h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello everyone.

I would like to bring to the forum a dilemma I have been cogitating on perhaps a little too fervently for some time.

In my last employment I chose to be open about suffering from depression, and to ease the misunderstanding and fears of my contemporaries, I put forward a plan to discuss the illness in the form of a presentation, which I intended to make to show how important it was to have a certain amount of freedom of expression and emotion in daily life, particularly in the workplace. Unfortunately, just as my plans were receiving approval and a certain amount of admiration from colleagues and the HR people, a situation arose at work which proved my point, and it was made worse by a particularly unsupportive employer who chose to turn the situation into a protracted series of confrontational meetings which served only to demonstrate how the illness can manifest itself in times of stress, i.e. I finally lost hope in trying to help him to understand my condition and left in a fury of abuse.

Since then I have been biding my time, and keeping busy as best I can with the knowledge that I can never go into employment on false pretences. I have realised that being honest about mental illness is the most important factor in its remedy. Either people know and can respect it or I can't respect, much less work for, them. To this end, the only work I have been able to find where I have some sort of guarantee of that is volunteer work in local day care centres and psychiatric wards, which I have gladly put myself up for, but it doesn't pay the bills.

So put simply my problem is this. Where can I find a decent paid job (admin, clerical, that sort of thing) without sacrificing my sense of self? Is it possible?

I look forward to hearing from anyone who can advise me on this, with apologies for the huge posting.

Love to all,

I applaud the fact that you have been so open and honest (values a good employer ought to value) and that you chose to spend the time when you are not in full employment helping others

Here are some suggestions that might interest you (retraining may be necessary)

Ad agencies - modern ones like St Lukes encourage informal atmosphere and creativity
Sensitive Employers such as The Body Shop (I loved temping there for 6 months)
Something with a degree of autonomy - consultancy, self employment
Something where you put your knowledge of employment conditions to use to make the workplace a better place to work - HR, Union worker, Social work in the employment field, Occupational Health, Hygiene and Health and Safety, environmental management

My own job is Health and Safety Officer - you work on your own in a big company giving advice (that they can take or leave). A basic course costs about £2500 (for which you may get a government grant), it is a growth industry with loads of jobs. UK salaries are @ £25,000 pa plus benefits.

Best of luck to you

Glider

Thanks a great deal for your detailed response, and for your encouragement. I've taken on board the suggestions you've given and it would seem I have a lot more options than I previously thought - though as you say I think retraining is the first step; Occupational Health appeals to me.
Cheers Glider

Anyone else have related horror / triumph over adversity stories?

Whenever any of my friends are considering changing careers I recommend - or even give them - "What Color is your Parachute".

It gives lots of practical how-to advice; but, more importantly, there are structured exercises which help you work out what sort of person you are, what you are best at, what kind of organisation you would like to work for, what kind of place you would like to live in, and so on. In other words, it helps you find out what kind of work you will find deeply fulfilling; and then shows you how to get a job doing it.

Personal testimonial here: I was working by myself, for myself, in my spare room, selling equipment to big companies. I was frustrated, lonely, bored and trapped. I worked my way through most of the exercises in the book, spending every Tuesday evening on them for a couple of months, and finally got myself a contract, in Glasgow, for a large company, working as part of a team. Some of that team are still close friends, a year after I moved on from Glasgow.

Now this is the punch-line: I could be confident and excited about the decision, and I knew that there was in fact very little risk attached to it, because I had spent so much time finding out stuff I never knew about myself, or applying stuff I did know to my professional situation.

There are a wide range of organisations out there which employ people, some are more ethical and human in their approach than others. Good Luck Kid!

gcB