I don’t think there’s anyone who could accuse me of not being a hard worker. Or say that I’m the kind of person that does the bare minimum at work.
I’ve been employed since I was 14 years old, starting at my local bakery until I finished high school, a short stint at a sporting goods store until I moved from my country town to Perth, and then a bottle shop for several years before I went to China for 2 months for an internship and language program. When I returned, I was an Admin Assistant at a financial services company, alongside internships, until I finished uni.
Once I finished uni, I relocated to Brisbane to start my HR career, while I also completed online studies in OHS. Fun fact - I use this period in my life a lot anecdotally when talking to job seekers in that side of my business. I applied for over 300 positions before I accepted a role at the head office in Brisbane for the company I had interned for in Perth. Why? I was really sh*tty at writing job applications. But that’s a story for another time.
I was only in my early 20s, but I still use examples from this job in interviews and sharing learnings to this day, as it was certainly… unique! It involved travelling through the Northern Territory and Northern Queensland for the mango season, as part of a small travelling operations team. It involved storms like I’d never seen before, 18 hour days, steel cap boots, no salads to be seen, wearing a variety of hats (metaphorically and literally), and some occasional time in the office.
Sadly, I was made redundant from the company and though I was approached to stay with the business in a different role, I wanted to progress with my HR experience, and so I moved to an HR position in a Brisbane-based not for profit organisation. Unfortunately, it was the wrong choice for me - nothing wrong with the organisation at all and I often wonder “what if” I had been able to stay in the role longer, but I was homesick, and after being made redundant from the previous role and having a fall out with friends, I had to consider my mental health, and just wanted to go home! It took me a really, really long time to be able to say that without feeling shame, feeling like I had failed.
So for the first time in my life, I quit my job before I had a new one (and after only 6 weeks there!), put all my worldly possessions on a truck, and moved back across the country. I didn’t have a job, I was bouncing between family members houses and just all around bumming around. BUT! Not one to sit around, I worked at a bar at a local footy club for a couple of months while job hunting, before I decided I’d had my family fix, and applied for jobs further away and relocated for work again.
This time to Broome WA, where I spent a year on a maternity cover contract in the HR team of a well-known resort, and where I found my love of recruitment. I was nowhere near ready to leave Broome when my contract was up, as I had found my happy place in the world! But I was also not ready to work in food & beverage instead of HR or recruitment.
So back my car went on another truck and back to Perth I went (and have stayed), to a contract in recruitment for a state government agency. This contract was extended about 5 times over nearly 4 years, which definitely helped me to make lifelong friendships while there! However, it did restrict my opportunities for career progression - I was told I had to be permanent to be considered for acting and higher duties positions, and this was before contract conversions were brought in. And as you might have figured by now, just doing the bare minimum and not progressing, is not for me.
And so I moved on to a role in internal recruitment in a local government. By far my favourite employment role (no offence to the other managers who may read this 😉). This is where I made recruitment my jam, where I really worked on how to build strong working relationships, and worked on my own personal values, which I have now carried with me into my business today. Sadly, also a contract role, and again, though it was mentioned they could find a role for me elsewhere, recruitment was where I wanted to be.
I started a role in a private, government owned organisation, where I finally got to say I worked “in the city”. Which when I was at uni, had been my goal - hilarious when you think my first role out of uni was in packing sheds in steel cap boots. This wasn’t a great choice for 2 reasons. The first was that it just wasn’t the right fit for me. Again, absolutely no offence to that business or that team, but it was a transactional role, and I craved the hands on aspect of recruitment.
The other reason is that unfortunately, I started this role in Feb 2020, and we all know what came soon after 🦠 As an immunocompromised person (I have Crohn’s disease and was on immunosuppressant medication), I basically became a recluse while the world figured out what the go was. Also not long after that I found out I was also expecting our first child, and I became even more of a recluse. I still worked for the company, and I still had a strong work ethic, but I didn’t know how to work in this limbo of working from home as I was immunocompromised but with a push for everyone to get back to the office, and it was here I learned all about working remotely!
I was on a contract there as well (fun fact, I’ve never held a permanent role in HR or recruitment since the first position that I was made redundant from). And so the end of my contract lined up perfectly with maternity leave for baby #1.
I had 4 months at home with baby before I returned to work. Though only part time! With the plan being to stay part time for the most part while we have young kids. For the first 1.5 years or so, I bounced in and out of the door of the local government I worked with previously, helping with their recruitment admin and helping in other teams within the organisation.
During that time, I started my business as a resume writer around December 2021, designed purely to be my side gig. It didn’t take long for me to realise that while I loved (and still do) helping job seekers with their job applications, I missed the “business” side of recruitment. And so I looked at how I could venture in this area, undertook a 3 day VA challenge, and then a short course to become a VA, before launching my virtual business support side of the business in May 2022. I continued to work in part time employment, and worked to build up my business enough to where I wouldn’t also have to work part time for someone else.
In July 2022, just 2 months after I launched my business, I became “just” a business owner, no longer employed by someone else. It was an absolutely terrifying step, but I haven’t looked back!
Now why in the world am I now reflecting and rambling on about my journey to now??
Well, this May, I celebrate 1 year since I opened the virtual business support side of my business (though I did start the resume writing side of my business earlier). In that year, I am really incredibly proud of how far I have come.
The self-doubt has been overwhelming at times, wondering if I should just give it up and return to a 9-5. Now, at times working 7 days a week (most weeks), often upwards of 60 hours per week lately, and wondering how this is possibly work/life balance and what the hell I have done. I started this business to earn income to contribute to my family, using the qualifications and skills I have, without having to return to work full time, or spend my days commuting to work, or taking excessive sick leave to deal with daycare bugs, and to be able to just stay home if the kiddy is having a rough day as toddlers do. I started this business for my family and that continues to be my main focus, my why.
But previously, I have studied alongside a full time job. This was because I wasn’t mentally stimulated enough, and wasn’t feeling satisfied in my work life for that to be enough for me. Now, I study short courses and challenges relevant to what I want and need to learn to progress my business at the time. Because I have never felt so satisfied and content with where I’m at before.
And that feeling is enough to keep me going for now, and for as long as this business continues to help people in their own business.
I am currently undertaking a mastermind, with the goal of elevating my expertise and being able to properly shift my business from general virtual support to virtual recruitment support and hr admin support. Though with baby #2 due soon, I will be taking some time out to spend with family, I am so excited about what lays ahead for Career Pursuit, as I work on lots of different offerings I can provide to support small and medium sized businesses with their recruitment to grow their teams and business! Keep an eye out for many more digital downloads, short courses and online resources, as well as all different options for advice, mentoring, training and hands on support as well!
If you’re a small business that needs help with your recruitment and growing your team, reach out to me today. I'd love to chat about how I can help you get confident to hire your dream team!
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