Job Seeker

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When I moved to Melbourne, all I thought about was moving out of my parents home, leaving a place I had lived in for 14 year's and finding my own niche.

I didn't think about how hard it would be to get a job, how I would have to pay rent, try and get centrelink assistance and how much it would cost to just eat and have a full tank of petrol.

I moved out of home and drove the full hour and a half to my new home, a room in a house full of six diverse and interesting personalities. I set up my room, closed the door and sat on the freshly made bed, at that moment, I felt like crying, the rush was gone, the excitement of unpacking and filling my new room with my personality was over, and I didn't have anything to do. I remember walking listlessly to the fridge, feeling my tummy rumble and opening it in expectation of finding some left over’s or something that mum had cooked. I had stared at the fridge for quite a while before I realised that it wasn't my fridge at home and there were no left over’s or any food of mine that I could eat. At this point I was feeling lonely, I went back to my room and did cry. I carefully closed the door, twisted the lock slowly and slumped down on my bed feeling slightly defeated. The bed was harder than mine at home, the curtains were white, whereas mine at home had been red and the flooring was wooden floorboards, at home, I had had slate with a shaggy warm carpet in the centre of my room.

I stayed in my room the whole afternoon until my sister came home, I came out and asked her what she was having for dinner, she had sighed, and whipped up a salad which she offered me reluctantly and I took thankfully.

The next day I set about trying to get work, I jumped on the computer and perused the local area for job opportunities, I went online and looked at the Chadstone website, I wrote down various places I was interested in working at and then sat down and tried to write my resume. I wrote 'To whom this may concern' and once again felt like crying, it isn't meant to be like this, I had thought, its meant to be fun, I'm meant to be enjoying myself, making friends and moving on. I had tried to centre myself again with logical thoughts, 'It's day two'. I continued to write my resume after that and had ended up with three comprehensive pages of past employment, volunteer work, education, interests, skills and referees. I printed out resume after resume, changed the wording in each cover letter and also sent a few online copies to large groups like Coles, Safeway, K-Mart and Angus & Robertson's.

After three weeks, a few emails from Coles asking me to further my application by completing tests, I hadn't heard back any really positive feedback from any of the dozen jobs I had applied for. Feeling deflated I began to further my search.

I jumped online and accessed websites like www.seek.com.au, www.hippo.com.au, www.deakin.edu.au/current-students/services and also www.melbourne.gumtree.com.au all of which I have now memorised due to my extensive searching for work. I applied for work left right and centre, wrote happy, polite resumes and tried to appear like I was a confident young woman, ready to take on the world. In reality, I was upset, confused and angry that my many years experience in hospitality, retail-food and customer service wasn't getting me anywhere. I started to apply for jobs I didn't really want or liked, just in the hope that somebody would ring me offering me something, I would gloomily assess the characteristics and personality of those employed and wonder how a shop assistant who talks over me to another shop assistant could secure a job when I couldn't. I became obsessed with applying, morning, day and night I would check my emails, check job websites and re-write my resume countless times.

I began to lose all hope and started to fret, I would go into Centrelink and stare at the 'job searcher's line wondering when I would eventually have to turn to Centrelink to secure a job even though I had years of experience and was able to apply for jobs myself. I set myself up with Centrelink youth allowance and rent assistance and almost burst into tears when I was informed that I was classified as 'dependent' because I had only been out of school for less than 18 months. My assistance was a dismal amount of money, and I really began to wonder when I would start eating bread crusts and licking the crumbs of the plate.

Finally one day I found a job which sounded a little to good to be true, and from my previous experience, I honestly believed that it would be to good to be true and I didn't have any hope of securing it. I applied and received a phone call the next day, I was asked to come in for an interview and readily agreed. I went shopping and chose clothes which would appeal to the interviewers in regard to the job I was applying for. I wore casual smart light brown colours pants and a plain black top. I felt confident and went to the interview 15 minutes early. Ready for anything.

They asked me questions.

I was confident

Polite

Energetic

and

myself.

I got the job on the basis of all these things, a huge weight was lifted of my shoulders.

I drove home smiling and singing loudly, I walked to Uni with a silly smile plastered on my face, apologised for being late due to my 'job interview' and wasn't even put of by my lecturer's light scolding of 'yes, because that's much more important isn't it?'

I didn't say it, but, yes, it was.

And if only she knew.

image by khaliishah
Courtesy of Creative Commons