Wondering...
I'm getting increasingly frustrated with the job market, and today I was told "Sorry you're overqualified".
Overqualified for everything, underqualified for everything else?! :roll:
Anyway, I saw some work from home stuff on the internet. I'm wondering if that's a better option. The problem is, if I do try to get a work-from-home job, then how do I sort out the good stuff from the scams?
I post this here because I know there are people here who understand my perspective. I mean, employers all want me to sell my soul to their company, or something. (Like selling your soul to :twisted: ) But obviously, everyone needs money... Even "struggling artists".
They're BSing you about this qualifications thing but it raises an important point - why are kids continually told they will get a good job if they get qualifications? They are not told that simply having a qualification doesn't guarantee anything.
I'd be very careful about these working from home things as many of them are scams.
Well yeah. I went to school in Tasmania at a time when unemployment there was as high as 10%. So I guess it was true you couldn't get a job without quals.
What I've done since is to write to the work at home people and asked them loads of questions. If they don't answer me satisfactorily then I will know that they are scamming.
People go to such lengths to get to interviews and half the time it is a waste of time!!! :roll:
There are quite a few reasons people hesitate to hire someone who appears to be overqualified:
(a) There might another issue with the person's performance that is keeping them from holding a job at their proper level. It seems like kind of a warning sign to employers: why isn't this person with all this to offer keeping a better job?
(b) The person isn't likely to enjoy and stay in the lower qualified job.
© The person is likely to get frustrated with the lower pay of the lower qualified job.
If there is a job that you really want, and the only hold back seems to be the overqualified issue, it's best to attack the above questions head on. In my case, I have taken some contract work that I was officially overqualified for, and my reasons, which I shared with the employer, were as follows:
(a) My life is changing. I couldn't have a job outside the home the last few years because of little kids, but now that they are in school I want to be out in the world. And while, yes, I do think I'm really good at what I do, there is no way for me to know where the rust is, what I've missed working for myself in my isolated home office the last 10 years.
(b) Since my career is seasonal, we both agreed to see how we liked each other for a few months. No promises on either side. And he got help through his busiest time of year no matter what we decided at the end.
© I recognized he couldn't pay me what I was worth and still make money, but our trial period would let us see if I could find a valuable role, plus I was willing to make a little less from the sheer convenience of working only 1 miles away from my house. The trade off was that I wanted flexibility on when I work the hours I was promising, to handle things that came up with the kids and school.
I'm still working there just one day and a week and the pay is poor but I totally LOVE his company. He has hired fantastic people and the atmosphere is really fun. And he totally puts up with my erratic schedule, and he loves the way he can hand me the companies worst problems and I'll just fix them. BUT, there simply is no way to be sure from a set of interviews if that of situation is going to work. So, I was really flexible about it. We got lucky.
As for working from home ...
Well, I did THAT for 10 years, and still have some clients I handle from home. The best way to work from home is to take on contract clients or do consulting in a field in which you are already overqualified. That, however, requires a network. Or good advertising. If you have even one previous employer who thought you were talented, and would remember you, he might be able to get you started. In many fields there are companies that only need a fraction of an employee, instead of a full time one. People who want to work from home are excellent for that. And much less expensive than other options.
Otherwise, the growing work-at-home fields seem to be:
Customer service (mostly phone work; probably not best for an Aspie)
Internet related (but be very, very careful ... pay can be poor, and scams definitely exist)
Medical transcribing IF you have a network of doctors willing to hire you (scams abound here, so again, very very careful ... I would ask the doctors in your area FIRST, see if there is a need, and what software they would need you to have. I would NOT rely on the software companies to hook you up with the doctors).
Rule of thumb: you shouldn't have to pay someone money in order to earn the right to work for them.
Personally, I found working for myself from home isolating and de-energizing. My worst habits really haunted me. Which is why I now have a couple of contract jobs where I go to THEIR office. But, everyone is different. Good luck!
I'd rather have a secure job even if the pay were a bit low. Also conditions such as flexible work hours are important to me as I'm not much of a morning person.
Even when I started looking for work, I was told I was "overqualified". The type of jobs I wanted were admin positions and most employers seemed to want 16 and 17 year olds but I was 21 and 22. I ended up in the public service but was lucky that entry depended on the results from a public service aptitude test.
These days, it's not easy to get into the Australian Public Service and I doubt too many Aspies would even get a look in. Plus, there is more of a tendency to look at hiring temp staff. Temp jobs suit some people but not those of us who want security and don't want to have to keep applying for jobs.
I've been told tht if I apply for a job only to put in the qualificatiosn relevant to the jon plus maybe one or two exteranal ones that may be useful.
Temp jobs suit some people but not those of us who want security and don't want to have to keep applying for jobs.
Kind of like living in NZ! :roll: Oh well.
I think my problem is apart from writing novels which is a NOTORIOUSLY difficult market to break into, there aren't any jobs I can think of which are really RIGHT for me. That's why I get sick of them.
The last one I was in ended up being a company downsize which led to a redundancy. But anyway, I had two job interviews today and one job offer, but it's NZ$11 per hour which is only about fifty cents above minimum wage. And I'm 28!
I also got another offer which is for more, but it's a cleaning job which is a little yuck (I didn't tell the boss that or she would never have offered me a job). This second one was earlier so I'm supposed to start a TRIAL on Thursday. And I had another interview for something better than that and I'm supposed to get an answer on Tuesday.
Neither sounds much like a "career" to me.
NEVER RAINS BUT IT POURS!!! What now?!
Anyway that sounds like a rant, and probably is. I just don't know what is the best decision to make.
:yell:
Probably best to go for the one that you'd prefer doing.
well i have that same problem that plague me from the day i graduate and because of it i've always stuck with unsuitable jobs that gotten me so discouraged that i end up having depression as well. however after 3 years i finally got something that suits me, and the boss is willing to give me a chance.
Cool.
I got two jobs now. One sucks but it pays all right. The other is cool (if a little boring at times) and pays next to nothing. I need two jobs to stay alive in this goddam town.
The one I had my eyes on, my interview went well, but the boss says he doesn't know if I can take the pressure, even though he's put me on the "hot list" whatever that means.
I'm not holding my breath, but wanting to go for something better. Or get into the work from home thing like legal transcription or something. But the information is so confusing.
I worked from home for a while, making summaries of study books for a couple of publishers. It paid well, but was hard to combine with my other duties, so I quit after 9 months.