I am a qualified chef with 17 years experience working in tourism, primary industries (fishing and beef) and hospitality. I am 4 weeks into an accounting and bookkeeping TAFE course. Looking for working from home options to earn some money until I get qualified. Any ideas?
Background: 10 years in automation. Python, VBA, SQL, Automation Anywhere. Most of that in a regulated banking environment doing process automation and integration work. Self-taught, no degree, which never came up once I was employed but seems to matter again now that I'm applying.
I'm also on the autism spectrum. I interview worse than I work, which I suspect is the real problem more than anything on paper.
Since the redundancy, I've been maintaining an open-source project full-time. Self-hosted server, AGPL, 500+ stars, daily commits for about 80 days, an actual contributor community. It's the best work I've done, and it's all public.
What I can't tell is whether that means anything to anyone hiring. Applications are going nowhere. The only real conversations I've had have come in from people who found the project. So:
- Do hiring managers and recruiters actually look at a GitHub profile, or is it decoration once you're past the ATS?
- Is the no degree thing a hard filter at 10 years of experience, or am I blaming the wrong variable?
- Anyone disclosed autism during a process and had it go well? Or is it better left until after an offer?
- For anyone who came back from a redundancy in this market, what actually got you the next role?
Cheers.
feeling stuck on what to do and possible career path to choose
For context, I'm 21, dropped out of high school due to mental health reasons, and haven't worked before.
School was relatively easy for me. I'm decently smart I guess. I'm particularly interested in health and sciences. My main difficulty at school was English, I can do it well enough it just takes a while to get words out a lot due to writers block.
I'm mainly looking for a career that:
I'm also open to trades and office jobs, but trades aren't my first thought.
I mainly want to start with something relatively easy and close by. I'm considering doing a fee-free TAFE course, with TAFE Caboolture and UniSC being the nearest options. I already completed TPP at UniSC, but now I'm a bit stuck on what to do next.
One option I'm mainly considering is a Cert III in Individual Support (Ageing). It's offered at a nearby facility and most of it would be online apart from the practical component. I'd actually prefer disability support, but its the easiest for me location wise.
I dropped out of high school mainly because of poor mental health. It's a lot better now, although I'm still working on myself. My late father had melanoma and dementia. The dementia wasn't too much of an issue until he had to stay in hospital in palliative care, so I do have some experience taking care of someone elderly.
The main reason I haven't looked for part-time work before is social anxiety, procrastination and depression all together lol (social anxiety now isn't as bad as it once was). My parents have been kind enough to let me stay rent-free and pay for living essentials, so I've been in a fortunate position, but I want to start becoming more independent.
I've considered quite a few different careers:
I briefly considered psychology when they were talking about careers back in high school, but I saw how competitive it was and how writing-heavy it can be. Something like counselling could potentially be an option though.
Nursing was something I considered when I started doing my TPP. When I spoke to careers people, they recommended occupational therapy. Seeing what nurses had to do and deal with while visiting my dad during his decline also made me think nursing wasn't for me. However, I realise there are lots of different areas of nursing, so there may be a type of nursing that would suit me that I don't know about.
At the moment, I'm thinking something like:
Cert III Individual Support → get some part-time work while studying (maybe a local IGA, bowls club, RSL) → get my driver's licence → potentially study OT or another health/science degree.
But I'm considering a lot of different things and that's where I'm stuck. I don't really have one specific thing I'm passionate about, and there are so many options that I don't know how to narrow them down.
I'm mainly looking for advice on figuring out what direction to take. Is there a career/pathway I haven't considered that you think would suit someone with my interests and situation? Is the individual support/carer pathway a good way to get some work experience and figure out whether I actually enjoy working in healthcare?
I'm also wondering whether it's better to just start with something like the Cert III and see where it takes me, rather than overthink trying to choose the "perfect" career. I can always go back to university later if I decide I want to become an OT, physio, nurse, etc.
I'd also like to eventually have some side projects/hobbies, such as social media content creation, photography (I like taking pictures), and learning more about investing and personal finance.
I have other interests too, like biomedical science, nature, geology/gems, maths and puzzles, and I've even considered things like music, dance, modelling, acting, comedy, entertainment, writing and business. But I'm mainly trying to find a stable career with good work-life balance and decent income, rather than necessarily turning one of my hobbies into a career.
So yeah, I'm basically looking for advice on figuring a life path out haha. Any career suggestions, advice on narrowing down my options, general advice, or experiences from people who have been in a similar position would be really appreciated.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and for any advice you may have.
