Does anyone here suffer from work-related dread and persistent fears of incompetence?

Re: Does anyone here suffer from work-related dread and persistent fears of incompete

NOO! One month isn't enough to roll over and... push carts!

I do understand where you're coming from though. I think everyone has that fear every now and again. But you have to kinda convince yourself that when you have a job for a long period of time, you'll get the hang of it!

If you're scared of monotonic jobs, don't look for conveyor belt work. Probably the worst monotony can get. Anything else should be more.. interesting. What kind of job did you have in mind?

Oh, and the "freedom of idleness" does come at a price in this case. I'm not sure how employment contracts work in the states, but aren't you allowed a certain amount of days off in a year?

 

Re: Does anyone here suffer from work-related dread and persistent fears of incompete

I think at our age is very hard to find a paying job that will fulfill you in the way that you are looking for. You will usually find the jobs that are monotone and simply pay the rent, and that's fine!

I say, go get yourself a job and then start volunteering with some organization whenever you can. You can volunteer with an organization that you are passionate about, you can help whoever you want to help, you can feel good about it and at the same time you can start getting the network that you will need in the future in order to get a job that you truly enjoy

Also, if you truly want to find your dream job, then its time to start reading books about hot to go about it. Might seem cheesy, but people are writing down step by step what worked for them, and if you don't read then you are missing out on learning opportunities.

 

Re: Does anyone here suffer from work-related dread and persistent fears of incompete

First, stop selling yourself short. I promise you it's going to come through on a resume or application. Know what your strengths are and emphasize them on your resume and during your job interview. If you have the opportunity see a career counselor for resume advice, take it. They may comment on your strengths or find ways to present your weaknesses in a positive light. At the very least they might give some external validation to make you feel better. From my own experience I found that I often looked at why I couldn't do a job, not why I could. When you see a job posting, look reasons why you can do the job. If you find enough reasons, apply for it. If not, move on and keep looking.

I notice you say "challenging job again." Do you want to continue doing that? If, so you already have some experience so that's a huge positive on a resume.

Regarding monotony, every job is monotonous and boring. The trick is finding something that you enjoy despite the pointless repetition.

By the way, one month is nothing in this job market. Some employers will take three weeks before calling back for interviews. Keep at it.

Lastly, we're in our 20's. It's completely common to feel this way and you're not alone in feeling like you do.

 

Re: Does anyone here suffer from work-related dread and persistent fears of incompete

I can relate to you jsmurf, I also have fears about jobs and not being adequate enough to carry out the job. I came across a post that mentioned something about a quarter-life crisis which is along the lines of someone that has finished higher education but is feeling 'stuck' and has anxieties finding the right job etc. Great x_x

 

Re: Does anyone here suffer from work-related dread and persistent fears of incompete

Actually I'm in a similar situation...I graduated college just a few months ago, wanted to take a year off and get some real world experience before continuing with schooling, but haven't found a real job yet...and I'm quite embarrassed when I even apply for jobs over how pathetic my resume is. I'm quite depressed actually, stuck living back at home with no job and no direction, along with not really knowing anyone to talk to around here, and having to be closeted around my family whom I already have tense relations with. I need to find a job so I could move out and get my life started, before my mental health goes completely off a cliff.

Employers want experience, they want you to know how to do everything already, but you can't get experience if nobody is ever willing to hire you and train you. Companies used to be willing to take chances and train new people, but not anymore.

All just a product of this rotten Capitalist system which treats employers as kings and employees as pawns. With unemployment rate being what it is, employers know they can be as demanding as they please because everyone is so desperate just to find a job.

 

Re: Does anyone here suffer from work-related dread and persistent fears of incompete

I suffer persistent dread, fears of incompetence, and fear of being a generalized annoyance to those around me (even people I know well and trust to a much greater extent than anyone else), at seemingly every point of my existence.



It kinda sucks. Trying to get over it..


