Hi eye_of_tiger,

Can I request a career reading from you please? I have been following an internship in a company since a year.The internship has been very hard as I didn't like the work place .  I worked under pressure and there was no job satisfaction. Fortunately the internship is coming to an end but I still haven't found a new job . I am very worried and it is causing much tension for me at home. My dad makes it seem as though it's my fault if I haven't found a job yet.

What can I expect in my career in the near future ?Will I find a good job I'll like soon ?

Thanks so much

Being the father of a 25 year old daughter, I can see as a parent that your father's intentions towards you are caring and protective (possibly a little over protective for a capable person of your age), but that it is his way of expressing his own doubts and frustrations with your present situation that is causing conflict between you. Otherwise you normally get on quite well with him, as he does with you. In other words his heart is in the right place, but he has no idea what to do or tell you that is going to make the problem go away, so he is unfortunately venting all his frustration and anxieties onto the nearest person to him at the time (which happens to be you). He is not actually blaming you for not having a job by now (actually it is the employment market which is mainly responsible for your current difficulties), but what he is saying can be easily misinterpreted that way.

Your period of internship has been very difficult and challenging and you say that you have not experienced any job satisfaction. But surely it is the challenges and the ability to work under pressure that makes your internship so valuable as an opportunity for you to decide whether the job is really you, as well as allowing your employer to assess whether or not you would make a good employee. You are in the unenviable position of being a novice or apprentice, and there are really no short cuts I can provide you with which would help you to avoid having to endure this. Much the same situation would occur in most jobs you are just starting out on and have no previous relevant experience of, and being able to work well with other people is an important  skill with most (unless you are going to be self employed).

You have also mentioned in your request that you didn't like the work place, or something or someone in your working environment. This with due respect is a little vague, and I think it would definitely be in your best interests to sit down with a pen and paper alone, and write down precisely the factors which you felt are or were causing you problems. I feel that if you could isolate the major sources of your problems with the work place that you would then have a far better idea as to what you or someone else can do about them. I think that the time has more than arrived for you to ask yourself some important questions about what you hope to achieve in your next job, and to use the answers you obtain in order to formulate a plan of positive action. You may even feel the need to get some assistance from a qualified career advisor or counsellor as to getting these points clearer in your own mind, so do not delay doing so if your inner guidance prompts you.

This is one situation I feel where your father's advice is not going to be adequate to the task, which will by the way tend to make any loving father such as your own feel no longer needed and unloved. Up until now he has given you some excellent guidance, but finding your way in the current employment market requires the help of a specialist, although your father can still continue to provide you with moral support, as I never said that this process would necessarily be easy. I also feel that if you did consult a qualified professional to obtain career guidance, that this would significantly reduce your father's concerns and largely get him off your back. The ongoing feeling of increasing tension within your home would soon I believe back off.

Without knowing what else might be happening in your life at this time, and especially whether or not you have already consulted a career advisor, I cannot make any actual predictions about whether you will find a suitable position for yourself within the next six months. The guiding purpose of my readings is not to predict the future, but rather to best prepare you for whatever the future might hold in store for you. Other than being absolutely certain that you are not somehow destined to remain permanently unemployed, whether or not you will make significant progress in furthering your career ambitions over the next few months will be largely up to you (and to your co-operation with your career advisor).

We each constantly create and reshape our personal and working futures by the conscious decisions we make in the present moment, our only true point of power, so try to more precisely define what the problems are that you are experiencing within the workplace, create a plan of taking whatever positive steps are needed to improve matters, then go out there and give it your best shot.

eye_of_tiger

Thank you very much eye_of_tiger , my dad is indeed a little over protective. I was so angry the other day because I felt he blamed me for not having found another job yet. I didn't realise until much later that he was only concerned about me . The tension is almost gone and everything is peaceful at home.In the future when he gives me career advice , I'll try not to get angry and just listen to what he has to say . Normally as you said , I get along fine with him . I would perhaps just love if he let me make my own choices and decisions.

I got a good working experience even if it was hard . My employer was satisfied with my job and I'll be getting good references when I leave in a couple of days. I am very glad though that the internship is coming to an end because I really want a new job so as to learn some new skills etc. In my next job , I know that I'll have to change my attitude a bit so as to feel happier and enjoy my work. I should focus more on the positive aspects of a job rather than on the negative ones.

I will surely sit down with pen and paper to write down what I didn't like about my work place. I didn't like the work environment and my boss's attitude amongst many things. And being an intern is not the best position and I'm so happy I'm done with that . I badly want a permanent position where I'll understand my work better and earn more.In my next job I am willing to make an extra effort to adapt to the environment and co-workers. I will be hopefully more confident at my next work place hopefully now that I have some experience.

I am sure I would love to do a job which requires lots of programming . I will try to find a career advisor to give me further advice. I will try to make the positive steps for me to improve matters in my career. I may take up a temporary job if I find one so as not to remain unemployed for long , until I find the right permanent job for me.

Thank you very much for your guidance and I hope I can put some of it into practice.  

Being in an internship is necessarily an artificial situation, as people know very well that you are not going to be with the company for very long, and often react accordingly. In a manner you will always be an outsider to them?

You will only really begin to learn about the job, once you have a reasonably permanent position. Workers often react quite differently in a more positive manner to "permanent" staff than they do to temporary trainees, although it will take them time to get to know you better, so please take this into account if you do not feel there is any improvement within the first month after taking up your new job.

In order to make new friends for yourself, first try to be a good friend to another, and show that you are interested in them as a human being with their own problems, and not just as someone else who works there. Share their interests, and they are then more likely to want to share your's in return?

Good luck,

eye_of_tiger