Bipolar and Employment

[Markey]

I have a friend and he wants to get a job. He has worked before, but
has big gaps in his resume due to being ill.

Does anyone know of any web sites that can help him with employment
issues?Trying to go back to work.

Mark

[H F Thompson]

Hi Mark.
I am bipolar and unemployed at this time. When I have times of being
unable to work, I fill in the application that I have been working
selling on the internet on eBay and Amazon. There is no way for them to
contact "last job" I have never been questioned about it. Most potental
bosses find it interesting, and ask if good money can be made. It's a
good ice breaker. Hope this helps.

[Markey]

HF,

That's a good idea!

What do you tell them the reason for leaving your last job? The job you
had to leave because you got sick.

Mark

Post by H F Thompson
Hi Mark.
I am bipolar and unemployed at this time. When I have times of being
unable to work, I fill in the application that I have been working
selling on the internet on eBay and Amazon. There is no way for them to
contact "last job" I have never been questioned about it. Most potental
bosses find it interesting, and ask if good money can be made. It's a
good ice breaker. Hope this helps.

[acoftil]

Post by Markey
What do you tell them the reason for leaving your last job? The job you
had to leave because you got sick.

Your last job was selling on the Internet. :) You quit because you couldn't
find enough warehouse space, you got bored with it, your brother stole the
business (kidding--don't use that one), etc.

The reason for quitting a job due to illness is called, "family considerations".
If they ask, you will have to explain, but they rarely ask.

HTH,
Nancy
Just knockin' around the zoo. (James Taylor)

to email me, remove the Z

[acoftil]

Post by H F Thompson
Hi Mark.
I am bipolar and unemployed at this time. When I have times of being
unable to work, I fill in the application that I have been working
selling on the internet on eBay and Amazon. There is no way for them to
contact "last job" I have never been questioned about it. Most potental
bosses find it interesting, and ask if good money can be made. It's a
good ice breaker. Hope this helps.

I actually wouldn't recommend this. You will have to plan a HUGE lie to pull it
off. How will you respond if they ask you questions like (and how will you
remember the lie?):

"What was your gross sales last month?"
"What did you sell on the Internet?"
"Describe how your production system worked"
"What is the biggest problem you had?"

etc. etc. etc.

JMO,
Nancy
Just knockin' around the zoo. (James Taylor)

to email me, remove the Z

[b***@yahoo.com]

Thanx a million Acoftil! I can use this information and you've helped
me a lot!

My email is suppose to be: ***@yahoo.com

I don't know why they put it here like that! I'll figure out how to
correct it. I'm new here.

Thanx again and Hugs.

:-)

Post by acoftil

Post by H F Thompson
Hi Mark.
I am bipolar and unemployed at this time. When I have times of being
unable to work, I fill in the application that I have been working
selling on the internet on eBay and Amazon. There is no way for them to
contact "last job" I have never been questioned about it. Most potental
bosses find it interesting, and ask if good money can be made. It's a
good ice breaker. Hope this helps.

I actually wouldn't recommend this. You will have to plan a HUGE lie to pull it
off. How will you respond if they ask you questions like (and how will you
"What was your gross sales last month?"
"What did you sell on the Internet?"
"Describe how your production system worked"
"What is the biggest problem you had?"
etc. etc. etc.
JMO,
Nancy
Just knockin' around the zoo. (James Taylor)
to email me, remove the Z

[acoftil]

I see you post from google.com. Google.com never shows your entire email
address, to protect your privacy.

The rest of us see your whole address. :)

You might want to change (mung) your address to something that isn't real, in
order to reduce spam.

HTH,
Nancy
Just knockin' around the zoo. (James Taylor)

to email me, remove the Z

[LoneOne]

I would like to try to work but I am also not good around people and
suffer somewhat from agoraphobia... Do you know of any places that
would help me ind a job? Currently I am trying to start my own
business online but I need something to bring a bit of money in to be
able to survive - getting to a point where it is going to be hard to
keep a roof over my head and I am a single mom too. I applied for
disability but they did deny me but it was because they said there
wasn't enough medical documentation and they felt I couldn't do my
normal line of work that I was doing a while back but I could do
something less stressful and not physical. Which is hard because I am
on welfare and didn't have any coverage for a while and then was on
charity care and then got on medicaid and the psychiatrists at the
hospital keep changing on me so never get one for a long enough time.
I also have some problems walking and standing for long periods of
time due to ankle problems. Any suggestions? I know that I did feel
better working for a while when I was but then the job was too
stressful. I would like to find something that is not too stressful
and that would be helping others because I find that I feel better
when I am helping others.

Any info is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Post by H F Thompson
Hi Mark.
I am bipolar and unemployed at this time. When I have times of being
unable to work, I fill in the application that I have been working
selling on the internet on eBay and Amazon. There is no way for them to
contact "last job" I have never been questioned about it. Most potental
bosses find it interesting, and ask if good money can be made. It's a
good ice breaker. Hope this helps.

