Never thought this would happen.

[From_Light_into_Darkness]

Hi,

I just joined the forum. I thought I would post my story as an 

introduction.So, I am in my mid-20's, and never imagined life would 

become this bad. I have always considered myself to be ridiculously 

optimistic, forgiving and generally I am outgoing, social and put myself 

out there without an issue. I love being around people, even if also 

enjoy time to myself. Social confidence has never really been an issue, 

though it is harder these days. But since I graduated from uni, it has 

quite literally been all downhill, so fast it's almost like a blur. It 

has been over 2 years now. And the worst part, is that I have tried hard 

at every step of the way.  I haven't let this depression in, invited it 

in, it just came along with everything else I couldn't control. And that 

is mainly the failure to find a job after literally every effort I could 

brainstorm...As soon as I finished uni, I went gung-ho into job seeking. 

I was invited to live with friends,but unfortunately their lifestyle was 

extremely unsuited to a working lifestyle that I was after. So I returned 

to live with my family, for which I am extremely appreciative. During the 

first year after graduation, I applied for jobs like crazy, spending some 

of my savings on new interview clothes so I would look professional. I 

applied everywhere, online, in person, asked literally everyone I knew 

and his dog to keep an eye out, asked my folks to ask their friends, 

asked my friends to ask their friends, on my Seek.com account I have 

applied for around 800 jobs in the past 1.5 years.  It got to the point 

where I was driving around in my car with a stack of resumes looking for 

shop window signs in the suburbs and shopping malls - wherein I would go 

in and confidently introduce myself in the hope of making an impression.  

Part of the problem seems to be that I have been too old for the minimum 

wage positions where they want cheaply paid teens, or  too inexperienced 

for the more professional roles. So here you're pretty much caught in the 

middle. The end of this story is that 2 years later, after numberless job 

applications, interviews, call-backs, endless repetitive days of doing 

nothing but job-search, and barely seeing friends who have now scattered 

all over the place or grown distant, 

[white knight]

Hi FLID,  welcome here.

Have you considered the armed forces?  Just saying.  Your education would be very beneficial and you might get into officer training. It isnt everyone cup of tea though but check it out if you see interest.

The mining sector?

In the meantime you could obtain you security license and at least get work there as a fill in?

Thats all I can think of. The very most important thing is that you do not blame yourself and allow your mental health to suffer. Keep going....you are doing all the right things.

The world can be a tough place.

[My_boy]

Hi FLID, I read your post with much interest as a similar thing happened to me after Uni. This is my take on your situation - not sure if it will help or not, here goes. You seem to have put an enormous amount of energy into looking for a job, which has completely emotionally drained you. Like an Olympic athlete who trains too hard for an event, you've burnt yourself out from the expenditure of huge emotional resources. 

While I completely understand that getting a job is important, jobs are not our entire lives and having balance in a life is very important - excercise, social, quiet time, hobbies, etc..having that balance actually increases your energy and helps to make you more resilient. 

On the job front, have you looked at studying additional courses especially those that might have an on the job component or internship type arrangement? That will give you experience that you mentioned some employers were looking for. What field of work are you most interested in? Is what you're really interested in aligned with what you studied?

just a little story to illustrate the importance of balanced life. My wife had been looking for work for a long time, lots of rejections, frustration, etc. she decided to take some of her energy n frustration out by joining a 'bootcamp' high impact exercise group. There she met some nice ppl, one of whom she got along really well with & ended up giving my wife a job. No resume, no driving around, no websites. Just by doing something she liked, that gave her energy n got her to meet new ppl, it happened.

im quite sure that while you have some self doubts now underneath all this is still the same lively outgoing person you know you are - they're just hibernating. My advice is to spread your energy around into things you like n love to do n allocate a more balanced amount of time n energy into job hunting. Let us know your thoughts...

I wish you all the best. 🙂 

[Asche]

Along the same lines as what My Boy mentioned, have you also considered volunteering? Most places aren't overly stringent with their volunteers in terms of CV and so on, you just need to have a good attitude and a willingness to show up. The lack of income is definitely a kicker, but the experience can be incredibly valuable in itself. It might even make you feel a bit better about yourself! A lot of volunteering places also open up for more permanent paid positions from time to time, so that's something else to keep in mind.