Lived Experience Forum

[Whiteknight]

Seeking employment is tough now even tougher than 30 years ago. Then and before then, we could leave one job on the Thursday and commence a new one on the Monday. Now there are hoops and hurdles to go through before you even make the short list.... if you're lucky.

Add to those difficulties is our mental illness.

I believe, after my 41 years of working life, that, depending on your symptoms, you could be better off with a couple of part time jobs rather than one full time job. To have all your eggs in one basket is potentially disasterous. If you have health issues and your boss isnt sympathetic (and you have to assume he/she wont be) you could lose all of your income in one hit. Having two or three part time jobs cushions you in that regard. It also gives you the upper hand  i.e. you dont have to remain in a job, you can afford to leave. That is bliss when balancing mental illness issues.

I'd also refrain from working in the food industry, customer service and shift work professions. I worked 12 hour shifts for many years and couldnt understand why most other colleagues rarely fell to sleep on duty. I barely remained alive on night shift. I also worked for a pizza chain cooking pizza. I can say- you never please more than 50% of all customers. You can never cook an item just right. Anxiety goes through the roof.

Those that have not had serious mental illness and are relatively young can choose an option to join the armed forces. I did at 17yo, the RAAF, which gave me a head start with employment and able to obtain good references and work ethic. Consider that as an option.

In the early 1990's I was unemployed living in a small country town 2 hours north of Melbourne. Employment in the area was non existent. I did own an old ride on lawn mower, trimmer etc...and a trailer. I knocked on every door in my town, about 300 homes. No one wanted me to mow their lawns. I returned home and my wife said "well that's the end of that idea, what are you going to do now?".  I replied "I'm still going to do it"  I mad eup flyers and dropped them in every letterbox, then one week later repeated it. After 4 weeks I had 10 regular customers and that income supplemented our dole benefits. I had an option to apply to Centrelink for the NEIS scheme. (New Enterpsie Incentive Scheme) which means you dont have to look for work and you still get you dole payments while you built your business (for one year). I didnt take that option as it would have placed pressure on me to have business plans and so forth but it can be an option for you. After 6 months I sold the business with 14 regular clients and many occasional clients, for several thousand dollar. An olf back injury forced this sale.

I had to buy another ride on mower so once I did that I went about building a locomotive on top of the mower then three carraiges the last a red caboose. The train could carry 19 children. I took it to country shows. I did very well because the train was not restricted to tracks and would be driven around an oval. Loud whistles meant children came from all over to have a ride. After a few months I got an offer I couldnt refuse, in fact the buyer simply held many thousands of dollar in front of me. We desperately needed a good car so it was sold on the spot.

I then tried clowning. "Yobbo" was created with a simple country set of overalls, face paint and hat. I only got to do voluntary work for the Royal Childrens Hospital before I obtained full time employment in security so I didnt pursue this as a career. Clowning is now popular for childrens parties. A small business proposition.

My last venture during this 3 years period of unemployment meant building cubby houses. My cubbies would be like large dolls houses and were transportable for the rental sector. Xmas came and I had 14 orders at $600 each (1992). I soon learned however that the market is seasonal, xmas only with the odd birthday present. Not good for business and large hardware stores now stock kits for buyers.

The message here is not to give up. Persist and persist more and more. Be flexible, determined, reassess regularly, dont be afraid to rethink and drop one idea for another. Never give up. Dont let comments from others deter you. Be proud you are trying.

[Whiteknight]

[Whiteknight]

[Whiteknight]

[-Rayne-]

hey @Whiteknight. kudos for hanging in there. your products are excellent. have you tried selling online through places like etsy?

as you know from my thread, fully agree about the stress of (a) job searching and (b) job keeping when your mental health is precarious 

[Whiteknight]

@-Rayne-
Im 62yo now. On DSP. I built my own small caravan 2 years ago and will build a larger one soon but other than that my creative days are over.

[greenpea]

@Whiteknight Whiteknight I always love reading your posts they are inspiring and positive. Thank you for sharing. greenpea

[BlueBay]

Hi @Whiteknight
Great post.
Just wanted to say I'm looking fir a new job at the moment. And I have a few issues.
A. It's hard to find a job in my area or close by
B. I feel I don't have the confidence to go for an interview. I feel I'm not good enough for the job or there's others out there that are better than me.
C. I've had quite a few rejections- that's disappointing which then makes me think "what's the point"
D. I hate failure j take it very personal and then am very hard on myself which then doesn't help my mental health.

