Lived Experience Forum

[NikNik]

Welcome to Career Chat!

Career Chat is run by @Debstar from Ostara Australia each Friday, kicking off at 10am AEST and running until 4pm AEST.

It's an opporunity to share your experiences, ask questions and get tips on all things workplace and employment. 

This week we're looking at forming a career pathway.

In our careers we can find ourselves in different types of jobs- 

• Survival job
• Suitable job
• Dream job

Sometimes we have to do certain jobs to build our experience and skill set to get to that dream job, othertimes we might find ourselves in a survival job that's not assisting us to get to our dream job.

In this week's career chat, we talk about the different jobs we might find ourselves in and how to plan to get to that dream job.

@DefiantPanda just flagging we have kicked off if you want to join us 🙂

Over to you Deb!

[Debstar]

Hi there,

As @NikNik mentioned, we are  looking at forming at ways to create a career pathway this week.

In our careers we can find ourselves in different types of jobs- 

• Survival job
• Suitable job
• Dream job

Today we will be chatting about these there types of jobs, and how they can assist us to get to where we are wanting to go.

What work are you currently doing, and is it linked to an overall bigger picture?

Look foward to chatting with you today.

Debstar 🙂

[Debstar]

Hi again,

So to begin with, lets clarify the different types of jobs. 

Survival job- Typically a low paying job that is taken on to cover basic living costs and in order to survive.  It can also be a great first step (or one of them) to move into the working world. It doesn’t often specifically link to the overall direction you are heading (although it may), but may provide some skills and experience to help start you off and help in the creation of new habits. For example, waking up and getting ready, being at work on time, and other related habits. For me, after two years with Chronic Fatigue, my survival job was going back into retail and getting used to going to work, and interacting with people again.

Suitable job – A suitable job is a job that involves some or many skills you are good at and perhaps like to use, but it is not the dream or ideal role. It is a clear step up from a Survival job, and can give you the skills and experience to prepare you, or lead you in the direction of your dream job.  Many people spend their lives in a suitable job, as it meets many of their needs, helps them pay their bills and fits their overall requirements. Pay for a suitable job is generally higher than a survival job.  For those wanting to work towards a dream job, a suitable job can be a fantastic stepping stone to lead you in a direction you are wanting to pursue.

Dream job- This is the next step up from a suitable job.  It is the type of work that matches your skills and also what you enjoy. It may be a specific component of the job that makes it a dream job, eg if you love travel, and it involves travelling to your favourite country, you may consider that a dream job.   It may be something close and relatively easy to obtain, but it is generally something that is going to require a number of suitable roles and perhaps training  to reach.  It is a role that has lots more that you enjoy then don’t enjoy. 

What work are you in and do you see it as a Survival, Suitable or Dream role? Do you have a  short, medium to long term plan in mind to move towards a suitable (or more suitable) job or even possibly to move towards a dream job?

[2or3thingsIknow]

Hi @Debstar

Thanks for another excellent Career Chat!

This is a really useful breakdown of the different types of roles we take on in the workplace. I really liked the framing of career as a journey rather than a destination. I think many of us have felt 'stuck' in a survival job at one time or another, and felt that the dream job was an impossibility. This is expecially so when managing mental illness. I thought it would also be useful to remember that what equals survival job to one person, might in fact be a dream job to another and vice versa.  I also found the middle catergory of 'suitable job' really helpful. It's so easy to put pressure on ourselves to want to move from survival job to dream job, but it's really important to recognise that there might be many important and satisfying (work-related) steps on the way.

I lool forward to hearing what others have to say!

2oe3thingsiknow

[Debstar]

Early in my career, I really wanted to be a trainer/ facilitator.  I applied for lots of roles but received feedback that I didn’t have the necessary qualifications or experience in this area.  A familiar situation for many of us I am sure!  And it can be especially challenging when we have mental health issues that we are dealing with.

At the time I decided to do a short course to develop my training skills (Train the Trainer) and then thought about the types of companies that had high level customer service and that therefore potentially valued training, and began to apply for jobs to be a customer service representative.  I ended up at Optus, and spent just over a year on the phones in one of their call centres.  This “suitable job’’ helped me develop and fine tune my customer service skills, and taught me their in house computer systems. My work colleagues were fantastic, which made going to work much more  enjoyable. The work hours were not ideal for me, we were on a 7 day rotating roster, but I knew that there was a lot for me to learn there, so it was worth putting up with this to develop my skills and experience.

