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Unemployment
July 29, 2010
Okay, so this is going to a huge, long post because I’ve been thinking alot about unemployment.
Most of my readers do not know me personally, so to say this on my blog, seems pretty pseronal. I mean, I haven’t been unemployed for probably 4 years now. Maybe even longer. For me, unemployment means no money, no freedom, boredom, nothing to do.. I don’t know. I somehow love keeping myself busy, at all times. Say, right now, I have 3 jobs.. and I have my current job (in which I actually just changed jobs, but thats another story), I work for my dad at his restaurant – pretty much.. at least 3-4 nights a week and I honestly consider blogging/youtubing a job. I mean, for the amount of hours I spend on this blog and my youtube channel, I could have probably earnt thousands on my day job already!
Anyways, so.. unemployment.. seems really far away to me. I mean, I was actually very close to being unemployed a month or two ago. My boss had stopped paying me due to his lack of income from his business, and I was only living off pocket money my parents had been giving me because I was working for them so much.. and trust me, that wasn’t alot.
I’m used to earning a lot of money, and ever since I was 14, I started to work. I started first at a pharmacy and was sharing a job with my sister. My sister actually studied Science/Medicine-like for her degree so the job was very important for her. During her HSC, she wanted to keep her job, so she had asked me to fill in for her until she was able to work again. Ofcourse, the boss had also agreed that it would be fine because my sister was such a great worker and assumed her sister wouldn’t be any less of one. :)
After that job, I moved onto marketing jobs, which were temporary jobs but I basically stood around Car Washing places and handed out newsletters and other stuff. I earnt so much money working on the weekends and basically just stood or even sat around doing nothing, or at most, talking to people.
And then I moved onto telemarketing, which was one crazy job and most people don’t survive it for long. I was working for a job-searching website, so most of the calls were B2B (business-to-business) so it wasn’t too difficult. I didn’t get extremely rude hang-ups and most people were actually really grateful that I was calling them! I wouldn’t do telemarketing ever again though, just because you wake up and fall sleep saying “Good Morning, my name is Janice and I’m calling from…”.
It eventually drives you crazy! But surprisingly, I always made it to one of the top, and several times the top sales of the week!! :)
Telemarketing was great because you get an awesome pay, have 4-hour shifts and so many people working with you. It’s a place to meet new friends, although they might all be competing with you to get the top sales :P
Money was extremely good as well. They normally pay a base rate and have comission on top and for my job at least, we got mini prizes for being the top 3 sales! They were usually $20 gift cards to Coles or whatever, but these three things kept me very motivated to continue working!
After 4 months of that though, I just couldn’t do it anymore and most of the crew I knew moved on.. so, so did I. I ended up moving to do data-entry at a well-known escalator company. Yeh, they.. operate escalators and lifts, etc. It was a huge company, so I didn’t actually ever get to meet the boss. It was really exciting because no one at the company really cared what you were doing (though I was only a casual, so I didn’t get access to the internet).. and I could stay in the kitchen for an hour without getting into trouble. I loved working there!
Except… time passed and I started to be able to do the work with my eyes closed. No literally. There was no excitement in the job what-so-ever and I felt like I was memorising my maths all over again. You know? I already knew exactly what to do and how to do it each time I went into work. I hated that feeling. I needed change.
So after that 1.5 years of boringness, I moved on. I wanted to do something I was actually interested in, so I got into an tax accounting firm. It was a very small firm and everything and everyone was extremely… unformal. I was very surprised. Most of the workers there were underpaid and given a shxtload of work to do. In my position, actually being a “junior tax accountant”, I actually had to do a whole lot of filing and outbound calls. I almost felt like a telemarketer once again!
I made so many calls each day to chase up clients for their details, for their payslips, for their payment summaries… urgh. I hated it. The filing also drove me crazy and I was almost going to get the boss to start paying for my manicures! :(
Okay, so then, (yes, my job history is long), I left the company, like most of the others, and I worked at my last job. It is a surfing company, in which was going through the design/marketing process when I was there. I was a marketing/PR assistant and was promoted to be the manager. I basically added information into the website every day for half a year until the site launched, and then I started to do all the promotional work, such as sending out newsletters, contacting companies to make “customised” t-shirts and other stuff to send out to all our subscribers, etc.etc. Think of wikipedia, I was like the data-entry person behind a site like that. I used to sit in the office researching and researching about surf spots, countries, islands, etc, just so I could write a paragraph on it!
