Statistically, most people will experience a phase of unemployment in their lives. Whether this is by choice, force or circumstance will vary. Personally, my experiences are mostly by circumstance. I completed two degrees and graduated as a Primary Teacher at the end of 2013. During 2014 I worked here and there as a Casual Relief Teacher, though it didn't do much other than keep my nose above water. Then that work dried up toward the end of the year and I was back at square one.
I'm not entirely sure if I had ever fully appreciated the situation of someone who was "unemployed". I lived quite a sheltered childhood- though my family were not by any means well off. They were farmer/graziers and went through their fair share of hardship. When I finished High School, I was working for them on the farm both as an admin girl and out there physically working the animals, in my "spare time" I was doing my Bachelors Degree. Eventually I decided that I wanted to become a Primary School teacher and thought (like many others) that I would find it easy to get a job if I had such a degree. Fast forward through all the pressure of my course and the bullying/ nastiness culture that was evident in of my placements and the university; I graduated and believed (through what I was taught at university) that I would be employed before school went back in January. Reality was, I couldn't find my ancient transcript from the first university I studied (but didn't graduate) at; and so my registration was stalled for some time. Eventually the job listings dried up and I signed with a relief teaching agency. I was busy for some time, though not earning a whole lot; and I was still considered to be "unemployed". Foolishly I thought that it surely wouldn't last past the start of another school year, perhaps if I apply earlier than I did last year I will be more likely to get a job. Wrong again, my chances did not improve and I only had one interview (albeit for two jobs at once), and I didn't get an offer.
Eventually there comes a moment of weakness where you just stop holding out hope that you will get a call for an interview, where you start feeling that your applications are just a pointless endeavor that has been designed to mock you and make you feel worthless. That is one thing that people who have never experienced it can never understand- being unemployed or underemployed is not a "lifestyle choice" regardless of what the government says or what the well off believe. 99% of those receiving welfare are not doing so because they think "I have the best idea, I'll just sit at home and collect welfare. It won't be enough to cover my groceries, rent, AND other bills... but I don't mind choosing between eating and having electricity...", they are doing so because they have no other choice and are desperate to just get by until they have an offer and can make some distance between who they are right now and who they are going to be.
There are times where you feel upbeat and everything will be ok. There are other moments of complete darkness, where you feel like the biggest failure on the face of the planet and when you will want to stay in bed and cry all day. Those are the days that it is most important to get up and keep going. As hard as it is to get up, go outside or to the gym or for a walk in the park, it has to be done. Breathe deeply as you pass by others who seem to have everything that you desperately want. That's another thing you will feel, excruciating jealousy toward other people that manifests itself even if you are deliriously happy for them. My friends announced their engagement and even though I was genuinely happy for them, I was jealous, I have felt that there was no chance of moving anywhere in my relationship until I have a job. Its a fact that he and I are well aware of, and one that is the most devastating to me. I desperately want to start the life I have dreamed of, marriage, travel, children, the whole catastrophe; but at this stage it is looking further away than ever.
Talking about it helps, venting, ranting whatever you want to call it. But until the day a job offer is legitimately on the table, it seems like a pipe dream and a roadblock in life and relationships.
I'm not entirely sure if I had ever fully appreciated the situation of someone who was "unemployed". I lived quite a sheltered childhood- though my family were not by any means well off. They were farmer/graziers and went through their fair share of hardship. When I finished High School, I was working for them on the farm both as an admin girl and out there physically working the animals, in my "spare time" I was doing my Bachelors Degree. Eventually I decided that I wanted to become a Primary School teacher and thought (like many others) that I would find it easy to get a job if I had such a degree. Fast forward through all the pressure of my course and the bullying/ nastiness culture that was evident in of my placements and the university; I graduated and believed (through what I was taught at university) that I would be employed before school went back in January. Reality was, I couldn't find my ancient transcript from the first university I studied (but didn't graduate) at; and so my registration was stalled for some time. Eventually the job listings dried up and I signed with a relief teaching agency. I was busy for some time, though not earning a whole lot; and I was still considered to be "unemployed". Foolishly I thought that it surely wouldn't last past the start of another school year, perhaps if I apply earlier than I did last year I will be more likely to get a job. Wrong again, my chances did not improve and I only had one interview (albeit for two jobs at once), and I didn't get an offer.
Eventually there comes a moment of weakness where you just stop holding out hope that you will get a call for an interview, where you start feeling that your applications are just a pointless endeavor that has been designed to mock you and make you feel worthless. That is one thing that people who have never experienced it can never understand- being unemployed or underemployed is not a "lifestyle choice" regardless of what the government says or what the well off believe. 99% of those receiving welfare are not doing so because they think "I have the best idea, I'll just sit at home and collect welfare. It won't be enough to cover my groceries, rent, AND other bills... but I don't mind choosing between eating and having electricity...", they are doing so because they have no other choice and are desperate to just get by until they have an offer and can make some distance between who they are right now and who they are going to be.
There are times where you feel upbeat and everything will be ok. There are other moments of complete darkness, where you feel like the biggest failure on the face of the planet and when you will want to stay in bed and cry all day. Those are the days that it is most important to get up and keep going. As hard as it is to get up, go outside or to the gym or for a walk in the park, it has to be done. Breathe deeply as you pass by others who seem to have everything that you desperately want. That's another thing you will feel, excruciating jealousy toward other people that manifests itself even if you are deliriously happy for them. My friends announced their engagement and even though I was genuinely happy for them, I was jealous, I have felt that there was no chance of moving anywhere in my relationship until I have a job. Its a fact that he and I are well aware of, and one that is the most devastating to me. I desperately want to start the life I have dreamed of, marriage, travel, children, the whole catastrophe; but at this stage it is looking further away than ever.
Talking about it helps, venting, ranting whatever you want to call it. But until the day a job offer is legitimately on the table, it seems like a pipe dream and a roadblock in life and relationships.
