Connect with people who understand what you are going through, seek advice and surround yourself with support. We're free, anonymous, and professionally moderated 24/7.

47,612Members
1,358,869Posts
1,400,000Visitors

Do I Have a Right to Complain?

HexapodContributor02 May 2026, 6:34 pm AEST

Do I Have a Right to Complain?

I’ve been under a lot of stress and anxiety lately, and I’m not sure how I should feel about my situation. My biggest problem right now is that I’m struggling to find a job. I graduated from Uni a year and a half ago with a bachelor’s Biology degree, and I’ve been struggling to hold something down for a while. I did a six month traineeship last year in conservation and ecosystem management, where I got my cert I, white card license, ACDC license, etc. I’m currently doing a laboratory technician traineeship for a very IV.

I’ve tried to find jobs in areas with relevant experience, but they either tell me I wasn’t qualified enough, or ghost me after the interview. In the case of my most recent jobs, one of them gradually cut my hours until I had nothing, and the other fired me after three days because I wasn’t developing my skills fast enough. As a result, I signed up with WISE employment to help me find a job, hoping to help me get some advice with what I can do, as well as how I can navigate the job market as an autistic person.

I’m starting to wonder though, is it my fault I’m in this situation. When I look at people around me, a lot of them were able to find jobs soon after graduation. I also looked for jobs while studying and took half a year off to work, but maybe I should’ve worked harder to find an internship or job opportunity. I’m beginning to wonder if I should’ve gone for something more lucrative, like finance or engineering, instead of studying the things I was interested in.

Of course, I’m also starting to wonder if Uni was a bad idea in the first place, as I’ve heard that a lot of people my age are doing apprenticeships instead to become tradies and finding jobs. It wasn’t really something that interested me originally, but with the job market for graduates, maybe it was a smart decision. Then again, considering that only 50% of tradie apprentices complete their apprenticeships, as well as the low starting wages, I’m not sure how much smarter of an idea it would be.

Do I have a right to feel the way I do? Does anyone in my position have a right to feel frustrated by the job market? Sorry if this post comes off as rambling, I just don’t know what else to do.

2 replies

1 - 2 of 2

In response to: Do I Have a Right to Complain?

tymeModerator02 May 2026, 7:19 pm AEST

Re: Do I Have a Right to Complain?

Hey @Hexapod ,

Thank you for posting and sharing how you are feeling about your situation. I read that there are a lot of question marks.

Is there really a 'wrong' or 'right' way to feel? As much as we'd like things to happen a certain way, we are in the situation we are therefore, have to work with it. I'm saying this because I often looked around and compared myself. In my head, I had all these should've's, could've's and would've's. And that only made me feel worse.

Let's just say that over the years, I've realised that we all progress at different rates. While some may start working straight after uni, other take time to find their feet - like me. It took me over a decade to find what I really wanted to do beacuse when I first studied, I studied for the sake of it and not because I really wanted to work in that field.

It's great you've been able to link in with an employment agency. Hopefully, they will be able to provide some support with securing a role.

Please remember that each person's journey is different. There is no 'right' or 'wrong' way to take it.

Your feelings are valid. We hear you. We are here for you.

In response to: Do I Have a Right to Complain?

MoonGalSenior Contributor03 May 2026, 8:54 am AEST

Re: Do I Have a Right to Complain?

Hi @Hexapod

Biology is such an interesting field and sounds like a great fit for you. Second guessing our decisions is a road to losing our confidence in self. It's good to reflect but it can lead to a kind of paralyisis of fear of making the wrong move.

I'm wondering if you could do an exercise where you imagine or reimagine what your perfect job in the biological sciences would be. Not the job title, the actual work day to day year to year. Where would you work? What tasks would you perform? Data collection? Observation? Hands on analysis? Lab work? In what kind of environment or biome? Coastal? Desert? Degraded farm land? Working in teams or alone or small crew?

I'm thinking that building a picture or framework if that suits better might give you a starting place for next steps. Instead of trying to 'find a job' try to step toward 'THE job' that will eventually lead to your best job for you.

Not knowing your circumstances I don't know if this next idea will be useful atvall. There is an old saying 'It's easier to get a job if youv'e got a job'. While Volunteering is unpaid and can have on costs it's a solid thing to have on a resume/CV particularly if it is long term. There are dozens of small citizen science efforts around each state protecting or data collecting in different habitats to further calls for protection or waterflows or species biodiversity. Turning up regularly, fitting in, contributing, skill building (also seen in HR terms as 'work hardening' - groan!).

You can google your area or find the local facebook page and ask is anyone doing environmental type volunteer group or citizen science work in the area you live in.

Just some things to think about that is outward looking and with some hope in the wagging tail.

I WISH I had done the biological sciences and gone into conservation education or species research field.

Everybody's life is done incrementally, stuff works, stuff fails. We fall down, we get up. You've got this.

Moongal 🌙

1 - 2 of 2