Category: Careers

Alternative Career

I had wanted to talk about working in a public library as a possible career.

For those of us without a college degree we can apply to be a clerk or a computer tech person.

You can often apply for a job on the library’s website or via their LinkedIn account.

The case I make is for a person with a 4-year degree to consider getting a Masters’ in Library and Information Science.

Often these jobs are union jobs and might offer a pension unlike traditional office work.

I’m not a fan of getting an office job after how I bombed out of the insurance field in the 1990s. Followed by a repeat of the same dynamic in the job I had at a law firm for two years while in graduate school.

Starting out fresh out of library school with an M.S. in New York City the salary is $56K for a professional librarian job at a public library.

Not all library systems are equal. The supervisors at some public libraries can be tricky to deal with.

Yet in the end if you ask me getting a job in a public library is far better than working in an office. Especially if you don’t want to wear a suit or put up with the corporate life.

The best thing is a public library might have a scholarship fund staff with 4-year degrees can apply for to go to library school.

I’ll end here with this:

For those of you who live in New York City and have a Brooklyn Public Library library card you can check out of any Brooklyn branch a copy of my book Working Assets: A Career Guide for Peers.

It’s shelved at their Business & Career Center. You can place a copy on hold and have it sent to the branch you want to pick it up at.

DEI and Disability Inclusion

If you read one DEI book first read Inclusion Revolution by Daisy Auger-Dominguez. It’s the complete guide to the topic.

My favorite DEI book though is the Antiracist Business Handbook by Trudi Lebron. She owns a million-dollar coaching and consulting business. Lebron believes in Just Commerce–a better alternative to Conscious Capitalism.

I’ll talk about DEI in terms of inclusion for individuals with mental illnesses. In order to thrive in an inclusive workplace you first have to get the job to begin with.

In New York City there’s a Queer in Every Career Job Fair. Why isn’t there a (mental illness) Peers in Every Career Job Fair? Or what I would title a Wheels-to-Work Job Fair for those of us who use wheelchairs?

One DEI book I have on my shelf to read talks about DEIB–diversity equity inclusion and Belonging. Again feeling like you belong in a particular workplace is predicated on getting a job with a savvy company that knows promoting diversity and individuality increases sales. The well-being of staff flourishes too.

Michelle T. Johnson easily 10 years ago wrote the book The Diversity Code. What she said: “Honoring individuality is the highest form of achieving diversity.”

In coming blog entries I’ll talk about alternative career paths.

It begs the question: What if you want to work in an office job? Shouldn’t that be an option?

For a lot of us the corporate office environment is not conducive to our mental health. I’m going to talk about getting a job in a public library which I feel should not be overlooked as a viable career.

Advancing Trauma-Informed Career Counseling

In my job helping customers create resumes and conduct job searches I often find myself acting as a therapist. The library patrons have unique life stories they bring to the table. Their experiences impact their employment needs and choices.

Peers with mental illnesses as well as other clients have often experienced trauma in their lives. The job a person has should aid in healing not make us ill.

Especially when we are individuals who have historically have been treated in a subpar way. By the very mental health staff tasked with helping us. If you didn’t think we could recover were you happy to spin your wheels helping us knowing that what you did wouldn’t enable us to recover. Then why did you become shrinks and social workers to begin with?

I’m going to talk in here about the reality of having a mental illness. Not a fan of total honesty this is why I cannot advance a “let-it-all-hang-out” on your lips mentality on the job. Though I write about my experiences I choose carefully what I disclose and when and where.

So–here goes–this could’ve happened to me. Or you. It happens to everyone regardless of our race, creed, gender, socioeconomics, illness or whatever demographic we fit in.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Abuse is not confined to a house or apartment. Our jobs are our living quarters for 8 hours a day. A victim of abuse or trauma could be wary of a coworker taking advantage of them.

Having a mental illness–especially in the early stages of our recovery–can be a trauma. This shouldn’t prevent us from trying to get a job. The last thing we want is to experience a new trauma in the workplace.

Our jobs should not make us ill. Our coworkers and supervisors should not gaslight us. Issues of power and control exist in the workplace. Which is why I say tread carefully with what you tell others.

To begin with individuals with mental illnesses are at a greater risk of being victims of crimes than of committing a crime.

In fact other people with mental health issues are often our abusers. Trust–this has happened.

It’s no easy task finding a company to work for where our coworkers are healing allies not self-interested adversaries.

Pain and trauma are part of everyone’s life. “Everybody Hurts” to quote the 1990s REM song title.

How to transform our pain into creative energy? How to get a job where working there can be an act of healing from illness?

I’m keen to give readers specific strategies for finding these needle-in-a-haystack positions.

