Career Chat // Why work? // CLOSED

Hi everyone,

Thanks for coming online to join me. Our topic for the day is “why work?”. I am sure you can think of lots of pros and cons of working, and we will be talking about these in detail today.

Coming from a space of being at home for two years unwell (with Chronic Fatigue – so was hugely lacking in energy and feeling crappy), and reconsidering entering the job market, I had lots of fears and concerns. Will I have enough energy? Will I be able to do what was required? Will working make my health go backwards? Finally starting to work (first a few hours and then building up) made a big impact on my life, and had lots of benefits that I will share throughout this session.

Today, I would love to hear about your experiences working, some of the pros as well as the challenges. Thought this forum would be a great opportunity to discuss how you have/ could overcome the challenges.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Debstar 🙂

Is this discussion still open? I'm very late. Apologies.

At the moment and for some time I have been out of work because my bipolar causes so much trouble. One of the obstacles I'm frightened of is lack of understanding from an employer. It must be so difficult to gradually increase someone's hours, be tolerant of the need for mental health days and employ someone who has been out of the workforce on disability for an extended period of time.

I understand there's lots of possibility and flexibility when it comes to working in retail or hospitality, where shifts can be flexible, but what about professionals wanting to return to work? How does corporate Australia manage that, in reality?

Posie

I haven't worked for quite a while and I've just started looking for a job again. I'm finding the process of job hunting quite overwhelming and sometimes I find myself thinking of all the reasons not to work, just so that I don't have to keep trawling through the ads and writing applications.

Can you remember how you maintained motivation when you were looking for an opportunity to re-enter the workforce?

Thanks for your message @Jacques and for sharing your experience. You have added to our conversation, so thank you.

Credit to you for getting through the interviews and being offered jobs. That tells me you must present yourself well at an interview, which is fantastic.

You may have already thought of this but perhaps it is worth finding a job that doesn’t involve being around too many people. For example,choosing a data entry job over a face to face customer service job. It may also be worth going to speak with a specialist (eg counsellor / psychologist) about what comes up for you at that point when you panic, so they can help you work through whatever it is that is holding you back at that point. I find that can be a very helpful way to move past the things that hold us back.

One of the things that helped me was to find a job that was within my comfort zone. I love clothing and fashion so went back to retail, which I had done years earlier. Of course, if you haven’t yet worked (and we all have to start somewhere) , it can be harder to find a suitable direction. Maybe do something that is a few hours a week, maybe even volunteering somewhere to help build up your confidence. If you love animals for example, you could look at working with them, or finding something else you enjoy. Just starting with baby steps can help build your confidence and then who knows what you will be ready for after that.

Wishing you all the best on your journey :).

Sure is @Mazarita. All good, this forum is open till 4pm. You are not late, we have only just started. Would be great to hear from you if you wish to share 🙂

I've had about 50 jobs in my life, most of them casual or part-time because I have not been able to manage more than that. Even these, I have had breakdowns from in nearly every single case, followed by longer and longer periods of mental illness due to the trauma of this. The last time this happened I was working for an employer that really tried to accommodate my health issues even to the point of letting me work from home. In the end it was only 9 hours work from home a week and I even deteriorated doing this to the point of a complete crash. That was followed by about seven years of almost complete withdrawal into my flat, including a long period of time of sleeping about 20 hours a day. At 53 now, I am very reluctant to ever enter the paid workforce again for obvious reasons. However, just yesterday, and with the help of SANE forums, I got my first job since 2008 - a volunteer position half a day a week with one of the local op shops. My diagnosis since 2007 has been bipolar and before that I was treated for anxiety and depression alone for 25 years. I have also had crohns disease for over 35 years. I honestly don't expect to work in the paid workforce ever again but am keen to gradually build up the amount of volunteering I am able to do over time and with careful self-management.

Hi @Mazarita - yes, i have an 'issue' with re-entering the paid workforce - employers try to be 'hip' but they still look down on us as poor little weak and/or bad and/or 'other' (alien) people, and even if your employer is 'hip' one's colleages are still bound to discriminate. until stigma, discrimination and the mental health act all go away it's going to be too hard to hold down a job - i mean, it's hard enough working with a disability in the first place without all the rest of the discriminaton rubbish that goes along with it in the workplace. i've got a friend who's in a wheelchair and he seems to be in the same boat, actually, basically.

@Debstar as a volunteer i do some very high level work, actually, and get good results, but i wouldn't try that in the paid workforce with stigma, discrimination, etc to cope with - in addition to australia's already vicious office politics situation. plus i'm a woman and men don't even seem to want us in the workplace, mostly - what do they want us to do - sunbake in the backyard all day?! *whinge, whinge - sorry*