Video Transcription
How April dealt with not having a job
I’m April, I’m 22, and I live in Orange with my 5-year-old daughter. When my daughter was only a couple of months old, I signed up to do some courses through TAFE, and it wasn’t until recently that I found work. I looked through Facebook, I looked in the newspaper, and I looked online. People were telling me about work, so every avenue that you could possibly look at, I looked at it.
So, my daughter is 5 now, and this is the first job I’ve had since she was born—at least 5 years of just looking for work. I’ve applied to everywhere, from fast-food places to cleaning people’s houses and motels, to babysitting, to being a nanny. Pretty much everything you can think of, I’ve applied for.
I think not having the money to do the things that you want to do—whether it’s just to pay bills or to have fun—I dealt with it really badly. I used to think that I’m really not good enough, that there are way better people out there than me, and that I’m just not suited. I think the hardest part was when there was no email, no call, no nothing saying you didn’t get it. It’s just waiting. It definitely played on my anxiety a lot. My head just thought, “You’re worthless. You’re useless. There’s nothing you can do.”
Knowing that I needed to work to take care of my daughter’s future, to be able to go on holidays, buy a car, and meet all my bills, pretty much motivated me to keep going. Lots of family members kept saying, “Just keep trying. You can do it. Someone’s going to want you, and when they finally get you, they’ll realise how great you are.” I think it builds resilience because you’re constantly at it all the time, dealing with rejection, and every time you deal with rejection, you get a little better at dealing with it.
I did a lot of binge-watching TV shows and surrounded myself with friends and family who were all supportive and uplifting. I spoke to counsellors—I went in to speak to counsellors and also spoke to them over the phone when I felt worthless and didn’t want to go anywhere. I spoke to my GP about it, who put me on medication.
There’s a business in town that had just started putting on extra work and taking on extra houses, so I applied. I was lucky enough to get an interview. I sat the interview—I was nervous—but they thought I was suitable. So, I work for a disability support company in town. I am a disability support worker.
With my job, I take care of clients. It feels great to have a job. It feels great not having to rely on other people, not having to borrow money, and not having to invite myself to stay at people’s houses just so that I can eat. It’s definitely great having a job.
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