[Celtic ferret]

Instead of a chronological resume do a skills resume. Start the resume
with a list of job skills, detailed is okay, then follow it up with a
list of jobs and the position held and lenght of time at each job.
I've found it helpful with handicapped people in particular with gaps
in their resume. I found it useful for me when I was between jobs due
to rounds of illness. I have gaps in my resume. If I tried to go back
to work now, there is a large 4 year gap and my last employer is now
dead.

KG

Post by Markey
I have a friend and he wants to get a job. He has worked before, but
has big gaps in his resume due to being ill.
Does anyone know of any web sites that can help him with employment
issues?Trying to go back to work.
Mark

[b***@yahoo.com]

I got a problem too and maybe one of you can give me advice:

They diagnosed me 4 yrs ago with temporal lobe epilepsy and Bipolar. I
was under treatment for major depression when I applied for my current
job and they employed me. I got so unstable during the time they tried
to stabilized me, that I nearly lost my job. My work then helped me by
agreeing that I can go once a week to my psycologist for theraphy and
they want reports 6monthly on my condition. I then asked my psyciatrist
what will happen if it gets worse again. Can they fire me? He said what
they can retrence me on the basis that they tried to accomodate me and
help me, but I became unproductive, so they have to let me go, they
can't afford unproductive services.

Now I want to know if it's true or where can I get legal advice on
this? They employed me with a mental disorder, so they knew the
risks.They can at least put me on pension for medical reasons or
disability pension or something.I also was diagnosed with regular
attackts of Coxaci virus as well as fibromialgia! I have hell to cope
and I'm a manager of a laboratory.

Pardon my poor english. I'm afrikaans speaking. I hope you understand
what I'm trying to say.

Belinda.

Post by Celtic ferret
Instead of a chronological resume do a skills resume. Start the resume
with a list of job skills, detailed is okay, then follow it up with a
list of jobs and the position held and lenght of time at each job.
I've found it helpful with handicapped people in particular with gaps
in their resume. I found it useful for me when I was between jobs due
to rounds of illness. I have gaps in my resume. If I tried to go back
to work now, there is a large 4 year gap and my last employer is now
dead.
KG

Post by Markey
I have a friend and he wants to get a job. He has worked before, but
has big gaps in his resume due to being ill.
Does anyone know of any web sites that can help him with employment
issues?Trying to go back to work.
Mark

[acoftil]

Since you do not live in the USA,, it is most difficult to answer your
questions. You need to look up the laws for your province and/or country.

I'll respond, as if you lived in the USA.

Post by b***@yahoo.com
They diagnosed me 4 yrs ago with temporal lobe epilepsy and Bipolar. I
was under treatment for major depression when I applied for my current
job and they employed me. I got so unstable during the time they tried
to stabilized me, that I nearly lost my job. My work then helped me by
agreeing that I can go once a week to my psycologist for theraphy and
they want reports 6monthly on my condition. I then asked my psyciatrist
what will happen if it gets worse again. Can they fire me? He said what
they can retrence me on the basis that they tried to accomodate me and
help me, but I became unproductive, so they have to let me go, they
can't afford unproductive services.

No, they can't fire you for something that isn't directly related to your
performance. "Fire" means with cause. You would be "let go" which means
loosing your job for any reason, other than for cause.

The rest is true. The needs of the corporation outweigh the needs of an
individual worker. They have already provided a significant reasonable
accommodation, so, additional medical conditions, requiring more reasonable
accommodations may tax the workload and they may offer you a disability
retirement (if you have a retirement system).

I doubt you can be retrained to do something well, given that you have bipolar
disorder. The evaluator in my SSDI case even wrote down that I could do any
job, if it had no stress. No such position exists, so I was done working.

Post by b***@yahoo.com
Now I want to know if it's true or where can I get legal advice on
this? They employed me with a mental disorder, so they knew the
risks.They can at least put me on pension for medical reasons or
disability pension or something.I also was diagnosed with regular
attackts of Coxaci virus as well as fibromialgia! I have hell to cope
and I'm a manager of a laboratory.

I'm so sorry for your pain. I also have fibromyalgia and so do a few others
here.

Just because they knew you had a bona fide mental disorder, doesn't mean they
have to keep an employee who can't not perform the critical functions of the
job.

If you have a union, you should contact the union. I doubt it's worth hiring a
labor attorney for this case--it won't go very far and they are very expensive.
Sorry.

If you have a retirement/pension system, you should be allowed to retire or take
a disability retirement--make sure you bring this up long before you think they
might let you go.

From an employers perspective, your health problems continue to escalate and
thus you get closer and closer to not being able to work at all.

In the USA, you probably qualify for SSDI, because you worked. www.ssa.org

Nancy
Just knockin' around the zoo. (James Taylor)

to email me, remove the Z