looking at job postings is so overwhelming, i don't know what to do

Stellar

so basically i'm needing help looking for remote-based jobs.

i find looking at listings so overwhelming that i can't do it for very long or else i'll end up having anxiety attacks that force me to disengage because it becomes a vicious cycle that then taps into my other anxieties regarding work.

I literally cannot process the information on the listing properly and to work out in my head whether it's worth me applying or not. as in, how many skills do i meet? what can i lie about / reasonably **** within my application so i sound more skilled than i am so they're willing to possibly overlook things? so basically the lying and overhyping that NTs do everywhere on every application.

i really need support kinda like what the DWP normally do for jobs. where they already have employers contact them

 apparently they started moving to remote work at the onset of covid. However, since the DWP started pretending the pandemic was over they've shifted back to only in person jobs, most of which are unsuitable for me.

Any job I do must be fully remote with the ability to work worldwide (or at least within europe) cause i need to leave this cesspit of a country for my own sanity sooner than later.

does this even exist outside of them or agency work with **** jobs with poor pay and working conditions? i don't think 1 to 1 support workers exist for this kind of thing either, unless it includes being constantly let down while waiting for appointments weeks apart. or them not knowing themselves.

durhamjaide2001

Yep I had the same problems when I was looking for jobs. Scopes employment services can help or you could try your local job centre.

best of luck on your job search 

Stellar

hi, i said in my original post that the job centre aren't really able to help. they just don't have the employer contacts for the kind of jobs that are suitable for me. even my work coach agrees with that.

did you manage to find a job jaide?

durhamjaide2001

I'm in education at the moment I do project choice which is a supported interniship for people ages 16  to 24

Hannah_Alumni

Hello @Stellar

I found the same issues when looking for work from home jobs. Finding that support is really difficult when the focus is on getting people into "in person" jobs.

Is your work coach able to do remote cv writing / building as I came to find, there are skills you can transfer without realising. For example, I worked admin and my work coach said so you have the right mindset to work at a computer for most of the day. Which you'd think would be self explanatory in saying you worked admin, but highlighting that helped a lot. 

Also, thinking outside of the box, is there any skill that you could teach remotely? or any hobby like crafting where you could do something for yourself? Another user on a thread is looking at going back to work but needs to be remote too. I know your work coach could refer you to the self-employment side of getting back into work, if that is something that interests you? It is always worth having a chat.  

Stellar

Hannah_Scope said:

snip

with cv writing / building, knowing the theory i not the issue.

i know what i need to do, i have templates, but i struggle so much with executive dysfunction and anxiety with it all I'm not able to do it, if that makes sense?

i cant work out how to apply my specific skills to each specific role. or if its even viable for me to apply to it (and if it is, how to tailor things to apply for roles i won't meet 100% of each employer's wishlist aka job description.)

Thinking on it too much leads to anxiety attacks. I can't just use one template for everything, otherwise my application will get rejected because its not tailored enough. it also takes up so much time and energy for me and i don't know how to deal with it.

ideally i'd send a job listing to somebody (ie. a caseworker) to help me work it out and i get feedback / annotated cover letter, but realistically no service will be able to do that as they're so overstretched.

regarding self-employment, i tried to go down that road at first as it is my preferred option, but that's not viable because:

• the Tories have crashed the economy so nobody is gonna buy from a self-employed trader for anything. they cant even afford to pay for their own food and energy bills
• trying to communicate with gatekeepers triggers my cptsd because it reminds me of past trauma when services rejected me unfairly over and over again, partially on discriminatory grounds (cause the power dynamic is very similar). when it comes to self-employment funding, funding sources and the DWP'S UC self-employment team are gatekeepers. if i had money to invest in it myself with no need to ask others or be on Universal Credit i would do it.
• i need to leave the UK as soon as possible because this country's social culture and past treatment of me when i needed help the most has made me ill. Not being able to do so will cause my mental health to deteriorate, and it would be quicker to leave via an employer then self-employed. this is also why signing off as unfit for work is not an option (even though if hell froze over and i was ok living in the UK i would probably do it because being on benefits - as **** as it is - is more stable an income than anything an employer would give me).

i'm sorry if this comes across as defeatist, i'm at the end of my tether with all of this. i want to work, i know i can do it as i have a lot of untapped potential. but it's so overwhelming and daunting and i'm tired of struggling with no actual help, the same ****, rote-learned advice that providers have been conditioned into telling disabled people, and the lack of support i have if anything goes wrong.

regarding skills, i'm not sure there is anything i can do that would earn a living. i know there are things like Udemy / Brilliant that people can earn money for doing courses on for, but i'm not sure what unqiue things i could offer. i'm in my 20s and not a recognised credible expert in any field i think that would go against me here too.

