Unemployed
 

Hi, I read here quite often and get a lot of help and comfort. I have been moving on with my life in many ways, but one of the biggest obsticles right now is the fact that I am unemployed. I have been a stay at home mom most of my life and feel I don't really have job skills and can't afford to go back to school. Where does one start?

Starr,

Welcome to SR. I'm glad you found us and we hope you are glad you found us to as wel have much to share back and forth.

One thing I have learned to do better for myself, and some of this came from going to Al-Anon meetings, is asking the folks that I meet, who seem happiest in life what they do for a living. Then I ask them how they decided to move into that area. There have been some many occassions when a new job/career idea has come to me that I hadn't earlier considered just because I asked someone about themselves.

I hope that you will keep coming around and share what is happening in your life, your struggles and successes, frustrations and triumphs as these are all what keep us all moving forward in recovery.

You just might be surprised by the skills that you have, that you didn't know you had once you start talking with other folks like yourself.

Peace,
Petunia

I recall a fairly recent episode of dr. phil where a woman who had not been in the workforce for quite some time (stay at home mom) was in the same position as you... they actually came up with quite an impressive resume for her using the skills she used on a day to day basis... budgeting, organization, multi tasking & so forth...

Besides the fact that you have one of the most important jobs there is... if you put your mind to it & be creative I think you'll be pleasantly surprised!

Best of luck.
Christine

starr - i think there are places where they assess you for different skill sets you may not even know you have (like christine mentioned above) and then try to place you in a job that is matched to those skills.

can someone else help me out here - or am i crazy?

You might even try a temp agency... I believe they can assess your skill set & try to match you to available jobs... It will also give you an opportunity to do different jobs & see what you like best... If you do a good job at a particular employer often times they will offer you a full time position. I work for a major bank & we have done this for exceptional temps... Also, our Customer Service department will often hire phone reps with little or no experience - while it won't be a huge salary, it's not too shabby to start off plus you might get some benefits, retirement 401k etc..
Again, good luck!
Christine