I am looking for job as the social worker told me to find a better job. I dont know job searching can be that hurting. I look at my behaviours more closely and then my performance gets worst. I often just sit there and dont do anything. I need to spend longer time to change or initiate a behavior. I’ve applied for a job in the postal service. But i don’t think they would give me a chance. It’s a permanent post. I’ll meet a lot of competition. Mom said i shouldn’t aim high. She thinks having a part time now, i can go out everyday and do some physical exercise in the afternoon. This very good already. She told me to keep the present job and let it be. But everytime i see the social worker, she would push me to look for job.
I believe that the job in the postal office match my current level of functioning. It involves counter service, accounting and sorting mails. I think it’s manageable to me. How can i increase my chance of getting employed? I have indicated my disability in the application.
Most of my jobs have come to me through community connections. Someone who knows me finds out that someone else needs an employee and recommends me. I now spend more time cultivating connections than I do job hunting. Better return on time invested. The best way to start cultivating connections if you don’t have any/many is to do volunteer work.
Do what you know but just as enough as you manage. Learning a new job can be stressful. Maybe do your job part time and exercise as your mom said. It’s a great advice.
It took me a year to come back to full time after my episode.
I would strongly recommend against this. People do discriminate and will choose someone who doesn’t report a disability over you. If you want to let them know you’re disabled wait until you’re hired. Even then it can be tricky. I recommend creating a resume and cover letter and going to the place you want to apply and introduce yourself to the hiring manager. This will make you stand out among other candidates. Emphasis how you would be excited to discuss the position and would be an asset to their team. These things have always worked for me. You really need to sell yourself once you get the interview. Good luck!!
You’re mom makes a good point and is just looking out for you. Your social worker is obviously trying to help you too.
You know yourself a little and you have some kind of idea of what you can handle and what you can’t. Other people like your mom and your social worker aren’t always right but all three of you working together should solve your employment situation. Other people can see things about you that you may not necessarily see in yourself. I became employed nine months after an 8 month stint in a locked psychiatric facility and I stayed the job for 4 years.
I didn’t get employed again on my own, I wasn’t even looking for work at the time. But various counselors saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself and through some small steps I became employed. So, to add to my point, the social worker may be right and maybe you can get a better job. I am kind of rambling aimlessly here, I hope I’m not confusing you. But your mom makes a good point when she says not to aim too high. No matter how high functioning we are or have been in the past, we can’t that we ignore that we have schizophrenia. And we have to make adjustments and compromises.
Here’s more rambling: in 1998 I quit my job at Sears unloading trucks. I had been there for four years but I got tired of it and I was missing a day and calling inside almost weekly. After I quit I joined a day program for disabled adults where we attended groups and played board games and other easy stuff. I stayed there a year, I had been employed at various jobs since 1983 but they were all entry level unskilled jobs. But one day out of the blue, one of the counselors clipped out an ad in the newspaper where a company was looking for a Park Ranger. I told her I had no experience and that I didn’t think I could do it. She said, "Sure you can do it. ", so I applied and got hired and I stayed there for two years. So you can kind of see my point. All of you working together can come up with an idea for something.
