Pressure - finding things really difficult

sarkozy

So, like, honestly, how to people cope with spending a significant length of time pursuing a career that disintegrates, only having to figure out how to start all over again.

I'm 33, married, with our first child. For 10 years, I've enthusiastically pursued a career in the NGO sector, thinking I was doing the right thing.

Now I realise I'm left on the scrapheap with lots of experience but, apparently, no skills to stay employed in a sector which currently is advertising on average 5 positions a week (down from at least 20-30 per week years ago).

To stay in the sector, I've survived precarious work, having never worked on a single contract for more than 18 months, and never earning more than the average industrial wage. Now, after another significant bout of unemployment, I've taken further paycut well below the average industrial wage.

MABS says a family of three (newborn plus husband and wife) needs 40.2k to to cover basic costs.

We earn a fraction of that. Despite my education, I'm left with nothing to go on.

I'm afraid, if I leave it any longer, my chances of earning any more than this, because I'm old and inexperienced, are over. I will never give myself, wife or child the life they deserve.

I mean, how to people cope with this. I'm cracking up.

mylifetoday

I don't know how to help ... only to say what is working for me

"There is a power far greater than me, and I trust this power, believing, that all I need, comes to me, at the right time". Louise Hay

Gone West

mylifetoday wrote: »

"There is a power far greater than me, and I trust this power, believing, that all I need, comes to me, at the right time". Louise Hay

Don't be listening to this nonsense.
If you want to improve your situation, ONLY you can do it for yourself.

OP, you mentioned the sector that your experience lies in but not the job function, so it's difficult to give advice.

Job function is more important than sector, see what skills you have will translate to another role in a different industry.

sarkozy

I suppose I mean: how do you start all over again?

Mrs OBumble

Fuzzy wrote: »

Don't be listening to this nonsense.

MOD-NOTE: Please keep it civil: the OP asked how people cope, the next poster shared the philosophical / spiritual approach that works for them. It's fine to say "I don't agree because" - but if you use disparaging phrases like the above, you can expect warnings/infractions.

Rock of Gibraltar

sarkozy wrote: »

I suppose I mean: how do you start all over again?

Have you considered consultancy work rather than strictly NGO stuff? are you on devex.com? You can do a country search there to find the relevant consultancy firms in Ireland.

sarkozy

There aren't (not for me anyway), and going overseas isn't an option (if I can help it).

BurnsCarpenter

sarkozy wrote: »

There aren't (not for me anyway), and going overseas isn't an option (if I can help it).

Retirement age is likely to be 70, at least, by the time you get there so that is plenty of time to build a career in another field, if your current path isn't working out.

If you have any interest in IT, there are plenty of conversion H Dip courses (and other qualifications) available, many of them free. Some of them will arrange a work placement as well so you will get some relevant experience, or it may lead to a permanent position.

Mrs OBumble

OP, what is your speciality? Even if it's general management, then surely we can suggest some roles in other business sectors that use the same skills.

ankles

Forget about where you work, focus on what you do and what you do well and enjoy. Is it primarily in HR or project management or marketing etc. Re-design your CV around those skills, not the fact that you happen to use them in an NGO. If you want to stay in NGO's then be prepared for a tough, poorly remunerated career, its a tough one to bring up a family with. Alternatively bite the capitalist bullet, get a job, and do the ethical stuff in your spare time.

sarkozy

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

OP, what is your speciality? Even if it's general management, then surely we can suggest some roles in other business sectors that use the same skills.

International development cooperation, governance and civil society, policy, research, communications, basic project management, graphic design, copywriting, including a stint in the Dept. Foreign Affairs. And within that, apparently not enough 'hard skills' attained and in demand (despite having a Masters in Development Studies).

All seemingly perfectly irrelevant in Ireland, either in the development/NGO sector or private sector. It might sound OK, but really, it doesn't amount to much in practice in my experience.

I can no longer stand the job insecurity/precariousness of it.

10 years down the drain.

I've tried to follow a vocation and have been left on the scrap heap.

Consistent pay cuts since 2008 (from a low base), and now with a kid, is impossible. It would even be an amazing thing if I could earn the average industrial wage. Not a hope.

Ankles: I genuinely don't know what I do anymore.

Jim2007

sarkozy wrote: »

International development cooperation, governance and civil society, policy, research, communications, basic project management, graphic design, copywriting, including a stint in the Dept. Foreign Affairs. And within that, apparently not enough 'hard skills' attained and in demand (despite having a Masters in Development Studies).

All seemingly perfectly irrelevant in Ireland, either in the development/NGO sector or private sector. It might sound OK, but really, it doesn't amount to much in practice in my experience.

I can no longer stand the job insecurity/precariousness of it.

10 years down the drain.

I've tried to follow a vocation and have been left on the scrap heap.

Consistent pay cuts since 2008 (from a low base), and now with a kid, is impossible. It would even be an amazing thing if I could earn the average industrial wage. Not a hope.

Ankles: I genuinely don't know what I do anymore.

Well I would have thought that many of the skills you mentioned would be of interest to companies in the area of content providers, publishing and advertising for a start....

sarkozy

You would think, wouldn't you? Since I've no qualification, a design studio would never hire me. There's no jobs in my actual specialty. I hate communications and PR. Advertising is something that's been suggested, but I don't know how to take this forward. At the same time (and while my absolute vocation would be to be a political scientist/professor), I feel I might really hate advertising since I'm a strongly ethical person (according personal work history, personal reflection and various job-related tests).

I would love to be proved wrong. And I'm genuinely asking for ideas/leads/whatever.

Rock of Gibraltar

Here
http://www.idi.ie/

Here's another one, their website is ages out of date though
http://www.aarcconsultancy.com/

Both worth looking into, maybe also send your CV to ESB International they're probably the biggest development consultancy firm. Say you're looking to be Ireland based, work on tender bids and remote project management that sort of thing.

Ray13

http://www.careerguidance.ie/careerguidance.php go to the experts, get career guidance, be positive, turn your though process around and remove negative thoughts like 10 years experience down the drain, "the you you see is the you you'll be". I recommend a book called "The Green Platform" by Declan Coyle. Also consider joining a business networking group such as Venture Networks or Business Network International.

5p9arw38djv2b4

Sarkozy - sorry to hear things are so rough. My MSc is a joint Dev and another subject - because Dev is so competitive I ended up focussing on the other subject since graduating. However the skills people develop doing dev jobs are excellent - could you pursue one of those? I now work as a programme/project manager in a policy field and of the 12 in the team 5 have a dev MSc background - but all are excellent project managers, and really suited to policy work too. Would you think about doing your Prince2 exams and becoming a PM? There are always vacancies across lots of different sectors in PM work.

Also just to say that most of the team want to go back to Dev work, but think that PM experience would help. The other thing would be specialising in a financial role? There always seems to be accountant jobs in Dev roles!

sarkozy

LadyLabyrinth: I'm not sure what you mean by dev and I've never heard of Prince2 or anything like that. What line of work are you in now?

5p9arw38djv2b4

I will message you privately!