I actually enjoyed it though, I had a great team and it was really fun working with everyone! And my boss was heaps awesome! But then, the financial crisis hit, and no one was willing to spend money on anything. Our site was more of a luxury good, rather than a need. I mean, it doesn’t sell chairs or tables, it sells memberships for the website and surf wax! We weren’t able to make as much revenue as we thought we could of…
So then I recently decided to move on since I had been there for 2 years already.. and I moved to this company in which I’m working for at the moment. I only started a few days ago so it’s really really exciting! I’m a finance assistant.. so I’m getting trained on everything from Risk Portfolios and Investments and Financial planning.. it’s just all really exciting!
As you can tell from my job history, I’m always on the freaking computer. LOL
Anyway, so the point to that whole life story, is that.. I’ve almost never, at one point of my life since I was 14.. been unemployed…. and unemployed in economic terms meaning “not actively seeking for a job”.
As of late, I’ve seen so many people around me either lose their jobs or resign from their jobs. I mean, I know that the job market has now picked up and its much easier to look for a new job, but for me, I find it very upsetting, or even scary when I see someone leave. Not just from my job, but even their own. I think its because I imagine myself.. being so unoccupied.. I honestly couldn’t think of what else I could do with my time! I’m happy for those who resign and move onto another job, maybe somewhere better, but for those, who remain unemployed, I get so worried.
In my office, I’ve seen about 8 people leave the company already and sometimes, another one would come and replace them, and then they’ll leave also. I’m someone whose scared of… change… and I always think back about the past, and about the people who were in the office with me, and miss the times they were here.
I’m so scared of unemployment, and it’s not just because I’m a big spender (hehe), I think it’s because I need that security, that financial security. I want to know that even if any happens, I can always depend on myself and my job. And, I think that’s what most people have their jobs for, right?
I know that was alot to read, but it’s just something thats been on my mind.
I’d like to know what your thoughts are.. are you employed? Are you actively seeking a job? Are you crazy about having a job like me?
WOW! That’s a long job history. I am still stuck with my shit ass market research job, and although the pay is pretty damn good, its the SHITTEST JOB ever ( job is shit and management is bunch of douches) but I have gotta hang on to it just so I am not pov LOL.
And it has been REALLY hard for me to look for a job cos I suck in interviews. Its kinda weird cos I am usually bubbly and outgoing but anyways, yeh still trying to look for a PROPER job :( Have been actively seeking it since FOREVER. But I just enrolled for CFA, so that will keep me busy for a while.
I definitely get the whole financial security thing. That’s ONE of the 2 things (another one is the awesome colleagues) keeping me going at my current fucked up job. I hate asking my parents for money. I can’t imagine myself being jobless and do nothing too.
OH, and WOW you’re HEAPS independent! Unemployed since 14!!! That’s an achievement babe!
ps: I think I just wrote an essay in your comment box lmao
haha woooow. i’m almost 18 and have never had a part time job. the only work i’ve ever done was at a post office for one week for work experience in year 10. and i only did it because i had no choice. it was complsory. i absolutely hated it! i spent all day stocking magazines, cutting up cardboard boxes, stamping parcels, putting together envelopes, sorting out mail. 1 hour fel like 5 hours. it was so shit.
and i’m aboslutely put off of the idea of having to deal with customers, since i hear my friends always complain about how they have rude customers all the time! and especially me, being extremely shy and quiet.. i always assume i’d never survive so i never bother getting a job! plus, i hate rejection LOL. aaaaaand the fact that i am so lazy doesn’t help either.
i’m currently doing my final year of highschool, and hopefully when i’m done and over with my VCE examinations, i’ll apply for places over the summer.
Hei!
This was really interesting to read..
I have a job, but I olny work for like 16h/week. That’s little, but I’m thinking about getting another job, but it’s hard to get employed when you are not able to be there ALWAYS for the 2nd company.
I was unemploied for a lot of time, I worked during summers, and honestly I wouldn’t work if I didn’t have to. Money for me isn’t everything, because there are more important things (spending time with your family, love and so on).
If I wouldn’t be working I’d probably be traveling around.. but I need money for that, so.. yah :)!
I’m not afraid of the unsecurity of being unemployed, because I know that there’s always something to do… :)!
