Career has been a constant struggle

[dowie]

What would a career coach do differently?

Not so much what they can do but what they can advise/what sort of feedback they can give - if it had worked then why are you still in this position? Multiple people have interviewed you and there seems to have been a problem.

Anyone can conduct a mock interview, maybe it will be useful in and of itself for the sake of simply practicing and maybe they can give you some feedback - I remember people would do that at school and uni (careers service would offer it etc..).

A recruiter or former HR professional might well have a bit more insight.

The bottom line is you've got a problem that you're apparently unable to fix by yourself ergo you need feedback, short of recording yourself in an interview and posting it on here none of us are able to give you much feedback beyond guessing based on stuff you've posted ergo you need a third party to do it.

I've not tried toastmasters but just googled it. Looks like it's American.

So what? Is there something wrong with organisations headquartered in America?

There is a guy currently doing it in this thread, I know people who've found it very useful:

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/toastmasters.18949603/

Failing multiple interviews you're otherwise suitable for on paper does suggest soft skills could be an issue. It might not be that, there might be some domain-specific things you're tripping up over or some general competency questions, an ex recruiter won't likely be able to help with the domain-specific stuff but can pick up on general soft skills issues and competency questions. You could try to find former uni mates/colleagues to help with domain-specific questions.

 

[Career Compromise]

Not so much what they can do but what they can advise/what sort of feedback they can give - if it had worked then why are you still in this position? Multiple people have interviewed you and there seems to have been a problem.

Anyone can conduct a mock interview, maybe it will be useful in and of itself for the sake of simply practicing and maybe they can give you some feedback - I remember people would do that at school and uni (careers service would offer it etc..).

A recruiter or former HR professional might well have a bit more insight.

The bottom line is you've got a problem that you're apparently unable to fix by yourself ergo you need feedback, short of recording yourself in an interview and posting it on here none of us are able to give you much feedback beyond guessing based on stuff you've posted ergo you need a third party to do it.



So what? Is there something wrong with organisations headquartered in America?

There is a guy currently doing it in this thread, I know people who've found it very useful:

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/toastmasters.18949603/

Failing multiple interviews you're otherwise suitable for on paper does suggest soft skills could be an issue. It might not be that, there might be some domain-specific things you're tripping up over or some general competency questions, an ex recruiter won't likely be able to help with the domain-specific stuff but can pick up on general soft skills issues and competency questions. You could try to find former uni mates/colleagues to help with domain-specific questions.

It's true that I didn't find having a job coach particularly useful. That's why I want to know what one I pay for would do differently.

I thought you were referring to it as a place to find a job coach.

You're right that soft skills could be an issue which brings me back to the issue I have with my industry. Basically if I know what I'm talking about or at least find what I'm talking about interesting then I can talk quite confidently about it but if I don't know what I'm talking about and/or find the subject boring then I struggle.

A friend and former colleague told me that they could sense my apathy towards my job but when they saw me present about something that wasn't work related they saw a different person. Likewise many years ago I did presentation training where we had to first present on a subject of our choice and then present something related to work. The trainers loved my first presentation but didn't think much to the second and acknowledged the subject of the presentation was likely the main factor.

Another issue I have is that one of my main strengths in the beginning was remembering things. Since things went ugly at my old place my memory has become like a sieve when it comes to remembering basic terminology. At one interview I stated return on investment as spend divided by investment even though I've always considered the return on investment equation to be a very basic one.

One of my day to day struggles is being quiet. I'm not a quiet person. In-fact in my first ever job (part time) I was known to be loud and even got a verbal warning for too much talking and not enough working. Now I'm really quiet at work, I really want to speak but I have nothing to say.

 

[Deleted member 651465]

It reads to me like you've lost the passion with your work and may have developed some sort of depression with your situation.

Without resolving your issues* which are impacting your passion for the role, it may be difficult to find land a new job in such a competitive market.

*- making some wild assumptions here based on what you've written. You may well be very happy in your personal life but something isn't adding up for me.

 

[Career Compromise]

It reads to me like you've lost the passion with your work and may have developed some sort of depression with your situation.

Without resolving your issues* which are impacting your passion for the role, it may be difficult to find land a new job in such a competitive market.

*- making some wild assumptions here based on what you've written. You may well be very happy in your personal life but something isn't adding up for me.

You're right on both counts.

I definitely had enthusiasm when I started out but my experience as time went on at my last company coupled with my inability to find another job made me resent it and I've not been able to get my enthusiasm back.

 

[throwaway4372]

What are you meant to do when you lose enthusiasm for your career? Just give up and stack shelves?

 

[dowie]

What are you meant to do when you lose enthusiasm for your career? Just give up and stack shelves?

That's up to you. Find something else you're interested in maybe, there isn't anything you're "meant to do" after all, these are all your own choices, there is a bit of randomness thrown in that you can't control but you've got a lot of control yourself too.

 

[Career Compromise]

That's up to you. Find something else you're interested in maybe, there isn't anything you're "meant to do" after all, these are all your own choices, there is a bit of randomness thrown in that you can't control but you've got a lot of control yourself too.

This is my frustration in a way. My first graduate job interview was at a well known transport company and I had bags of enthusiasm. I started to accept I had to compromise but it got to a point where I ended up doing something I didn't like at all.