Gaining and Maintaining Employment…The Motivation

Welcome or welcome back! We don’t take your time for granted, so thank you for visiting our blog as we navigate the ebb and flow of gaining and maintaining employment while managing a (dis)ability. Our lives aren’t long enough to learn everything we need to know or do everything we need to do, alone. We might run out of time, or opportunity, while trying to do so. It can be too much to wrap our heads around or even imagine…if we can…how we can…when we can…go back to work. The Ticket-To-Work Program (MEO Style) was, and continues to be, my answer to those questions. I can’t begin to imagine how I would have made it through the maze of returning to the workspace without help from my Employment Counselor (EC) and Certified Benefits Specialist at My Employment Options.

After navigating through the process of gaining employment, the last thing I wanted was to have the job search phase repeat itself over and over again. I had to be honest about what I could do and learn from my ‘tries’ so that I could venture closer to a job that was a good fit. While I worked a job doing what I had to do…until I could do what I wanted to do…I did not give up on looking for a job that would fulfill the purpose that I knew I was created for…helping people the way I do now. That’s why I am here today, an EC myself, doing for others what my EC did for me. I encourage my clients to be sure to touch base regularly with the same Certified Benefits Specialist who gave me ease when it came to all things SSA Benefits and the safety nets that worked for my good. I call her the SSA Guru.

My skillset, as presented on my resumé yielded some interviews…let me pause for just a moment and say that presentation of your resumé matters, more so now than ever. It has to present itself a certain way to make it through the virtual gates of the Automated Tracking System (ATS). Some of us aren’t used to that. I certainly wasn’t. I was used to walking into a place and handing them my resumé or emailing it directly to a hiring manager. But when I returned to search for work on the other side of my (dis)ability, I found that ATS was now the gatekeeper and decided which resumés make it through the entry point to the recruiters. It can be a bit sensitive and is not flexible when it comes to its requirements for receiving a resumé and it certainly seems to have no problem turning those that don’t meet its standards away.

After making it through the ATS, my resumés went left or right, through an entry door to an interview or the ‘not now, try again’ auto-response door. Entering the door to the interview could be the key to an invitation into the virtual or community workspace…or not. I learned very quickly that I couldn’t take what some consider rejections, to heart. I chose to think of it as, if it’s not the right job for me…I don’t want it. Because if it isn’t a good fit for me and I don’t enjoy it, a job with stress and no joy would not be helpful and would make it difficult to manage my (dis)ability. I would be less than honest if I didn’t share that my first job back wasn’t the best for managing my (dis)ability, but it was a pathway to living and not just existing. I used that as motivation and did find some aspects of joy in helping my customers, until I got back to my career space.

The process of gaining employment can be a challenge attached to the challenge of a (dis)ability. But with determination, patience, and being strategic with finding a job that’s a good fit…we face the challenge and push past it, work around it or with it to get to our ultimate goal of working again. The race is not always won by the fastest…sometimes they suffer burnout. But pacing ourselves, being focused and determined can help us reach that second wind level and get us to the finish line, sometimes in quantum leaps.

There is an underlying component that fuels our get up and try or try again and that’s our motivation. What motivates us to want to work? It’s different for each of us, and sometimes the reasons are multiple. For some, it’s all about survival or living, not just existing on SSI or SSDI; for others, it’s about feeling a sense of purpose or contribution to the overall good. And there are those of us who don’t know how to not work. Whatever the motivation or combination of motivating factors…that’s what fuels our try, our get up, show up…and repeat, as often as we are motivated to do so.

I wake up in the mornings with gratitude and sometimes unbelief that I am able to do the work that I do to help those who are traveling the same path that I have travelled and am still on; as my (dis)ability has not gone away. I’ve learned to manage it better and a part of the reason is because I am motivated to work…motivated to show up and help my clients to the best of my ability. Working again has helped to motivate me to live again and is my receipt of never settling for what it looks like…try and keep trying; remembering that we cannot find what we stop looking for. I wanted a job that was a good fit…I kept looking until I found it.

Gaining and maintaining employment isn’t easy, but it is doable and when you have The Ticket-To-Work Program (MEO Style) working with you, the support makes a difference in invisible and tangible ways. Maintaining employment requires some flexibility, patience, forgiveness and time. You may find it strange to see forgiveness thrown in there, but it can make or break your employment. We are human beings who work with human beings. Each of us have lives outside of the workplace, with our own individual set of circumstances. We each have our own behavioral patterns that have been shaped by our experiences, which can work for or against us. What forgiveness does, is it helps us release intentional, unintentional or even perceived offenses so that we don’t carry them to the point of weighing us down and affecting what we are really supposed to be focused on…the job we’re being paid to do. What you just experienced was some coaching…we offer that too, to help our clients sustain employment with the support they need through difficult situations on a job in a way that helps them maintain employment, though experiencing some challenging hurdles…as is life. Hurdles aren’t fixed and can be overcome, with some coaching.

What’s your motivation for wanting to work…you’ll need it as a reminder if things don’t always go the way you’d like. And always remember that a moment only lasts for a moment…tomorrow is a new day!! Thank you for stopping by our blog page! Take good care of yourselves…until next time… 

 **If this is your first visit to our blog site, please feel free to visit previous blogs. If you’re interested in more information regarding applying for the MEO Ticket to Work Program…click here: https://myemploymentoptions.com/apply-now/