I’m 44 and have been working in the construction industry for around 20 years. I’m qualified in my trade and have been running my own business for about the last 10 years. I’m getting to the point where I’d like to get out of construction and do something completely different. I’m mainly looking for something more stable and that isn’t going to flog my body as I get older. I’m not too worried about starting again at the bottom or taking a pay cut while I learn. I’d happily do a traineeship or some training if it leads somewhere decent. I’m pretty practical and mechanically minded, but I’m open to pretty much anything. Shift work, nights, weekends, early starts etc don’t bother me either, although I’d prefer a reasonably predictable roster rather than being on call or having shifts constantly changed at short notice.
I’m not really looking for specific vacancies at the moment. I’m more interested in finding out what jobs are actually out there that I probably haven’t thought of.
Anyone here changed careers in their 40s? What did you end up doing?
Or if you’ve got a job that you reckon would suit someone coming from a trade background with no experience in your industry, I’d be interested to hear what you do and how you got into it.
I'm currently a full-time marketing student (25M domestic student, at a non-G8 university based in Sydney), and decided to take the plunge because I managed to get half of my degree slashed off from RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning).
However, I'm currently facing a dillemna. I don't have much work experience, and my most recent experience was at Vivid Sydney, as a volunteer. At the moment, I've began applying for jobs since last week (a combination of retail and market research/marketing internship roles briefly), and I don't seem to be getting much traction.
Which roles would anyone advise I apply for that require *minimal work experience* and is willing to take on someone whose willing to learn the ropes? I'm absolutely willing to look into part-time/casual work in any white-collar envrionment, even if unrelated to my degree?
My long-term goal is to work in marketing/market research and consumer insights, or in a role which involves understanding people (not in a healthcare environment) and making an impact in an innovative or collaborative environment. I don't want to work in a fast-paced healthcare environment because I've previously attempted a Certificate III in Indivdiual Support (accelerated), and I realised it wasn't for me while on placement as I'd come home with constant headaches, and other complications from the stressful environment.
Moreover, my interests involve working in dynamic, interesting environments (think: events, maybe even becoming a tour guide, or working in a digital marketing/social media agency). I'd really be keen on interning at a social media/digital marketing agency sooner or later to kickstart my career!
Please provide me with some guidance here because I'm genuinely unsure what to do (I have three semesters remaining until my degree is finished). I really don't want to finish my degree to render myself unemployed and not in a full-time position by then because I'm fully aware that the graduate/entry-level job market for marketing graduates is not particularly in the best state at the moment.
I have absolutely no desire to pursue further study for the sake of a career at this point, I want to go to work because I'm starting to get fed up with uni, despite having nine units remaining (I'm taking three units this semester).
Feeling lost, I really would like to get into sales I know I can definitely put myself to good use but I’m not sure what type of sales
I’m hungry to succeed and am feeling very complacent at the moment. My background is in support work, real estate, customer service.
Any suggestions 😊
I recently applied for a VA position with an Australian property professional. We had a Zoom interview, and the conversation went really well. She told me she wanted to work with me, discussed the rate of $5 hour for a minimum of 30 hours per week, and said she would prepare an agreement and that we would start the following week.
She was very warm and reassuring during our conversations, even telling me that she didn’t want to lose me because she thought I would be a great fit. She also asked for my resume and LinkedIn, and we discussed payment through Wise@.
However, after that, communication became inconsistent. She said she would send the agreement and later reassured me that she hadn’t forgotten about me and that we would be starting that week. But when the week came, I didn’t receive the agreement or clear start details. I followed up politely on WhatsApp but didn’t get a response, even though I noticed she was active online.
I also noticed some things on social media that made me wonder if she may have been considering or hiring someone else, especially since she had mentioned during our interview that she was also speaking with another person.
At this point, I’m unsure whether the opportunity is still happening. I’m disappointed because I felt we had a really good connection, and I would have understood if she had simply told me that plans had changed. I’m now trying to move on and continue looking for other opportunities.
Has anyone experienced something similar with a potential overseas client? Would you consider this unprofessional, or am I overthinking the situation?
Hi all,
I recently finished my Bachelor of Business in HR and Marketing and am really struggling to land a job, let alone an interview. I am 31 years of age, from VIC, and come from a retail background in Visual Merchandising, with my most recent role being in a senior position. I took the plunge 4 years ago as I wanted to change my career direction and enrolled myself into a Bachelor of Business, and I really enjoyed the experience at a mature age. I am doing lots of networking, following up and applying, and I just cannot seem to gain much traction. I know the job market is tough at the moment, but I have found myself at a dead end road and I'm not really sure how to move forward.
46m starting over.
Which career to choose?
How do you break into literally any industry?
I finished my qualification and NOBODY is hiring fresh graduates. Am I meant to be a sole trader until I get experience?