I expressed my interest in training after a few months there, putting my hand up for a range of initiatives, and within 9 months I was delivering small components of the Customer Service Course which was a fantastic experience.  I learnt heaps and it confirmed that this was the direction on I wanted to pursue.

After 11 months in the company, I applied for a trainer role and didn’t get it. Interestingly and not surprisingly, the successful applicant was one of my original trainers.  Sure I was disappointed, but I knew that there was alot that I could do to increase the odds of doing better the next time. I intentionally gathered as much feedback as I could, so when the next interview came around, I would improve my answers and overall interview technique and hopefully get the role.

And then sure enough, at 13 months, another role came up, for a sales trainer. I got it, and found myself in what I considered at the time my “dream job”.   Looking back, the sales trainer role which I was in for about 4 years was one of my career highlights to date.  Having said that, it wouldnt be a dream job now, as my journey has changed and other roles seem much more appealing.

Following on from my last comment, I  absolutely agree @2or3thingsIknow, I much prefer to think of career as a journey rather than a destination.  And so true, everyone has different versions of what would be a survival vs a dream job.  Yes, it is so easy to put pressure on ourselves to move up from the survival job to the suitable and dream job.  I know I did that to myself when I was in the call centre. Lots of our clients do that too, especially when in survival jobs. 

Looking back quite a few years later, I now know that the best thing we can do is be gentle and kind to ourselves and take small steps moving in the direction we want to head.  And acknowledge ourselves for the steps we are taking. 

Would love to hear your thoughts on this, and where you are at.  🙂

[DefiantPanda]

I think a call centre job is a good survival job, especially to build those good habits like you said. For me the dream job would be app developer (android or iPhone) but I don't know that I have the life skills yet to be successful and it would require some time in a suitable job to get there maybe.

[Debstar]

Hi there @DefiantPanda,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts :).

I agree, working in a call centre can be a great stepping stone to develop good habits and skills, and makes sense to see it as a survival job.  Having said that, some people may perceive it as a suitable job or maybe even a dream job. 

Great that you have a strong idea of what you would like your dream job to look like.  So many people don't know what that is for them.

If you haven't done so already, it could be interesting to get in touch with some App developers and find out how they moved into that line of work.  I also find looking at Career Websites and checking out Job Ads in the area of interest can be a great way to learn what skills, attributes and courses are essential and desirable to move into a particular area. This research can assist in determining the different pathways to get to where you want to go.  Possibly working for a computer based firm, in customer service or another area that matches your current skillset could be a good start, and then there may possibly be opportunities to move into roles closer to your dream role. You could possibly even shadow/ observe  the person in the type of role that interests you as part of your development, and then create other opportunities from there.

Absolutely, it may require a significant amount of time in a few different suitable roles before moving into the dream role. Having said that, if you do have a dream job in mind, I find it can feel more appealing and motivating to be in a suitable role where you know it is working towards a bigger picture.  For example, I had a client recently who really wanted to make movies for a living. He was wanting to return to the workforce after experiencing several years with mental health issues.   He joined Ostaras' employment program  (Towards Employment) and we looked at a range of different pathways to get there. One option that seemed to appeal as a starting point was working in a cinema in a customer service role, and making his own short films outside work on the side.  He started putting together a bigger plan, and felt motivated to move in this direction to as a starting point. 

So there is always the option of joining us or another mental health job provider to help you look at different options too 🙂

Feel free to share your thoughts on this topic 🙂

[Debstar]

Hi again,

Something else I found has helped me when working in Survival or Suitable jobs is finding ways either through work or outside of work to regularly incorporate small steps  in the direction I want to head.

For example, when in a  training role in the corporate world, I worked out that my dream job  at the time involved training people in need.  So I set myself a little project that every day I would send one work email in the direction I wanted to go.   Whilst it only took a couple of minutes, it helped me stay focussed and happy to be at work, knowing that I was working towards an overall desired direction and goal.  Interestingly as a result of my daily actions, I ended up heading a work related community project and getting known across the organisation for my passion and commitment in this area. 

It is amazing what can become possible when we regularly take small steps in our chosen direction.

Any other thoughts you wish to share? 

[Debstar]

Hi All,

Time flies, that is the end of our Career Chat for the day.

Hopefully you have found today's session to be useful and it has given you some tips and ideas to take away with you.

Next Friday we will be covering when and how to communication with potential employers, and how to impress them before the interview stage. 

Have an enjoyable weekend, and look forward to catching up then.

Best wishes,

Debstar 🙂