Tori_Scope

Have you checked out our employment services @stellar? I can see that durhamjaide2001 suggested it, but I wasn't sure if you'd caught that or not. They're different to the Job Centre.

You don't need to apologise at all. I can get quite anxious about job stuff too, and it can be easy to slip into a negative mindset with it. 

Are you receiving any support for your mental health at the moment? 

Stellar

Tori_Scope said:

Have you checked out our employment services @stellar? I can see that durhamjaide2001 suggested it, but I wasn't sure if you'd caught that or not. They're different to the Job Centre.

You don't need to apologise at all. I can get quite anxious about job stuff too, and it can be easy to slip into a negative mindset with it. 

Are you receiving any support for your mental health at the moment? 

no i haven't. is my situation actually something they can help wirth? namely:

- help getting remote working jobs
- help to process applications and be able to reply to them
- somebody who can proofread my adapted cvs/cover letters in a reliable timeframe

cause otherwise i see no point reaching out as I'll just get let down again. services have this tendency to overpromise on what they can deliver and staff not being able to help with my inquiries.

they just give out the same rote-learned cookie cutter responses that I'm sick of hearing at this point. like if you can't help, just be honest, not just remind me of what flimsy protections already exist (and given the trajectory of the UK could get removed at any time with no real opposition).

plus there's this implicit belief that disabled people cannot work abroad in employment services, so there's little in the way of specific advice for people like me. so i have to do it all alone and it's very hard, especially post brexit. but i cannot and will never give up.

i am getting support thank you. i tend to be prone to catastrophising and getting anxiety attacks when i talk about my workplace anxiety, so i do tend to get venty a lot. but i can and do calm down afterwards, that's why self-care is so important

Poppy_

Hi @Stellar, how are you?
Scope’s employment services do help. I am using their support to work service at the moment and they have been really helpful in finding remote work for me. I haven’t looked for work outside of England so I cannot comment on that. 

Support to work have also been helpful in helping me prepare for interviews, reasonable adjustments and helping me write cover letters and CVs. They have also helped me to do applications.
In terms of getting an answer within a reliable timeframe, there is some delay, but I haven’t not had a reply from them for more then a working day, and 1-1 meetings are weekly. 

However, Support to work isn’t long term, as it’s 12 weeks, but they are able to help you to go on to other employment services afterwards, if needed. If you do find employment in the 12 weeks, you do up to 26 weeks of in work support. The service also allows you to look on the Scope job board, which has also been helpful to me in the past, as I have found job opportunities that I haven’t seen elsewhere. 

I hope this helps

prasoon

Stellar said:

so basically i'm needing help looking for remote-based jobs.

i find looking at listings so overwhelming that i can't do it for very long or else i'll end up having anxiety attacks that force me to disengage because it becomes a vicious cycle that then taps into my other anxieties regarding work.

I literally cannot process the information on the listing properly and to work out in my head whether it's worth me applying or not. as in, how many skills do i meet? what can i lie about / reasonably **** within my application so i sound more skilled than i am so they're willing to possibly overlook things? so basically the lying and overhyping that NTs do everywhere on every application.

i really need support kinda like what the DWP normally do for jobs. where they already have employers contact them

 apparently they started moving to remote work at the onset of covid. However, since the DWP started pretending the pandemic was over they've shifted back to only in person jobs, most of which are unsuitable for me.

Any job I do must be fully remote with the ability to work worldwide (or at least within europe) cause i need to leave this cesspit of a country for my own sanity sooner than later.

does this even exist outside of them or agency work with **** jobs with poor pay and working conditions? i don't think 1 to 1 support workers exist for this kind of thing either, unless it includes being constantly let down while waiting for appointments weeks apart. or them not knowing themselves.

Hi,

I can understand how you feel like searching for the perfect job online. I've been there!
But, then I decided to build my own business online and to become an employer instead of an employee.
My blindness has opened new doors and here I am trying to share my experiences on how a blind person can build and scale multiple businesses. 
I talk extensively on this topic in my podcast, "Money is Blind"

It's not that difficult to become an entrepreneur these days! 
I really hope you make the right decision!