And until then I'm stuck applying for random crap I haven't done before. I'M LOSING MY MIND, I JUST WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN SOCIETY
Kiwi here in 20s, just curious as I’m eyeing the jump to oz for a change of pace , is it true that kiwis have a good reputation with hiring managers? I heard that in Australia, kiwis are known to be hard workers.
Is entry level actually that cooked? Nz is pretty bad too so I’m not even sure really, what’s the best move.
What city would you recommend? I have money saved so I’m not stressed in the short term, just want to visit Australia and work and experience something new.
Long story short, I returned from Mat leave this Feb and my current workplace is chaos and the culture became really toxic. My work is in community service so we are on fixed term contract with the government - this has always been renewed since birth of org in 1990s. Anyway, due to chaos and current political climate, not sure if the whole company contract will be renewed next year. I currently work around 30hours a week (0.8FTE) and have commute around 40mins-1hr each way. There's toll cost and petrol of course. And it's only 1 day WFH.
I recently phone interviewed for a role in another non-profit but it's a permanent full time position. The work culture is great (according to Seek and Glassdoor and a friend who works there but in different department). The commute is 10mins each way and its 3 days WFH.
I'm having trouble deciding whether to go ahead with the second round as the pay for the new role is $9 less per hour and of course the hours will be full time (38hrs) - they said they couldn't consider part time or higher pay during phone interview.
But, I'm feeling really disconnected from my current work and just wanna gtfo. Am I being too reactive especially considering the current job market?? This is my 15th job application and so far I've only had interview for this and any earlier application.
Those who decided between similar options: did you regret or happy with your decision looking back? I'm also keen to hear from parents especially - I really enjoy my one day off with my son.
Thank you!
EDIT #1: Thank you to all the wondering comments and insights - yes I'm feeling burnt out in this role and its no good for anyone. my gut told me to just go for it so I tentatively scheduled the second round right after my phone interview. Tomorrow is the 2nd interview so crossing my fingers and toes that it'd go well!
Been working as a hospital pharmacist for a couple years, worked really hard to get an internship and been working in the public system ever since.
Feeling a bit discouraged. Been told for a while now by colleagues that I should expect my salary to cap out after sometime. We follow a union award rate, which doesn’t really allow much progression after 10ish years (~140k annually). On top of this, you need to have ~8 years working on the hospital system until you can get permanency (most if not all my colleagues and peers are all on 3 monthly contracts). Pharmacy has also not been what I thought it was, and yes maybe I should have researched the profession better before spending 4 years on the degree.
Feeling really stuck, been thinking of going back to uni to do something like engineering (which does really interest me as well) and obvs can expect a good return after years of experience - from what I’ve been told. Also thinking about studying something to use with my pharmacy degree/experience to leverage into a different position or industry? (MBA, law , research etc).
Has anyone else gone through something similar and have advice? For those wondering, community pharmacy is not an option due to multiple reasons (not gonna go into it, you can easily find out why with a google search).
Im an engineering student and all i ever hear from my classmates is “im just gonna do fifo after I graduate” or “im just gonna go to the mines”. Which us obviously a good goal but from my understanding a little bit unrealistic? I know people in the industry who say you really only get a job if you know someone so why is it these people think you can just walk into these roles?
Is this because of the massive layoffs?? What's the chance of getting interviewed? 🫠
I worked my butt off in university, submitting so many job applications, writing and rewriting resumes and cover letters, and in the end the only way I could get a job was through my boyfriend who never even went to university and got his job only three weeks into applying. I didn’t want to resort to using my connection but I didn’t have a choice. Bills add up, it’s been months of living on a single income and eating into our savings. Just feels shitty to know I’ve worked so hard just to end up having to ask my partner for help. Happy I’ve finally got a job but feeling so defeated emotionally….
I am recently unemployed and starting to apply for jobs.
I sometimes get spam calls, so I like using the Call Assist by Google to see who's calling before I pick up.
Will recruiters say why they are calling when they hear this or are they just going to hang up? Should I just answer every phone call and hope it's not a scammer?
What has been your experience on avoiding the scammers while still getting calls from job applications?
I’m very tempted to find a new job but unsure what to do. Overall my job is not bad. Good company & coworkers, decent pay, nice benefits. My issue is that I have absolutely no work, I’m the kind of person who loves a fast paced busy day. I find myself finishing all of my tasks within the first 1-2 hours. I’ve had multiple conversations regarding getting additional tasks added to my workload, needing more, etc. But no matter what is added, it’s just not enough.
I would love to find a job that keeps me busy, or at the least has enough work for a full day. But at the same time, is it worth it to give up everything the company has to offer? I would also feel extremely bad about leaving as I work in a small team and they would struggle without having a fully trained person in the position.
If you were me, what would you do?
EDIT: It is Admin/Accounts work