Are you READY to return to work?
I wear two hats: helping clients with mental illnesses return to work and helping military transition to civilian employment. We often use SOC (stages of change) to assess if people are really ready to return to work.
3. Do you know what your challenges are, personal or professional? For example, are you experiencing an ongoing illness or disability which may curtail full-time employment? This refers to “work tolerance skills,” in other words, do you have the ability to accept part-time employment as a springboard to ultimate full-time employment? Sometimes accepting an entry level position, especially after a lengthy absence from the workplace, is just the ticket to building one’s confidence, one shift at a time. I have assisted individuals with professional backgrounds (i.e. nursing, military, etc), who chose to return to work on their own terms, and not dictated by family pressures. At the same time, do you have the supports (ie. Family and friends, community resources, etc) to overcome challenges? This is where self-advocacy skills come into play. Be aware of community resources such as job centers or government subsidized programmes. You might be surprised at the number of unemployed individuals, who at the beginning of their job search, are resistant to asking for employment assistance. I say beginning because the unemployment cycle resembles the stages of grief: shock, anger, denial and acceptance.
To sum up, a term that I learned in the military was WIN.
What’s important now?
What’s important now?
Bilingual career/social media strategist
www.military2civilianemployment (under construction)
www.military2civilianemployment (under construction)
