Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world.

Special Treat – From Me!

August 12, 2006

Up For The Challenge

Carol Roach

It has been a rough year-and-a-half for me. In 2005, I quit my job at a call center after much contemplation and two leave of absences. I was sick with diabetes, almost unable to walk from arthritis and suffering from burnout. It was the right decision for me at the time.

I knew that my body and soul craved that much needed rest and I really had no intention of going back to work anytime soon. I had opted to take the full benefit of employment insurance without any regrets. Towards the month of October 2005, I knew that I had to start looking for work again as my unemployment insurance benefits would soon be running out.

I did get a job in a collection agency for three days, but found I could not handle it. First of all, I couldn’t get passed asking unfortunate people who were in financial difficult for money they did not have. If there was anybody could empathize with their situation it was me. Secondly, I had a far distance to travel and I found that I could not walk the distance needed. I also had a medical problem that is a bit too personal to mention preventing me from making the long trip in a bus. Finally my sister took a turn for the worst and she was once again at death’s door step. If you remember my sister finally died in January 2006. But at the time all of these things just got the better of me and I broke down. I was a physical and emotional wreck.

I coasted through the Christmas season in a blur. My life was taking on a surreal flavour but I knew that I could not give up. I still had to try and work or else where would my life take me? What would become of me?

In January I did try again to look for work but the stark reality of trying to find English work in a French city hit me square in the face. Up until this year, I never had a problem finding positions. This time, combing the newspapers and searching all the jobs search sites proved to be useless. I could no longer find English jobs. Everywhere I turned they wanted bilingual customer service reps. I just could not find companies that dealt with the English provinces in Canada, or the United States anymore and I was becoming desperate. My unemployment insurance was about to run out and I did not have a job lined up.

All the while I was on unemployment insurance I did what I could to work at home. I tried different internet working schemes, and I tried to freelance my writing. The schemes didn’t work out and the money generated from freelance work have yet to provide a full time income. I had to take a hard look at where I was and what I could do to get back into the work force.

I decided that I needed to hone in on my French skills and take more courses. Although I spoke French already, improving my French and taking it to a higher level would certainly open up more avenues for finding jobs here in Quebec. I enrolled in a Francization program at an adult high school. The government was willing to pay for me to go for 4 months.

I have to admit I had many reservations at first. Was I physically capable of going to school with my arthritis and walking problems, would my diabetes become an issue and could I handle simply going back to a fixed routine after being homebound for a year? To add fuel to the fire I found the first two months extremely difficult in terms of learning. I was very much behind the other students since according to the French evaluation I was required to take, I was to be in the 5th level. I came in from the outside with a handicap. I had not taken any formal French courses in well over 20 years. I did not have the grammar background the students who followed the previous four levels of this program had. There was much that I did not know and I had to play catch up as well as learn the new material required.

It was difficult, it was stressful, and down right painful. I doubted I could handle it. But you know what - I did. I faced the challenge and I succeeded. By the time I got around to 6th and final level of the program, not only had I mastered the previous work but I was now one the strongest students in the class. As for my issues about walking; it was very difficult for the first two months. I practically crawled to school in pain everyday but I made it. When the summer months came the pain subsided as is normally the case with me. My diabetes did not flare up and I was able to make the transition from homebound to outside in the school environment fairly successfully. I only missed a few days of schooling which were well within the acceptable norms. I did it!

Furthermore, I developed a liking to perfecting the language to the best of my ability and I wanted to continue on. The government agent did not accept my position. She said I was now bilingual enough to go out and find a job. I disagreed, but I was not in a position to pay for courses on my own without having some kind of income coming in. What she did do that was helpful is that she enrolled me in a job search program for the month of July.

I completed the course on Friday and I have learned so much from it. I was already familiar with the open market (any place that advertises jobs, e.g. newspapers, search engines, employment agencies etc) but what intrigued me was the hidden market. I learned how to tap into a market that never advertises; sometimes because it cost too much money for advertising, sometimes because they are so big they don’t have to as people are always coming to them, and sometimes just because they cannot handle the work required to sift through hundreds of applications when they have but one job posting available. Each person in the job search program was directed to the sources best suitable to their job search needs. I was directed to “the green book” which is a listing of all the health organizations in Montreal and the outlying areas.

By now you may be wondering why health organizations are necessary for customer service and you would be right. You see when we entered the job search program, the employment counsellor asked each of us what we were looking for. In my case I explained to her that I wanted to give my degree – counselling psychology one last try, then as a second option writing and finally as a last resort, customer service. Hence she had me concentrate my job search efforts on my first option.

We finished on the course as I already mentioned on Friday and she left each of us with a plan of action for our search. When it was time to leave, she took me aside and said “You know you have the biggest challenge ahead of you.” I told her I know but I also told her “I believe that I am up for the challenge.”

Carol Roach

winterose@videotron.ca

A Native of Montreal, Quebec, Carol is a graduate of Concordia, and McGill University.  She holds a bachelor in psychology and a Masters in counselling psychology.  Carol Roach is a published writer and newsletter editor.  You can purchase her book: Picking up the Pieces: A Woman's Journey at www.publishamerica.com, or www.amazon.com.  You can also go to your local bookstore and order it there as well.  Be sure to quote the isbn number: 1-4137-1921-X for local purchases:  Carol’s second book: Angels Watching Over is currently looking for a home. Stay tuned for details. 

If you are interested in other stories feel free to join her newsletter: Storytime Tapestry at: http://subs.zinester.com/98907 , or email her directly at winterose@videotron.ca and she will be glad to accommodate you.  Carol enjoys email and responds to every inquiry.