Any suggestions/tips from you would be appreciated 😊
I need to get a new job because of finances. Struggling so I need to get s new job which puts the pressure on me. It's s huge pressure huge stress. Hubby works full time but I'm the one that needs to get a new job that pays more.
To be honest I wish I could just ignore it all because it's too overwhelming.
BB xx

[Whiteknight]

Thankyou @greenpea
@BlueBay lets look at this situation of yours.
A/ for 3 years I commuted 90 minutes to work in the city the return. I'd advise 45 minutes one way to be the max by car. If longer eventually our endurance wains. Also car wear and tear becomes substantial.
B/ apply for jobs of lower standard that you have better chance. Your aim is to get work, any work. Once you get a job later there could be promotion or apply elsewhere for a higher standard job.
C/ see below to my answer about rejection
D/ many people with MI are in limbo, not sick enough to get the DSP or partner earns too much or too ill to seek work and maintain a job eg be stable. Its hard enough without MI.

I have two short stories for you all.

In 1988 I worked in a sheltered workshop supervising disabled workets. Every Thursday a recent Vietnamese boat survivor knocked asking for work. We sent him on his way. One morning my boss was visiting and this job seeker arrived. I told him there was no work. As he walked away I told my manager he'd knocked on the door every week for 3 months. My boss called out to the man and gave him a job, his first since arriving in the country. Persistence is gold.

In 1982 for a short time I sold insurance. We were lectured by "Bill". Bill when nrw in the game couldnt sell a policy and had a heart attack. His wife visited him in hospital and asked him what us he going to do for work when he gets discharged. "I'm going to become a millionaire selling insurance" Bill answered. His wife burst into laughter. That laughter, being ridiculed press a switch.
Bill started a process. Every day at 11am he'd stop him car and knock on every door in that street. One day he was in Bourke street Melbourne at noticed it was 11am. True to firm he began the mammoth task of knocking on every door including 20-40 stories high.

One door was a huge Australian mining company. After the receptionist tried to get rid of him a man walked by and asked him if he sold superannuation, he did. He made an appointment the next day. A superannuation expert accompanied Bill up the elevator. "Introduce me then dont say a word" So Bill did that and nearly fell asleep as they talked. At the end some papers were signed.

As Bill entered the elevator the expert told Bill he had just increased the super of 60,000 workets by one percent which equated to just over one million dollars in commission to Bill.

That night Bill thanked his wife for her laughter that day in the hospital.

Towards the end if that lecture he was banging his fist on the table. You can moved mountains if you dare, you can win by just trying and the art of success is in the process of trying not actually achieving the result.

Sure, you'll have setbacks. Allow yourself time to recover then dust yourself off and get back into looking for work.

[Whiteknight]

Since posting the above comments I have been thinkin gabout this topic a lot this morning.

This ultra positive thinking and motivation concept is fine to a point then, due to our mental illness, as we are on the extreme of thoughts and behaviours, we need to get somethings into perspective.

For example. In 1982 when I was at that lecture with Bill the insurance guy, my whole negative thinking nature changed there and then. It was like a bolt out of the sky. I knew I was a negative person and needed to change,.that lecture was the vehicle by which allowed me to make that change.

Regardless of my new self, a conquer my world mentality, it didnt erase my illness and the traps that came with it. For example, it didnt stop my move to attempting my suicide in 1996. It might have been responsible for recovering from it however. The beauty of a positive outlook is- that you find positives in every situation. I went away from that ordeal vowing never to head down that road again. That regardless of the 11 years of emotional abuse I suffered at the hands of my first wife, that a life isnt worth sacrificing to escape another persons actions.

This means that your illness should be accommodated along with this newfound positive outlook and fighting spirit. After a while you learn to implement your goals and determination when you are well enough to do so. Being ill, unmotivated and depressed means you are incapable of being positive, it doesnt mean you have failed at that time. Waiting for the opportunity to be positive is the key.

The final point I'd like to make in this is teamwork. If you have a partner try to allow for an hour or so weekly and draw up constingency plans for the next week in how to obtain employment. Two heads are better than one. Also such a conversation helps your partner know that you are trying. too often partners that have a job feel they are taking the load for the house finances alone. The persception of mentally ill staying at home and not being motivated also places doubt in a partners mind at times, that they are carrying you. Prevention is better than cure, communicate effectively once a week with those plans to work together in overcoming the problem.

All this theory is good knowledge. Bare in mind that regardless of these insights I have barriers and instability that stops me from working at all. I'm fully aware of the issues with wanting to work but cannot. My messages are here to encourage those of you that have a capacity to work but cannot find work regardless of trying. 

Good luck. Remember, the self praise is essential for the effort in going out there looking for work not only when you finally secure a job. Looking for work is what you can control, getting the job is out of your control.

WK