The next blog entry here will be a hyperlink to a guest blogger entry that I had published at the Resources to Recover website on October 6. That entry will be my parting shot in focusing on disclosure on the job. After this I will start to talk about DEI initiatives–how Diversity Equity and Inclusion measures can help peers with mental illnesses on the job too.

Acting Vulnerable on the Job

No other expert has talked about risking becoming vulnerable at our jobs. There’s scant research into and advocating for bringing “All of You” into the workplace.

What’s written does point to the economic advantage companies have when employees are treated right and feel like we belong. Hello–where is that business and how can we apply?

My goal is to help peers with mental illnesses find jobs with employers who recognize, accept, value, and celebrate the differentness of every human being.

We should not shy away from using the word differentness. It has nothing to do with not being normal. Not that being normal is such a great prize to begin with.

Our differentness is a competitive advantage.

We are not robots. We are not machines. Though we will break down under the unrealistic pressure to be someone we’re not.

I’m thinking long and hard about the solution to this dilemma. How it hasn’t been okay to cry at the office. Or show other emotion. It’s said that in the workplace forced positivity has been expected.

In the coming blog entry I will talk about how trauma can influence what we do and say at our jobs.

Should we make ourselves vulnerable with coworkers?

Working at a Professional Job

In the 1990s I worked in corporate and legal offices. That’s why I don’t think a person should feel like their goal should be to get an office job. How can a person thrive in a 5′ x 7′ beige box with no color light and sound?

In July 2000 I fled my last office job to work in a public library. This new job was in a “pink ghetto” with low pay (even with a Master’s degree). I had the ability to wear hot pink Converse on the job. And no one raised an eyebrow.

Like I’ve said before the corporate world isn’t often appreciative of workers that think outside the narrow boxes we’re supposed to fit in

What if employees with disabilities like mental illness were routinely hired, sponsored (not just mentored), promoted, and so on. The GDP would skyrocket.

I was denied a promotion because I spoke out against harassment on one of my jobs. Management turned a blind eye to what was going on. Fearing I would be retaliated against I didn’t go to HR. That was a big mistake. The first route should’ve been to go to HR.

My disability was a matter of record at that job among people who found out. Was there a connection between this and the fact that I wasn’t promoted?

For those of us with mental health issues that work in a professional office job I still don’t think random full-on disclosure of your medical condition is the way to go on the job. This was my approach that I talked about in Working Assets: A Career Guide for Peers.

In a coming blog entry for Resources to Recover website I’m going to offer three cons and three pros of disclosure.

In the next blog entry here I will talk about different types of “disclosure” on the job.

Jet Fuel for Job Performance

In Working Assets: A Career Guide for Peers I wrote that “Your personality is your jet fuel.”

There’s no better jet fuel to enhance your performance on the job than using your unique perspective to create innovative strategies.

In the chapter Hope for Improvements in the Post-COVID Workplace I reiterated that today more than ever using your personality to find the right career is non-negotiable.

Can you and I afford to settle for less than full inclusion that allows us to show up on our jobs as our spectacular selves?

I’ve come to think that like Trudi Lebron wrote in The Antiracist Business Book “business is personal.” Forming human connections with coworkers and customers is imperative.

We will not thrive at work and traditional capitalism will fail in the post-COVID world if companies continue with business-as-usual.

If we cannot use our gifts and express our individuality on our jobs–two things that help us succeed everywhere we go–then it’s game over.

And the game of capitalism is over in 2022. The economy stalled precisely because the leaders of businesses couldn’t foresee the pandemic coming.

Those of us with the foresight to plan for the unexpected did better.

Peers with mental illnesses would ideally bring compassion for our company’s customers, loyalty to employers who treat us right, and stellar results for the firm.

Surviving and thriving when you have a hardship would give us the ability to persist in using novel approaches to solve a business problem.

The skills and strategies that peers use in our daily lives could indeed be the very Working Assets that will attract a forward-thinking employer.

Coming up a deeper dive into the mechanics of working at a “professional” job.

Using Individuality to Innovate

In Working Assets: A Career Guide for Peers I talked about different types of employment. Giving advice about working in an office as well.

The more I’m reading business books with a 2022 copyright date I plan on publishing a second career book within 2 years.

Issues exist in a lot of workplaces for those of us who are not “white cisgender male” employees.

Studying DEI-Diversity Equity and Inclusion practices covered in the 2022 business books gives guidelines for how to approach hiring and retaining workers who are happy to contribute their talents.

I’m of 2 minds: in Working Assets I advised that an office job is not the only job out there. I told readers to “Think outside the cubicle.”

Yet shouldn’t corporations “get with the program” in how they treat every employee? Enabling all of us to thrive in an office job. Why should we be forced to work elsewhere if we would like to work in an office?

My experience has been that a corporate office environment is not kind to us “beautiful dreamers” who think outside the narrow boxes we’re expected to fit in.

