I am not the best candidate for employment. First, I have a disability–partial paralysis from 18 months of age; I have been unemployed for an extended period of time. I have held three jobs mostly in my late teens to early thirties, all gotten by employment counsellors which made me elligible for termination because the employers weren’t investing a whole lot in me–the government was; and I lost all jobs within the three month trial period. I lost my first job in the finance industry because at 19 I had little if any knowledge of how office politics worked and how to survive corporate culture. No one even bothered to find out if I knew what I was doing. I was fired from the second, a clerical position, because having been on government assistance for so long I was unused to the extended hours of a full time position. The third position, a switchboard answering service and receptionist position I really liked is still an enigma. The only reason that my employment councellor could get was that the six girls who wanted to join a union to get better working conditions were not fired but simply laid off–and yet there was no chance of coming back to work, even if the idea of the union was dropped. And yes, the conditions were in violation of local human rights laws.
I am also overweight by perhaps twenty pounds. No one wants an overweight lady with a misshapen hand sitting at the front desk, no matter how nice and politely she treats the employer’s clients.
These problems actually started earlier than this while I was in high school. I did not graduate due to several unfortunate incidents that were too emotionally upsetting to continue, and , when I went to the employment agency I had no idea what I wanted to do or what I was suited for. At the time I was coming into my late teens there was no tests to determine these aptitudes.
My parents wanted me to go to the “handicapped people place” (my father’s name for the local Disabilities Counsel), but the only problem I have is being one-handed and not being able to get around well in winter. I have never used my disability to get anything or excuse myself from something and I’ve always considered myself to be “more normal” than disabled. And if another person who needs that space more than I do I should not take it from them. I’ve been called many things because of this attitude. But the bottom line is I’m “between the cracks” I am not “normal” enough to get a waitress job or enter a non-traditional occupation, yet I consider myself not to be so disabled as to need the services offered by the organizations set up to provide them.
I did get my GED on the first try, which the tester had told me at the start was very difficult and that most of the people there had been there two or three times before. But by that time I had been so beaten down by discouragement that I did not want to look for work any more. That was also in the days when the GED was not universally recognized as an alternative to regular high school graduation by all secondary institutions and employers.
And now, on top of everything else, I am in the “older worker” category, a discrimination that still exists.
So, how does all this help you?
My purpose in starting a resume writing service is to help people who maybe having problems obtaining employment because of disability or illness such as epilepsy or diabetes which present problems for the employer, have resume deficits such as lack of experience or big gaps in employment present themselves in a better light to prospective employers. To give them confidence in themselves despite the things that are holding them back, and, I think primarily, to stop people from giving up at the start because they have no idea what it is they want to do or are good at and see welfare as the only option
We have all been created by God who has a purpose for each one of us. If what I have gone through is for the purpose of helping others in the same, or similar situations, then it has all been worth it.
