; but I'm really glad that I am. You don't need to decide what your career is before you start it. Many people have 'second' careers - they try something and then move to something else. That's not only perfectly fine, it's often an advantage, and careers like teaching and politics being able to bring your knowledge and experience from another role is well regarded.

On the first question, it's difficult to set an exact amount of time per day but it's great that you've recognised that you need to have a life as well as your job hunting. It might be a good idea to set yourself some goals - so that, say, you aim to complete two or three applications every week. Doing that means that rather than sitting staring out the window for your alloted two hours a day when you say you should be doing job hunting, you are task-orientated and measuring success by outcomes rather than time.

Doing something like that is also a good example you can give to employers: if you can show how you are tackling your unemployment in an organised manner it will make you a better candidate for the role.

I'm sure other people on these boards will have some other thoughts on this.

Hope all this helps..


Olly