Job search depression

@tyme thank you. I looked it up and the company are in breach of privacy laws in Australia. It is illegal to make collection of sensitive information a condition of employment, aside from when it could become a safety concern or significantly impact ability to do the job. Most places of employment aren't permitted to ask about psychiatric history (the defence force is one of the few exceptions to this law).

@DogMan79 thank you. I'm planning to bring this up with my psychiatrist, so it can be evidence placed on my medical records that my mental illness is a barrier to finding work. I'm already on the DSP and I've learned from my experience with having it reviewed that it is critical to be able to have a psychiatrist ready to back up struggles with finding employment.

I'm literally just looking for part time work, for a role which I'm overqualified for and it's still been so much stress. I'm glad I have the DSP because I don't think I could cope without it.

I'm sorry you've had such a hard time with the DSP. It is a terrible process for the soul.

Exactly @Ruby26 ... I'm glad you looked it up. Where to from here?

@Ruby26 @DogMan79 im on the DSP and have been on it for almost 2 years. It’s the only source of income I rely on.

@Ruby26 i feel you on the pain with the process in applying jobs. Not hearing back from companies that we applied to is disheartening and takes a mental toll, but even worse when you get rejected after the job interview. That was the time I was on the jobseeker payments before I got the DSP.

sorry for going a bit off topic here, I know it’s not relevant to your original post in this thread (if you don’t mind me sharing a bit), as for me - I personally don’t plan on applying for jobs again at this point not just because of what I’ve just mentioned but also cause no matter where I end up working AND volunteering at, I know I won’t last long there. The longest I’ve worked at a job was only for 2.5 weeks. I know very much almost every workplaces don’t take people with mental health issues and those that are ND very seriously. I just don’t see myself in doing anything like that long-term. Yet my mum wants me to have a job/career because I’m still young, however my dad who is also on DSP has refused to work for decades but my mum doesn’t tell him to work only cause he’s already quite old.

@FearofUnknown I'm so sorry you have to deal with a panic attack each time and that you lost your dream job. Those coaches have terrible reputations, I know of people with very similar reactions to you. The system is failing its responsibilities to YOU if they don't support you to get an appropriate job- there is nothing you need to feel guilty about. Just try your best and remember that the barriers to finding work are a societal problem, NOT a problem with you.

@tyme I'm having a break from job searching, its having too much of a negative impact on my mental health. I'm sorting out some advocacy and creative projects so I'm hoping that will keep me busy for awhile (plus a bit of extra cash).

True @Ruby26 . If the advocacy work brings in a bit of money, I guess that works.

Did I tell you about Jorajobs? I wait until they send me jobs according to my skill. They email me everyday. I just look at them and delete them if I'm not interested. I'm not looking for work, but I like looking at the job market out there.

I guess this way, you don't have to actively look, but you still have awareness of what's out there?

Of course this may not work for you, so I get that too.

@Blackcloud thanks for your support. I'm very sorry to hear that you've struggled this much with work/volunteer work. Yes, if you're not going to last longer than a couple of weeks, it's not worth the stress of applying.

Is the issue that people mistreat you in the workplace/volunteer organisations? Or is something else going wrong?

@tyme thanks for telling me about Jora Jobs. I'll check it out at some point.

Yep, the advocacy work does bring in a bit of money. Not every fortnight like an actual job, but at least I'm my own boss and can do things in my own way, rather than trying to conform to what potential employers want.

@Ruby26 well for paid-roles, it's mainly the managers being rude and toxic and they think it's ok to treat their employees unfairly, and coworkers weren't great people to work with either. I didn't feel that I was belonged due to that. Also, considering the barriers I have associated with my condition, it makes being in an environment with other people around more than enough for me to wanting to escape and not ever come back. So everytime I think about work, those are the main things I think of when it comes to it. I expect to at least be treated like I'm being accepted and belonged in an environment such as a paid-role, but yet you get people in the workplace (every workplace I'd say) that only care about meeting their KPIs rather than not.

the volunteer ones are more lenient though, though of course I've dealt with some people (like a few other volunteers and one manager who's generally really boring and has no enthusiasm) that I don't like and give me a bad impression too. The next time I plan to volunteer again, I'd like to see if I can have my support worker come with me so that I don't need to go and do stuff in there alone without a support person.