I’m 19 and I’ve never had a job…so I can’t talk about it, but I think I understand you (^_^)
http://becksmakeupcorner.blogspot.com
I am currently a stay-at-home wife. Hubby told mr to get a job as to avoid boredom, but I don’t think I’m excited about that. I mean, as a mother and wife, my current dream job is just staying at home, taking care of my baby, cooking meals for my family, etc. etc.
I’ve had a job since my last year of high school, and worked at least one job all through university as well. I worked specialty retail, which is fun for a while, but when I went full-time after university, I started to hate it, and then I got really bad at it, and then I got fired, which hurt because I’d been there for so long.
Working some shit job just to pay the bills is a terrible thing. I took a huge pay cut to take internships in the music industry, which is my passion. My life is so much better now and is actually going somewhere.
Whether I am employed or unemployed, I’m afraid of wasting my life – and you can do that with a job as well as without one.
ha ha I’m happy to see I’m not the only one who’s crazy about having a job… I’m 21 and since I work since I’m 16 (it was -legally- impossible for me to work before ^^;;). I worked for my father (and I still work for him) ~ but I got a second job when I turned 18. I can’t imagine myself without a job. I don’t like to depend on my parents concerning money ;) and I like to be busy too!! lol I remember I resigned from my first job (in a bakery) when I was 19. The next month, my university went on strike for… … … 6months!! I’m not joking!(welcome to Paris x3;;) It was horrible! I just had my job with my father (4h/week!!) and nothing else. That was soooo boring :/
I really like your blog!!<3
Umemployment annoys me… I’ve been working since I was 15. I had to help a few friends get a job by polishing their resume, giving them crash courses on how to rock an interview and even lending them professional clothes for interview. Unemployment is just not an option for me~
I’ve worked in different sectors of the catering industry for almost 7 years now.
At one point i was offered a position to be trained to be a cafe/restaurant manager, but with that career you never get any respect, and i am sick of it.
Whatever your age, education or background, you are always judged to be below others/stupid/uneducated.
Right now i am unemployed and struggling to find a different direction to head in :(
The job opportunities in the uk are currently poor due to the economic climate which means double the amount of people appling for the same job.
Your hard work pays off, even if you dont get much from blogging, its awesome :)
Wow, that’s a whole lotta stuff you did, I somehow admire it! I’ve been working since I’ve been 16, been tutoring tiny children, teaching them German and helping out with various homework and at times teaching German to adults as well. It’s not the most fun thing to do in my opinion but it paid pretty darn well for the little amount of time that i needed to spend doing it. I did that for 3 years, up to now. And now I’ve moved to another country, starting university here, so I haven’t had a job this summer but I’d love to find one in fall, when I’m finally settled, though I can’t really do as much because my studies come first.
long history you have there… !
but it’s awesome how you have been able to do work all the time~
I just started in my firt rel job. and with the real job i mean that before i have been doing some commercial acting ant stuff like that so i dont count it as a job.
but here where i live it’s almost impossible to girl in my age to have a permanent job. And i’m 16 now..
soon i will try to study and work at the same time, hopefully i can do it. I need moneeeey (big spender too, hehe ::D)
wown that’s a long job life! I have had only 2 different vacation jobs ’cause my college (architecture) doesn’t allow me to work, we just have so much work which needs so much time that working wouldn’t be good for my grades :s
Although you’ve inspired me to maybe work for maybe 1 day a week during school.
since starting my own company and actively been looking for assisting/helping other people.. it’s quite crazy. i had ONE job and i was there for almost a year and just didn’t like my boss at all, didn’t get a raise though two people who started AFTER me got a raise. either way. annoying.
i feel you about being financially independent though. i was lucky enough to get lots of financial aid from school but other than that, esp since i’m going to graduate soon, the need for money is really hitting me. just makes me work harder to find more money :D haha. and i’m glad i’m in a field that i love!
I totally understand what you’re talking about here.
