This month, guest blogger Nick McAllister fills us in on how his job search has gone.
Once again I find myself revisiting the employment issue that I promised myself I wouldn’t have to OR need to … but I was wrong.
Since the last time I wrote about my dealings with employment agencies, zero has occurred.
The last meeting I attended so that my Centrelink payments didn’t get cut off. In that meeting I was promised a castle, a water front apartment in Melbourne, first class flights AND shopping vouchers.
Okay, I jest!
I was however promised money for some radio training and a marketing course, of which they would contribute to, leaving me to pay for the remaining cost of which I was unsure how to?
I was also given the allegory of ‘being on some stairs’.
I know. I’m as confused as you are!
Apparently I’m ‘on some stairs’ and I’m ‘trying to get to the top’, but ‘I’m stuck halfway’ for some reason. However, on being told this I just did not understand and so I calmly asked them to explain it to me once more. I mean, where were these stairs? And why was I stuck? Of which more stairs were mentioned, resulting in more confusion on my part. Hmmm.
Now I am no simpleton. I just needed them to explain it to me in a more cohesive way so that my autistic brain would go ‘eureka! I’ve got it.’
I mean, why am I on some stairs in the first place? It baffles me. But if that is the case then why am I stuck? And if I am stuck then why aren’t they able to assess why I can’t move and then help me climb the rest of these imaginary stairs?
What annoys me is this.
They are more than willing to accept the governments money and call themselves a disability agency, but can they really claim to be working in my best interests when they actually do very little to actually find me stable employment?
The last time I asked for help/assistance in applying for a job it took three days of emails, phone calls and texts before I received a response.
What also annoys me is that when I am finally asked to come in for assistance, the job consultant doesn’t appear to process the necessary skills to perform the simple task of filtering the options on an employment job website and so it falls to me to show her. Hmmm.
I am thinking of formulating a plan and driving down to visit them tomorrow to get some answers, because as it stands my pain threshold is beginning to wear very thin along with my ever increasing anger. And when I get some answers I’ll let you know the outcome.
About Nick McAllister:
Nick McAllister lives in Burns Beach, is a screenwriter, blogger, ABC open contributor and also attends the Saturday writing group at the Peter Cowan Writer’s centre. He also facilitates some of the digital media workshops run by Autism West. If you would like to work with Nick, you can email him at nmcallister@yahoo.com.
