Rec | IT’S TIME TO TAKE INVENTORY

Rec

🗺️

I don’t have any degree and in another life I worked in restaurants and at CVS. Customers would grill me about my career aspirations and straight up beg me to go to college. I got sick of it pretty quickly and sat down and asked myself what I would want in a workplace and what skills I had that I could use to do something else.
I had some freelance experience and used that to enter my current field and continued pursuing organic opportunities for growth and learning. About a year ago I started working at a company that prioritizes employee development and internal promotion and I’m in the process of gaining enough experience and connections to be able to do something new again! I definitely think it’s possible for people who don’t have a bachelor’s degree to find these opportunities; you just have to be strategic about it and get your foot in the door at the right places.
There are so many transferable skills you gain in retail and food service that are beneficial in other professional fields like communication, multi-tasking, attention to detail, etc. So you can take those and add them to whatever skills you may have gained at your current job.
Ask yourself what it is that you’re better at than anybody else, the things you would want and definitely not want in a workplace, the kind of tasks you like doing, and kind of guide your search from there. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you’re lesser than others just because you have less formalized education than they do and remember that people hire likable people they want to be around—even that will take you far! best of luck! 🍀

@taterhole

Sep 5, 2024

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@liam_millerrrr

Also friends in chat, everyone i know is getting laid off dropped liked flies, it’s not schadenfreude but been taking a lot of comfort in that it’s not just me/us. Hard out here rn, stay strong🖤

Sep 6, 2024

@liam_millerrrr

Every MD i’ve had somehow had the same boomer story, “ I sold sandwiches to this guy enough and shook his hand firmly, now i’m a millionaire“. Which is obv nonsense now but having so much time in any service industry, they’re at least right about soft skills. Every job i thought i had no chance at was because of that, all the technical ones fell they. Everyone’s got talent/degree the interviews are just like “can i work with this competent person”

Sep 6, 2024

@deardoveswings

thank you <3 i try and avoid seeing as myself as lesser than bc i know there are a lot of people who work their way up on their own knowledge and it’s so admirable. i usually market myself that way too: “good at communication, great under pressure, multitasker, fast learner etc” bc i know i was an asset to all my past jobs even though they made me miserable. i don’t want to rethink my career path entirely but the weird thing about this job is it makes me question if i was built for this setting even though this industry is all i ever wanted to do :(

Sep 6, 2024

@taterhole

deardoveswings it sounds like it may be an issue of company culture and the culture of your industry in general so I wonder if there are ways for you to do similar work but somewhere that feels more fulfilling and enjoyable to you where you feel valued!!!

Sep 6, 2024

@deardoveswings

taterhole yeah, i want to be somewhere im feel valued on top of enjoying my job :( i thought working at the intersection of art and education would be my fun, big break. the arts is where i really excelled all my life and the only place i where i feel like i belong but its tricky when its full people who only talk money or background…

Sep 6, 2024

@taterhole

deardoveswings you don’t have to answer this but do you work in museums? I’ve heard that in settings like that dealing with the wealthy can be very irritating and soul crushing. Maybe something more grassroots and community focused could make you feel like the work you’re doing is impactful and exciting!!!

Sep 6, 2024

@taterhole

deardoveswings but yeah my dad is an artist and materialistic status obsessed art world people drive him crazy which is why he is not very commercially acceptable 💀 he is unable to stomach it…

Sep 6, 2024

@deardoveswings

taterhole i do work in a museum! and i'm really feeling that side of it…i've met many kind, interesting people, whether it be visitors, curators, artists etc…but some of the people i report to wear down on me especially bc they can afford to treat the staff better AND keep the donors happy. i volunteer monthly (used to do it once a week) for an art program at a family shelter and while i love kids it’s helped me learn i don’t want to work with them fulltime or teach in general (thus why i didn’t become a teacher like everyone around me wanted. i’ve worked with kids a lot and when theyre going through tough situations i end up taking that home with me mentally. i also have both social and generalized anxiety so leading large groups is tough). also as per your other comment i totally understand your dad :( it’s such an icky world when money is involved. my dream job would be some sort of freelance fine art mishmosh that somehow also incorporates fashion and the environment. but thats extremely niche 😖 im unfortunately so sensitive to where i need to prioritize my happiness over money.

Sep 6, 2024

@taterhole

deardoveswings hmm… maybe adult education or like… going back to school and becoming an art therapist which would be one on one and on your own schedule? But idk maybe you would do well in other adjacent creative fields in roles that are less forward-facing 🤔

Sep 6, 2024

@deardoveswings

taterhole something one on one is def more realistic for me as i don’t *hate* people at all. i love talking to people especially about art but on a smaller scale. i think about art therapy from time to time but a masters is not something i can entertain financially rn so i think the moral of all this is i have to suck it up, be patient, save money and regroup in 5-10 years…i would adore something more “in the background“, though. less pressure.

