Career Chat // Building resilience for job seeking // Tues 12 Sep, 7pm AEST

Hi @Teej

Thank you so much for joining the chat and what a great question to start off with.

You are in the same boat as I can assume many others on this forum are.

Right at the beginning of your job hunting journey and that's exciting.

First thing I would start with is changing the way you view what is coming your way.

Instead of preparing for a huge amount of rejection as you put it, what if we tried wording it differently and saying,

"how can I prepare for the huge amount of interest in my extended gap break bwteeen jobs?

I am almost positive that you have a story in all that time however let's focus on how we can make that work for you.

In my experience working with business owners and employers I have noticed a growing trend on skills based focuses with regards to hiring staff. This means that they are not so much looking for when your last job was and are instead more interested in the skills you have that can be transferred intot the job you are applying for.

So for example let's use the example of the most common reason why some people are out of work for a period of time.. sometimes people take a break due to parenting.

This can range from 12months to 10 years for some.

In that time I quite often get a lot of parents say, "I haven't worked for x amount of years I have no skills or I've losty the skills I had".

I usually say ok let's look at what your job has been and what duties you have from parenting:

* cleaning the house and making it look presentable

* preparing shopping lists, buying food and cooking meals

* playing with children, changing nappies, picking them up from school, taking them to sports or appointments

* discipline

* It's on call work, long hours

What sort of skills would you have just from the tasks listed above:

* cleaning - visual merchandising, maintain cleanliness and sanitation of all work/play areas

*shopping lists etc- planning and preparation, budgeting, marketing based on expenses, accounts receivable, accounts payable, tracking inventory,

creating multiple meals for challenging customers in an evolving environment

preparing bnutritious meals demonstrating through instruction building life skills (following recipes)

* playing w/ children - fostering fun, creative and safe educational environment

* discipline - advanced training in alternative disoute resolution, excellent communication skills, conflict resolution

* time management

* ability to work unsupervised and make quick, crucial decisions

* not to mention being a domestic engineer (stay at home parent) is volunteer work and volunteer work always looks great on a resume!

Quite often we think there is nothing we are good at yet most parents can do these things without thinking. It is all about perception and how we see our situation so try and think of all the things you have done in that absence from working and I am positive you will find some great skills!

thank you @OstaraAust for your message , it is very interesting and I think it could be a lo of what Mr shaz is going through

before we had a many hats on and we have cut down over the years because of Mr shaz MI , we are trying to work smarter than work harder

as a Wife , I find it hard where to help him , what to do ect , hope this makes sense @OstaraAust

Has anybody had any interviews and felt they have some great tips to share for how to shake those nerves?

I find being completely prepared and having researched the company and the role I am applying for really helped me as I felt confident in my ability to present myself well.

It also helps to have a lucky item - for me I have a lucky dress I wear that helps me get through and gives me alittle boost of added confidence.

I know football players sometimes have lucky socks they wear to give them confidence.

Does anyone else have any tips they may like to share?

Thank you @OstaraAust, @NikNik, @Former-Member, @Teej

very interesting @OstaraAust, thankyou for your time , and we have tried to get some help with centrelink but no help

Thanks Nathalie @OstaraAust

I haven't actually seen it written down as such before (the transferable skills). Yes parenting has taken up much of that time.....and the 22 years is when my fist son was born. Then there was a gap where I studied and then my mental health declined for the past 6 years and I have been unable to finish my study.

Thank you for your response. I know I'm not at that point yet with my mental health to begin applying but it is planned for the near future.

Thank you so much for attending and participating in this evenings chat.

We have had so many wonderful ideas come through.
Just to recap for those of us joining us a little late, some tips we
have to help are:

* keeping a "challenge accepted" problem solving type of focus.
* making a list of your hobbies/ interests vs your skills
* looking at things a little differently to find the skills you have (parenting are skills)
* wearing or taking a lucky item in with you.
* preparing information on the company before the interview
* practising some interview questions using the STAR method.
S-situation
T- task
A-action
R-result

* Studying gives you skills.
Look at the unit guides and course outlines of the subjects you
have completed as quite often the subjects will have a list of key
learning summaries you will have gotten from completing the subject.
These are skills you can apply to your resume.

Thank you so much for attending and joining in this evening.
I do hope you ahve all got something out of this and will practice something
top help you in the future.
I look forward to speaking again on the next topic.

Thank you and good evening all.