Help please!!
Hi jobcase friends. My name is Jade Goins. I feel like I am having a mid mid life crisis. I am only 26 but the years are passing and I find myself waking up day after day in the blink of an eye. It start to worry me and I get upset, then start to panic. I had an ok job about 3 months ago where I was making a killing. It was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my days and was making me miserable. But I have responsibilities as a father, man, and fiancé. There were also ways for me to better myself and move up in the company so that motivated me to stay. Plus the $$$. I then got into it with a boss I knew personally outside of the job. Was very very close with this person. He proceeded to fire me after being there going on 3 years. I made a name for myself and planned on being with for the rest of my life... At the time. Although not to happy there. It paid the bills! I then tried shrugging it off and at the time thought I would be able to find a job very quickly. With a big head after making 20+ dollars an hour for over three years.. I now find myself in a struggle to find a job outside of my skill set or even with in my skill set that doesn't require me to go thru a temp agency. I work hard and am really trying to better my life and future. Not just for me but for my family. I have worked in the factory/construction field my whole life and would love to expand my skill set and learn new things. Helping people and kids have always been something I love to do. My dream was to be a sports athlete but that did not work. Would love to teach Gym at a grade or middle school just do not know if I could get through years of schooling. I know I know, I'm doubting myself. Being a park ranger would also be an extremely cool job. Very passionate about nature and camping as well. I am sick of applying to factory after factory and temp agency after temp agency. It's now becoming a struggle to pay the bills and I need to find something quickly. If anyone has any advice or could help that'd be awesome!! Reply or reach me at my email jadegoins11@gmail.com Thanks
Jade -
I'm sorry you're experiencing a mid-life crisis at 26. I know how it can be but the best advice I can give you is to start networking (and even as it could be painful to do so, volunteer) with local places. Check/register with local staffing agencies in your area to help you find positions that may get you into nature reserves, and express this field as a passion for you. As painful as it may be to volunteer (for financial reasons), this is to increase your experience and get to know people whom are already in such fields and can possibly help you get to that same level. Look at this from the perspective that if you're not working right now, may as well volunteer here and there for now while still trying to find paid positions that. Also, because you are 26, you're still young and should really consider going back to school regardless if it's in the field you're aiming for not. It can help you gain better perspective and allow you to start over, giving employers a better understanding that you're taking things seriously to improve in areas you lack. With on occasion volunteering, you can also list the experiences gained on your resume which also can open up new opportunities for you. You are showing others that you are capable of doing other things than what you're commonly known for. It may also give you more appreciation of yourself and others who volunteer for this reason.
Imagine if you hadn't worked for 5 years as example, and one day you get an unexpected interview where you're asked "can you explain the gap in your employment history"? Most of the time this will happen, but you want to be able to provide a realistic answer showing that while you have been actively looking for new work, you are also volunteering for local places to further your experience and network yourself. This will make you stand out to an employer during an interview because it shows them that you're not sitting at home, stressing out because you can't find a job. Use the free time you have to look into as many areas of opportunity as possible because the more people you can meet and network the better for you.
Now, I know some other people will argue against volunteering, not to do it as you should be paid for your time, and granted this is true but sometimes you have to be willing to adapt to situations that will help you as a person rather than doing what's society's norm. Look into local park and nature reserves to see if they're hiring or need volunteers, and more importantly look into going back to school with a realistic mind set of of the type of education that you can apply to anything. I hope this helps. Good luck!