Research proves that companies with multi-racial workers who feel like they belong outperform the competition and skyrocket financially.

Not just the bottom line is what’s important. The wellbeing and financial security of the workers whose bottoms are warming chairs matters more.

Coming up I’m going to write a carnival of blog entries that link what I wrote in Working Assets to the guidelines given in the 2022 business books.

Focusing my lens on workers with mental illnesses.

We belong in a job environment where management recognizes that our individuality will drive innovation and achievement.

7 Ways to Thrive in a Painful Job

I understand what it’s like to work at a painful job. Too I know what it’s like to love your job. Then to fall out of love and view the exit door as a great escape.

In my experience three prime reasons exist as to why a job can be painful:

The type of work. Robotic, boring, or monotonous.

The type of management. Abusive, money-hungry, inhuman.

The type of coworkers. Rude, nasty, back-stabbing.

Getting a new job might not be possible or necessary.

What to do when you’ve lost the loving feeling for what you do?

Prioritize seeking happiness.

What gives me joy is reading nonfiction books that help me achieve my life goals.

Research the firms in Fortune’s Yearly 100 Best Companies to Work For(r).

See what their hiring practices are and how you can sell yourself as an attractive future worker there.

Have an active social life.

Go on meetup.com to find a wealth of group events. In NYC you can join the #1 New York Shyness and Social Anxiety Network, for instance. They offer support groups, movie nights, and Zoom workshops.

Consider making a “lateral move” to a different position in the same company.

Here is where you can do new things. Years ago I transferred to a new location.

Volunteer to do new things in your current job.

Three years ago I signed on to mentor teen interns.

“Dress Your Best Life” like the title of the Dawnn Karen book.

Licensed therapist Karen has a practice focused on fashion psychology. According to her, how you dress can alter or amplify your mood. I try to dress extra sharp to rocket how I feel.

Fund your retirement as sky-high as possible.

This way you can afford to go out the exit door. Sooner rather than working into your old age.

The Future is Today

In coming blog entries I’m going to review two cutting-edge how-to-get-ahead-in-business books.

It’s a fool’s errand to fake being someone you’re not to try to get ahead in life. You won’t get ahead unless you act true to yourself. I dream a day when a person doesn’t have to “code-switch” or whatever the term is for acting palatable to be taken seriously.

Any business that does not value diversity of thought, background, experience, and understanding is going to be left in the dust as the century rolls on.

With a Visionary archetype I see the direction society should be going in. And I’ll go in that direction before anyone else does to create the opportunities I want to see for myself and others.

The future is today. To live in the world that we want to see each of us must act collaboratively to create this world.

Already–though my career book Working Assets is set to be published this summer–I have the idea for a second radical career book geared to individuals with mental illnesses.

No business that wants to thrive make money and stay in business can afford to shut out of employment the very people who can ignite profits with our revolutionary thinking about how to design, create, market, and sell a product or service.

In fact, as job seekers we’re marketing ourselves as the ideal worker to come on board. Researching the companies that value diversity, equity, and inclusion should yield clues as to where to pitch ourselves.

In a future blog entry, I will write about the benefits of inclusion specifically. I have ideas for strategies that I will talk about.

In the coming blog entry, I will review the business book Be More Pirate, or How to Take on the World and Win.

The pirate way deserves a careful read in this environment.

Purpose Powered Productivity

It can sound woo-woo if that is the term to continue to link who you are with what you do.

In terms of how acting false to get ahead will backfire. However, I stand by my assertion that acting true to yourself is the only way to live.

The Bullet Journal ethic is rooted in “purpose powered productivity.” That is in there being a reason that you’re doing what you’re doing.

The type of disability a person has shouldn’t limit them to only one type of job. Though if this disability makes them more suited for a specific job that job shouldn’t be ruled out.

It’s radical to propose what I do when I’m talking about the livelihoods of individuals living with mental illnesses.

What I propose is eliminating “busywork” from our lives. Finding our life’s purpose and doing what we can to fulfill this purpose.

And who says this purpose should only be linked to our disability?

For some of us it will be. My life’s purpose is to advance my vision of recovery for everyone. From whatever illness a person has. In whatever guise recovery comes to them in.

A simple mission with two tenets.

Why I propose that peers living with mental health issues find our purpose is because we are no different from people who don’t have a disability.

No one wants to feel like their life has no meaning. Like they are adrift going in circles or going nowhere.

Countless motivational books are written about “how to fulfill your potential.”

In a coming blog entry, I will talk about how to find a purpose for getting out of bed in the morning.

In the winding down of the COVID outbreak all of us could be faced with this choice: how to spend our time when tomorrow isn’t guaranteed to arrive?

Living for today has a new resonance.

I for one wouldn’t want to spend my last day on earth cleaning my apartment.