My life sucks

@AlwaysMyself and on days like this is where your day feels slightly better because that'll mean for me I get to be out of my house for a total of like...7-8ish hours?? and I probably won't have to think too much about the negative thoughts that have been bothering me during the day whilst I'm technically "busy" spending my day out 😌 and obviously when I arrive home I can then rest and chill for the next couple of hours till I sleep 😁

just giving you guys a bit of an update, I got an email from the organisation saying that I wasn't successful for the volunteer role (the one I had an interview at on Friday) lol yay I guess but can't say I'm surprised

@AlwaysMyself @MissGremlin @Spirit_Healer

I can imagine that would feel disappointing and discouraging @Blackcloud ?

Did they give any feedback? Do you feel you want feedback from them?

Good on you for still having put yourself out there, and going through the interview process. 😊. The only way to get somewhere is to try. And it is normal to be unsuccessful more often than successful -- thats not just you! Its often a matter of having waaayyy more applicants than there are available places. I know this doesnt take away the emotions - but i hope it can help with self-talk to remind yourself of this context.

@AlwaysMyself yeah it was a bit disappointing and discouraging for sure. Luckily he mentioned on the email to let him know if I want feedback in regards to our interview/conservation so I sent him a response about giving me feedback. Will let you know what he responds with!

With regards to I.T (the conversation we had yesterday) I was thinking of starting off with the I.T and programming certification short courses and then going on to do a TAFE or a bachelor's degree after completing these short courses. Depends if I'll be able to afford them because unfortunately these short courses aren't government-subsidised. There seems to be very few organisations that do offer weekly payment instalments. Cert 3 of I.T seems to be a close one, but do you reckon starting off with short course certifications before moving onto TAFE or bachelors would be the way to do it?

I've read from posts mentioning that doing certifications are more likely to get you into a job (especially I.T entry roles) than doing a uni degree.

Yes, please do let me know how you go with receiving the feedback @Blackcloud 😊.

I've been listening/reading an e/book a GP recommended to me on autism, and just now between my last post to you and now it touched on how being sensitive to feeling/perceiving "rejection" is really common with autism. Just throwing it out there to keep in mind also 🤗, so easy to think its about "us" and not some other factors also a play that we don't see.

Short courses vs TAFE vs Bachelor degrees...

I dont think there is a "right" or "wrong" here. I think it depends on what you aims are and more importantly what *works best for you*. (I know you're family arent always good at recognising and supporting what works best for YOU as an individual, so i'm going to reinforce that it is totally OK to not fit the most common pathways!).

If you are not used to studying and/or find it difficult to write acamedic papers - then short course and TAFE are probably a really really good idea (and can even be stepping stones to adjusting to university-level studies, if desired later).

If you find it hard to keep motivation and perseverance longterm, then short course and TAFE also also fantastic pathways - because you get recognised "papers" at each step, making it OK to not take the next step if its not for you (or needing a break).

Compared to a bachelors degree, where if you compete 90% of it (i.e. nearly 3 years fulltime!) But dont complete that last 10%? Nope, nada. There are *some* exceptions where you could come out with a Diploma instead, but most of the time you'd come away with nothing -- despite nearly 3 years of successful learning!

In terms of employment options... it depends what you are aiming for and what industry. And you can always do further education/quals later too!

I recommend thinking about what type of role you want to get into. Then have a look at some entry-level job ads (Seek, Linked In, local Government job listings, etc) and see what they have as "essential" and what is "desirable" for that. Make sure to look at entry level or "junior" positions - otherwise it can be so easy to be discouraged. And dont worry if they all say "2-5 years experience" -- ignore that *for now* 😉. I know some funny stories about that 🤭.

Some areas of IT are easier to learn in short courses. You mentioned programming - and i think it is a pretty good example of it. Its also a really good example of being able to self-learn it via free online materials over however long you want, which can make getting a formal certificate so much less pressure later because half the effort of learning is already done 😉. I knew how to do html and css before i did my diploma in web development. But i did learn a few more things through the diploma about other areas of hardware and software, as well as project management and some server-side development too. I think having the diploma helped me get a look-in for my first professional role in web development (and i didnt even get an interview in their first round! I got a call 3 months later when the selected person had left the role.) But that boss that hired me - he had no regrets, and i know this because when he started his own company a few years after he left the one we worked at together, he reached out to me to ask if i'd like to do some ongoing contract work under his company.

