Paul’s tale of resilience
Looking for a job when things don’t go your way can be an incredibly tough experience. After hearing that you didn’t get a job, the last thing you feel like doing after is trying again. However, the moral of this story about participant Paul is that getting back out there is the best thing you can do.
Paul had faced many mental health barriers. He had schizophrenia and anxiety, with these symptoms causing him to have a low mood, poor concentration, feelings of anxiety and rarely managed to get a good night’s sleep.
Whilst he had been seeing a psychiatrist fortnightly to support him with this, his mental health challenges had added an extra hurdle to the job searching process.
Paul had worked as a chef in the past and was keen to get back in the kitchen and pick up where he’d left off. He was driven by having flexibility included in his role and preferred working the breakfast or brunch shifts, similar to what he’d done in the past.
He then was offered a role at the airport doing the breakfast shift which he enjoyed for a short time before leaving due to personal reasons. Leaving this position rocked his confidence, causing his motivation to take a dive at the same time. Having had no trouble finding work as a chef in the past, Paul had taken this knock even harder.
AimBig’s Team Leader, Patrizia worked with Paul on his confidence slowly building it back, one brick at a time. He undertook several trials that were sadly unsuccessful, but Paul kept putting himself out there and continuing to apply for roles. However being out of work was new to Paul, so after three months, this whole experience was taking its toll on his mental health. Patrizia called Paul daily just to offer support which was reciprocated as Paul relied on her for emotional support.
With every job application that didn’t work out, Paul was losing confidence. He tried several different kinds of jobs widening the net to increase his chances.
After months of continuing to try and demonstrating incredible resilience, Paul called Patrizia with fantastic news. He had been offered a trial for a full time role as a chef in beginning last May. After a successful trial, he was offered the role! Paul was thrilled and shared the exciting news with his job coach. To support with transportation, Patrizia has arranged a fuel card for him to be able to drive to and from work as he gets settled.
Not only is Paul working in a full time role instead of the required 15 hours, he is also feeling so much happier and has started to gain his confidence back. This is a fantastic outcome and truly the definition of persistence. We’re so proud of Paul for not giving up and for being able to persevere after facing setback after setback. Well done Paul!
If you’d like to hear from one of our friendly job coaches to help support you, get in touch with us here.