Edit: Oh and it definitely influenced my lack of willingness to get a typical full/part-time job. Until this summer when I started working at an animal shelter I'd only ever delivered newspapers before (provides anonymity). And I feel as though focusing on the animals helps me to forget all the people I'm usually socially anxious toward/avoidant of.

 

Re: Does anyone here suffer from work-related dread and persistent fears of incompete

im not really enjoying my job atm but it's kind of all i have when i have my days off like today i never know what to do and im so bored

 

Re: Does anyone here suffer from work-related dread and persistent fears of incompete

Yeah, it sucks, but there are ways to get experienced by volunteering and getting some sort of internship somewhere. The ideal is to get something in your field, but something is better than nothing. Any volunteering can also be turned into great stuff on a resume.

My mentor gave me a list of books to read (which I haven't yet xD) but here is a list that might be useful to you. They are all for helping students in their 20s find jobs:


Pick this one if you have to choose only one:
Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 3.0: How to Stand Out from the Crowd and Tap Into the Hidden Job Market using Social Media and 999 other Tactics Today

They Don't Teach Corporate in College: A Twenty-Something's Guide to the Business World

Earn What You're Really Worth: Maximize Your Income at Any Time in Any Market

What Color Is Your Parachute?

 

Re: Does anyone here suffer from work-related dread and persistent fears of incompete

As was already suggested, what about volunteer positions? Some kind of social services center that provides free legal counsel - perhaps you could help out there with administrative help. You can only spend so much time each day on a job search. Getting out and helping someone (or in the case of the animal shelter, something) that has it worse than you can make you feel better. It also looks good on a resume, so you're helping others AND you're helping yourself. Win win.

Nobody is perfectly qualified for any job that they start - because they'd have to have done that very job before to be perfectly qualified. So you need to relax a bit and know that they're going to hire the person that has the best qualifications. If that happens to be you, then that means that there were other people who applied with fewer or less appropriate qualifications than you.

Good luck!

 

Re: Does anyone here suffer from work-related dread and persistent fears of incompete

Oh, I know how you feel, the system is rigged, and it does feel like nobody really cares about you, you can just fall through the cracks, no chance of finding a meaningful career or getting a real life. My parents are not very supportive either, and I certainly can't talk to them about how I'm feeling or even get meaningful advice.

Meanwhile we aren't getting any younger. I personally already am miserable over missing out on my teenage years due to repression over my sexuality along with issues with depression and anxiety. I don't want my 20s to go to waste too.

There may be more specialized jobs these days, but there are also a lot of jobs for which businesses used to be willing to take on new employees and train them for, rather than demand employees come to the table already super-skilled in every way. Companies no longer feel any civic obligations to their society; in modern post-Reagan "greed is good" America, it's just all about take, take, take, never give back. The "job creators" are gods to be worshiped.

This is also evident in the qualifications inflation we see nowadays. In the 70s, my stepfather graduated high school and at 18 landed a career on Wall Street that lasted over 30 years. He obviously didn't learn how to do the job in high school, the company trained him; even a Wall Street bank back then was willing to look at employees as a long-term investment rather than as a pawn to be chewed up and spit out. Nowadays they expect you to have a college degree to be a WalMart greeter....:eusa_doh:

 

Re: Does anyone here suffer from work-related dread and persistent fears of incompete

Yes. I'm running out of unemployment after 2 years of a desk job that I hated. I refuse to do anything like it again. So the job I'm most experienced in is something I'm not willing to do again. I need a very interesting source of income. I loved working in childcare because kids are fun and every day is unpredictable, unfortunately childcare workers don't make enough money. I hate resumes and tricky interview questions. I like real people. I need a weird job, and/or to be my own employer once I figure myself out. There's a book called "what should I do with my life?" by a man named Po something, and it makes me feel better because it's a bunch of stories about people who either changed careers entirely or took unusual paths to get to interesting places. It reminds me that there is no one correct path to any destination, there's nothing wrong with making everything up as you go. And there's nothing wrong with being lost for a while, either.