I later chose to do a bachelor degree - but not in IT - because I wanted to have the piece of paper that would make it easier to get a work visa overseas if i wanted to move overseas in the future.

Once i had my first job in an industry (and thus experience), it didnt matter whether i had self-taught, a diploma or a bachelor degree.

Some uni's will even accept TAFE certificates and diplomas towards credits for subjects.

And some TAFEs offer "short courses" which may even be a single subject that could later be credited towards a recognised certificate level. 😉

@AlwaysMyself

This is the feedback I've received from the manager or admin:

"The impression we received from your resume and what we gathered from the conversation is that perhaps you are after short term volunteering. However, [the organisation] doesn’t offer short term Volunteering opportunities and one of our requirements to become a volunteer consist in a minimum of 6 months engagement. I believe that this was explained during our online conversation."

Guess I might need to lie on my resume (regarding the timeline for the volunteer roles I've mentioned) for the next applications like what others I've heard have done then. I think it's so stupid how they didn't ask me during the meeting if I would be committed to volunteering in that role for a minimum of 6 months, and yet they decided to give me that outcome based on the impression and assumption they've made just from seeing my resume. Again I would've appreciated it if they asked me about it instead of doing what they did.

And thanks for all of your answers and perspectives regarding the TAFE and short courses vs a bachelors degree, it was really helpful ❤️

Ugh, that is a frustraiting reason isnt it @Blackcloud . But from reading it myself (but maybe I'm being too literal here? I know i certainly have that trait!) they are mentioning that it was based on "conversation" with you - presumably at the interview. If they were concerned about it from the resume alone, they would have raised that question to you i reckon -- i know I would if i were hiring and had that concern.

I'm wondering if maybe there was something you said at interview (or didnt say that they expected you to say in response to a question?) that may have given them the impression? 🤔

I think it would be reasonable to 'acknowledge' their feedbavk with grace, and to also also what *specifically* gave them the impression that you were not looking for a longterm volunteering role? And that it is unfortunate that this impression was given, since you are looking for longterm opportunities (assuming this is true!).

It could even be an opportunity, with clarifying this misunderstanding, to also "invite" them to keep you in mind if the position (or similar) becomes vacant in the future. 😊

When listing past experience, its OK to not specify the *exact* date -- eg just put the year. I reckon this is better than falsifying, because they CAN check the accuracy and it would be super bad for your reputation and future references if someone finds out something is not true.

But my tip would be to be consisent around how you present dates in your resume.

If your most recent experience doesn't list length of time, then nor should your older ones - it cpuld draw attention to the ommission of information. 😉

However, it would be OK to out the length of time of a *current* position, and just a general year-date for *previous* (or less relevant) roles. I do this myself. If i didnt have a current role, i'd stick to year-dates and then let them ask me at interview *if they want* - which gives an opportunity to explain why it may have been shorter period or why there is a gap between roles. 😊

I know you have expressed concern yourself about your tendancy to withdrawl from longterm programs -- you mentioned it with regard to the film production workshops. I can imagine a comment like that (without them understand the WHY behind it) could lead someone to assume that the person is wanting a short-term thing rather than a longterm one.

(I'm not saying you said anything like that. But i'm just giving an example on how someone else might take a comment and misunderstand and misconstrue some other meaning from it).

@Blackcloud just sending you some hugs sweet ❤️

Sorry to hear @Blackcloud

Hopefully you can apply for and get offered something else that you are happy to do!

I bought a strawberry fruity tea from chatime just an hour ago and it tasted a bit sweet (and it frustrated me a little) than I expected so I had to throw it in the trash halfway through

i want to cry or scream to a pillow 🥲 feel like I’ve wasted $8.30 on that drink that I think I shouldn’t be drinking 😂🥲😔

@AlwaysMyself @MissGremlin