Sep 6, 2024

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world is your oyster

I don’t think you need to do anything immediately, your situation sounds v stressful and disregulating though and I’m sorry you’re going through it
It might be good to slow down and remember all the things you bring to the table. I really believe that self taught knowledge/work experience isn’t lesser than knowledge gained in a classroom. I work in a field completely unrelated to my degree because people saw that I was eager to learn and they took a chance on me. You aren’t lesser because you have an associate’s degree - your path was just different! Don’t let your self critic diminish your dopeness 🫶🏻
There are also so many jobs outside of food/retail !! Trust 🙂‍↕️

@sillygirltypebeat

Sep 5, 2024

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Self awareness

Tbh I feel like finding a job you like is mostly self awareness and knowing that it’s still going to feel like a job
A few questions that Might help:
1. think about past work experience - who has your favorite supervisor been? Why? Same for least favorite - what did they do that you absolutely could not stand?
2. Think about morals - do you want to find ~meaning~ at work or is it more important to have stability and freetime?
3. Think about past coworkers - do you like working alone? On a team? Is it important to be around people during the work day?
4. Think about what you get satisfaction out of in your personal life - is your grocery list organized by aisle? are you the mediator in your friend group? While hobbies might play into this, try and think beyond them
try and translate some of your answers into something you’d find on a job description. Maybe this exercise won’t be helpful but thinking about work like this has helped me land in a job I like
Myself as example: I like organization, having autonomy, having my voice heard, and ~believing~ in the work I do. I also get bored at work quickly. This originally led me to social work where I quickly got burnt out With 24/7 work. I’m in continuing Ed administration where I work a 9-5 ~10 months of the year and have 1-2 very hectic months and that works really well for me.

@vin

Feb 16, 2024

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you're not alone in feeling this way

long story short, capitalism is failing (which is for the best actually!) so a lot of the systems we were told to rely on are revealing the ways in which they are ultimately unsustainable. the erosion of the high school -> undergrad degree -> lifetime career and single-income stability pipeline is a very visible example of this. our system wants you to believe that GDP is the only measure of a thriving society, so you need to become the best tool for production that you possibly can be in order to keep this number going up in perpetuity. it's totally natural for you to feel some dissonance between what's expected of you in this kind of culture and what you actually want to do. this system was not designed with the needs of the individual in mind.
our current world does a great job of convincing us that we're worthless if we aren't economically productive, if we aren't "successful," and if we aren't head-over-heels about being a cog in a machine whose only purpose is generating shareholder value. luckily, you matter as an individual inherently, and you get to define for yourself what success is and what you want to accomplish with your life. a job is only a small part of all the things you will do if you keep curious and open to the world.
with college comes the freedom to act upon the agency which you have as a human with free will. adulthood is all about reclaiming this compass for yourself and shedding the inherited narratives and expectations that your upbringing gave you if they don't actually serve to bring about your own flourishing. use college as an opportunity to get to know yourself and work your way up mazlow's pyramid of needs (or more accurately, maslow’s sailboat); find community, find hobbies, find what brings you joy now that you have the freedoms afforded you by adulthood. figure out what it is that you most enjoy doing in life and find ways to pursue that, and it doesn't have to be tied to a career/your major (that's great if it is though, count yourself lucky if that is the case).
humans are too complex and capable to be restricted to performing one type of task in one single field for their entire life. sure that's what expertise necessitates, but you don't need to be an expert in everything. the economy is weird right now because corporations are convinced by the hallucination that people come out of college being complete experts in whichever field they studied, so it can be very discouraging to feel unwanted by the job market because you don't have enough "experience." this pressure is an unrealistic expectation, and it is natural to feel as if you do not meet this expectation. the system needs to change, not you! what corporate culture fails to realize is that learning about something is not the same as doing it, and experience comes from doing. college under capitalism is a business. it's not designed to provide you experience, it's designed to maintain a tuition-paying student body. you have to seek out experience yourself.
so try new things, fail on occasion, that's how you learn. don't limit yourself to doing only things which you perceive as being productive, productivity isn't what life is about. life is about experiencing. if something interests you, do it for the sake of your own edification. you'll be a fuller and more fulfilled person for doing so, even if it doesn't leave a blip on your resume. the best things in life aren't going to show up on your transcript or your linkedin page. your dreams do not have to be defined by your career, find a dream to pursue that is true to you and then achieve it. don't fall for the lie that your dreams must relate to your profession, and that your profession defines your worth. reject any narrative that seeks to belittle you for the sake of making you compliant within a system which was not designed to benefit you.

@royallmonarch

Sep 26, 2024

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