Disability Employment Services

Good evening @Ainjoule ,

Thank you for posting about your current situation.

I sounds like you have been actively seeking employment for a while now and you are doing the best you can whiel battling the challenges of mental health.

We hope the community will be able to offer their insights as they share their experiences.

Take care and look after yourself

@Ainjoule

I had similar experiences with DES when I first went on DSP. I thought a similar thing, “they only want money for me being on their books and they put in zero effort “. I have neck condition and mental health issues, and always worked part time regardless. In a way, I gave my time and volunteered on Sane.

It’s sad and frustrating. Hope the session goes well for you, and they do their job! Thank you for the opportunity for my own vent on the topic.

I hear you @Ainjoule and @Appleblossom , and yep unfortunately not an uncommon experience 😭.

I had to go to one years ago when I was increasing from 2 to 3 days work (I had 2 days already but we increased my capacity by 1 day and my employer didnt have extra work hours available for me to take up). I had/have chronic fatigue and depression which were my restrictions mostly to do with not a physically active job - looking for desk jobs.

At the time I had years of medical reception experience and an IT Diploma, and you know what they offered me?? They suggested a basic "how to use a computer" course! 🤣 I kid you not! I asked what it includes and they said how to use MS Word, and emails, etc. I then pointed out again that I am very computer-savvy and have an IT Diploma 😂😂. My compulsory attendance included looking at newspapers for job ads! This was in 2012 - internet was a thing but not for them? 🤣 they would sometimes point to an ad and say "what about this?" And it would either be fulltime, or once it was part time and I remember it was something really physical like a gardening assistant. Yep yeah nah not suitable. It was such a waste of time and my limited energy.

And when I found myself a job (in my own time, at home, no help from them not even resume or application help) they asked for the details so they could report it back to the government (for funding). :face_with_rolling_eyes: I pointed out it wasnt from their assistance i got the job, and they said "well, we can still help - do you need new professional clothes for the job to start? Let's organise a time to go to the shops". Then they cancelled the appointment and told me to just go buy clothes myself and they'd reimburse me. So in the end at least I got a new work shirt and pants from them?? But they got the Gov funding. Cos I didnt need any adjustments at work so they never needed to be involved.

If there is a way I can help whilst keeping you anonymous, I'd love to. I've often been told I do really good applications (pitches and selection criterias), and have recently done some research into modern resumes as I recently applied for a few jobs. I have experience in both private and government workplaces and applications for both.

Let me know if/how I can support you in your desire to get a job independently of the service.

Yes, @AlwaysMyself your story doesn’t surprise me. I get the funny side and humour. I also found my own work independently. It’s a problem when the so called service provider is less educated. Disability and mental health is not an indication of low intelligence or education.

good luck @Ainjoule

@Appleblossom Thanks, yeah it seems to be a very common experience with these employment services.

@AlwaysMyself Thanks so much, that's a very sweet offer. If I have any trouble with writing up my resume, etc I will let you know 😊. I didn't finish my IT degree but I did two years of it, and I have a certificate IV in Web-Based Technologies. It would be nice if I could do something with that maybe. I don't know.

I will will let you guys know how the meeting goes, here's hoping.

@Ainjoule i'd love to know more what "web-technology" covers! 😄 my diploma was it IT Website Development -- but it was sooo basic even 10+ years ago when I did it lol (I self-taught my website skills prior to the diploma, but learnt some PHP in the Dip). I worked as a website developer/implementer (frontend) on-and-off for 10 years, most of it parttime freelance. I've been outside the web world the past 4 years, and sadly never got to get into HTML5 which I think is where a look of new and interesting client-side coding abilities were made available.

It was pretty basic to be honest @AlwaysMyself The course had HTML, CSS and a little Javascript. I was already able to do everything in the course from my uni studies. I can program PHP and other stuff from my uni days...it's a shame I never finished that, but mental health got in the way. At least I managed to finish the Cert IV.

I went to the meeting today. It was ok. We signed a new agreement. I agreed to go back in two weeks. I think we are going to look for some web development work or IT work of some description. Time will tell whether this person can help me. In the meantime, I'm going to try and create a portfolio site, maybe something with a couple of little games that can demonstrate my skills...something like that. I'm probably dreaming when it comes to getting an IT job but the worst that can happen is I waste some time trying to get this kind of job. I'll have to take a look at HTML5, it's been a while since I did this stuff, maybe I can pick up a book from the library.

I think the idea of creating a portfolio site is fantastic @Ainjoule . 😊 and it could even bit a fun project for you too?

It sounds like you have some great skills with frontend web dev, plus backend Web dev with PHP (and perhaps some other languages too from uni?). I always felt a little more limited in my scope because I wasnt too knowledgeable in PHP and other backend languages - e.g. when trying to deal with API integrations.

A lot of organisations seem to look for people with experience in specific CMS (content management systems) -- or they did 4 years ago when I last looked at frontend web jobs or content implementation roles. Getting some hands-on experience with a variety of CMS (even if informally on your Portfolio for open-spurce/free ones or doing free online training modules) could be helpful too if that is of interest to you.

Depending what type of organisation you would like to work in may influence what you focused on. E.g. WordPress or WIX- small-medium private/NFP orgs; joomla or Drupal - a mixture of orgs, often ones who need a bit more customisation than WP can give?; Adobe CMS - larger orgs (private or public); squiz matrix/CMS - a lot of government and NFP.

Then there are more function-specific platforms like WooCommerce & Magento (eStores), and ContentHub (marketing)... I never got into any of them to know their markets.

And of course so many new ones that I dont know too lol.

If often would look at jobs ads for *the type of job i'd like* to then see what they require in knowledge/tools, and then let that direct what i would seek to get experience/training in.

Not sure if that helps, or it might be something you already do.

It sounds like you've got great ideas on how to work forwards independently, and hopefully the DEA will be able to add on to enhance that too if you're able to assert what you need from them (and what is not helpful from them).

Im excited to see what you find and what you develop if you do your portfolio! 😁