My first job was as a receptionist at my mom’s real estate office, and that was a pretty steady under-the-table job that lasted for about a year. But I took time off to focus on school, and even though I liked the job I wanted to explore. My parents didn’t let me apply for retail jobs, so I got a job as a telephone interviewer. The pay was great, and so were the people, but the hours weren’t as good (20+hours a week as a high school student), and I hated my job. So I quit, probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
But for the past month since I quit, I’ve been bored at home doing nothing. I don’t really need to work since I’m living with my parents and off to college in the fall, but I like being financially independent. I’m going to college on full scholarship, and I’m even getting some money from my school, but I still feel like there’s a gap in my schedule and bank account with no job and no money coming in.
wow! you’ve worked a lot.. I can’t even get hired at Orange Julius and I’m 16… :(
Do you have any tips for getting started?
wow your CV must be quite long huh haha. could you write a post on interviews since you’ve been to quite a few?
i’m a fresh grad and international student so it’s really hard for me to get a job in sydney. even for data entry position, usually they require experience which i don’t have! i think those who are brought up in asia don’t work when they’re in high school (like in general, or just the people around me) so that puts us on a less advantage side. and that sucks.
oh and could you write a post about gel and acrylic nails? i would like to do it but i’m not sure whats the difference between those two. thanks!
Interesting post! And, wow you’ve been through quite a few jobs!
I’ve been working full time for the past year, and don’t think I’d be able to cope without a job, I love having all the extra cash (compared to poor uni student part time hospitality job wages)
I know of a few people that have never been employed and just live off Centrelink – which is just saddening… I think if I was unemployed, I’d still have to do something, study, volunteer etc just to keep sane
I am self employed and like you I like to keep myself busy so sometimes I might take up part/full time jobs as well as run my business. I like time freedom so whatever I do it must be flexible.
I think a lot of people have the wrong attitude towards their jobs. They always think that if I get paid more I will do more but it is the other way around. A few people I know are like that then they just complain about work and their boss and people which is a big NO!! I learnt at a young age that if someone is paying you to do your job, you have no right to complain about it.
work is for lame-O’s…i just go to centrelink for my money
Ahh telemarketing! I worked there for a few months… We called homes, and I couldn’t take some ofthe rude comments from the other end ;__; Not the job for me!
I really need to get a job right now to pay for school, but I am not sure what I want to do. Your job experince is impressive and inspiring! I hope to be able to find a place I will love to work for!
Wow, great work experience under your belt. I would love to be interning doing what you do now. Right now, I’m doing private wealth mgt but would love it if I learned more technical things. How did you get your current job? You inspire me to work harder!
Wow great work <3
I am 20 for 1 1/2 year i am living alone with my cat. I have 2 Jobs. One as Digital media designer and my second one is at the Post office. I am working 10h a day from Mo-fr. Because i have to pay everything on my own. Since i am 16 i am a worker. And i cant imagine to be unemployed. And everytime my Dad told me "Work hard and you can do what you want in the future. You can have a wonderful home and a car and wonderful vacation" okay |D i dont have much freetime just on week ends and no holidays because if i have, i have to work at my second job in the Post office haha~ (sry for the bad engl.)
Wow this was a very lovely post of ” getting to know Janice” lol =)
I’m 19 1/2 and i just got my first job about a month ago. I was extremely happy because i love the freedom money gives you. So far ive been happy and i really cant imagine going back but this last week and this coming week I’ve been working 40 hours which is alot. And it was getting kinda hard for me Especially when before i worked i never did anything but lay around and watch tv. It kind of put things into perspective for me. I finally know what my mom goes through everyday. and i realized how lazy ive become. I like working it helps my makeup collection grow and gives me freedom to go out and do things =)
Omg girl, I totally feel you. I’ve been working since 16 non stop. And I honestly would go crazy if I didn’t have something to do everyday…obviously financial independence is necessary to my existence. But it’s more that… it keeps me sane lol! I understand though that times are tough these days…but I truly feel like many of the people without jobs…just aren’t trying hard enough.
hahah…
i think we have so much in common…
I’ve worked as a call center agent too(logistics) not selling…but sucks
& as an encoder too, a cashier for a lending co.,& as an usher-porter in a cinema(cool job)…
but now, I’m studying taking I.T.(2nd course)…
—busy too— ;)
–luv reading ur posts–
p.s.
good luck w/ Ur current job :>
I’ve been in a lot of jobs too, currently unemployed and feeling pretty restless and bored :( Btw, I’ve entered the Miss Shop Style Off competition, and it would be an absolute dream to win! I’m asking my lovely blog friends/followers to show their support by voting for me :)
If you could spare a minute, please register here, then click the ‘vote for me now’ button on my profile page. To validate your vote you also need to click the link in the confirmation email Miss Shop will send you.
Thanks so much hon! x Sushi