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Recovery is about continuing to expand upon the habits and methods you learned when overcoming your addiction. Optimizing the best recovery takes a fair amount of work on your part in making sure that you are persistent, consistent, and motivated to lead your life through empowerment and your sense of independence. Among the many pursuits you'll want to explore after overcoming your addiction is finding employment opportunities. Studies show that finding work in early recovery helps lower your chances of relapse and increases your personal and professional life's overall positive outcomes.
It is common to face hurdles in early recovery when looking for employment, which can become disparaging. Some common concerns you might have are gaps in your resume, lack of experience, lack of education, or a criminal record. While these obstacles might be daunting, they are also scalable. Many employers want to hire you. Why? People in recovery often give back to their community at a rate that is double the general population. If you are looking for work, then focusing on what you can do will help you overcome the obstacle you might face and maximize your job prospects.
Create a Network
Support systems consisting of friends, family, and peers are essential to lending balance to your recovery, but did you know a strong network can also benefit your professional recovery? Taking steps to attend meetings, support groups, job fairs, and social gatherings with friends and family is a terrific place to start growing and expanding your network. In support groups, you are likely to meet peers who are motivated to become a mentor or sponsor and hold you accountable to seek social endeavors. They can even make for a great reference.
Becoming involved in your community by volunteering not only benefits the community but helps to grow your good reputation. Getting involved is also a great way to meet motivated and optimistic people willing to develop relationships with you and help you. The more you make a positive effort to connect in positive endeavors such as group meetings or community volunteering, the more promising leads you will have for expanding your network.
Curb Your Expectations
The art of setting and achieving goals is setting reasonable expectations. When you take on too much or set the bar too high, too soon, you run the risk of feeling like you have failed when specific goals and needs do not get met. Expectations can also be hidden resentments or reservations you have with yourself and others. Learning how to face these thoughts and overcome them helps you attain clarity to set more realistic goals.
Letting go of certain expectations might open you up to opportunities you would never have considered before. When setting your goals, you'll want to keep an open mind and be willing to stray outside your comfort zone and perceptions of what you should be doing. Consider these things when creating goals:
- Be willing to take an entry-level or part-time position in a place where you can grow
- Revisit default assumptions that you might be making during your job search
- Be open to new people and ideas
- Be patient
- Look for the lessons in both success and rejection
Volunteer Your Skills
Try to get involved in a service opportunity that lends you a sense of passion and purpose. Doing so can help you discover what motivates you and can lead you in the direction you want to go. Such areas are those in which you can shine and help others. For example, suppose you love painting or playing music. In that case, you might consider getting involved at a local art show, open mic night, or even at local community centers such as banquet halls, churches, and other organizations.
Trying new experiences helps sharpen and expand your skillset and allows potential employers to see how you participate and prioritize yourself. Sometimes volunteer commitments can even lead to a job opportunity within the organization.
Mention or Don't Mention Recovery
Recovery is a lifelong pursuit for health, happiness, and success; it is also a personal affair that nobody needs to know if you don't feel comfortable sharing. Meaning, your recovery does not need to be the first thing a prospective employer knows about you. If an employer wonders why there is a gap in your resume, it is not unprofessional to say that you took a professional sabbatical to reconnect with yourself. If, in some cases, you do need to be more explicitly honest, remain succinct in your answer. You can say that you once struggled with addiction but are now in a successful recovery.
If you have a criminal record, you will want to be honest upfront, though knowing your rights can help you understand what employers can ask you. Above all, don't become discouraged. The opportunity and the career you love are out there; it just takes persistence, confidence, and effort.
Choosing a life of recovery is the same as choosing a world of endless possibilities to learn, grow, and enrich your life. At START UP RECOVERY, our focus is not only on personal recovery but professional recovery as well. With an extensive resource of people to connect with, we can offer you the opportunity to expand and grow your network with supportive, motivated, and hard-working individuals. We also help you kick start your passions and drive from within in an attempt to add confidence, self-worth, and direction to your life. If you have been struggling to find motivation both personally and professionally, then it is time to reach out and get help. With a sunny shoreline location, you will never be short of energy, motivation, and inspiration. To take back control of your life and your career, reach out to START UP RECOVERY today by calling us at 310-773-3809.