Why remote work is the future: Neurodiversity, different learning styles and balance.

Remote work can be defined as performing in the role from home. Always helps to start with a little pro and con list.

Pro	Con
No stigma when taking breaks.	No office buzz.
Able to cook.	Less face to face interactions.
Introvert friendly.	Potentially impedes career development.
Help retain talent.	May increase electronic communication which may be more likely to be misunderstood.
Less small talk.	A good office chair is key, some remote workers work on unsuitable dinning chairs and a table at a height which induces neck pain.
Independence/ driving work load.	Can be challenging if you have messy/noisy flatmates.

I absolutely love working form home. I intend to never work in the office everyday 9-5 ever again. I feel liberated to work wherever I want. For example, a local café, community centre, in the office if I really wanted, abroad or anywhere else!

Remote working is great for my neurodiversity. I am empowered to perform when working independently so I can focus more, listened to music and make calls confidently. I don’t need to engage in small talk throughout the day and that suits me really well so I can be more customer focused which is what I prefer to do.

People work and learn differently. Remote work can suit certain learning styles. Learning styles could be kinaesthetic (learning by doing), visual or audio, or a combination of these. By working remotely, people can stick to what they prefer, work to their strengths more often and drive their own workload at their own pace relatively speaking. Remote working suits diversity in learning styles.

Working remotely allows for other responsibilities to be met. For example, family/school runs, quick bread and milk shop, quick personal call or email, job done, then refocus on work. Perfect. Being able to juggle life is helpful. Remote work facilitates this. As our lives get more and more digital, interconnected, remote work becomes increasingly important to meet our needs at a societal level (being in the right place at the right time).

On the grounds of diversity, learning styles, working to strengths, juggling life and family life, remote work is likely to continue to increase in the future. Not to mention the increase of this trend post covid work practices. Glad it sped up the process. Remote work the future of work.

Stay working to your strengths, Stay You, Stay Fruity,

Real Rubens.

Navigating interests (not knowing what to do later in life).

When I write blogs I usually leave myself some notes and pick it up. Not this time. I just have a title. A timely topic with my birthday coming up. #UnfilteredThoughtsLetsGo

I spoke to someone I swim with about what I wanted when I was younger. I wanted to do counselling, to be a coast guard, a fire fighter, and a monk. As alluded in the featured hat image, I have a lot of professional interests, and navigating these are exciting and limitless. I love the message a former boss left me ‘your ambition knows no limits’ super insightful and true. I’ve been taught to achieve the unachievable and I thrive off it. Being successful in the ‘unachievable’ just 1/20 is more than enough to create a spark of powerful fulfilment.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years time? This question always gets me. I found myself advising a young person how it doesn’t matter what you say just as long as it’s in line with the job you applied for. Works in principle. And deeper it’s more difficult. The question opens a philosophical door, who do I want to be in 5 years time? I find life changes so much year on year its so difficult to answer that question ‘accurately’. Generally, I want to be someone more aware than I am now and blogging massively helps.

Not knowing what to do later in life is a circular challenge. Taking it one day at a time can be helpful. Life makes it nearly impossible to have clarity of A to B. The more you plan, the more you can’t plan for. This is where adaptability, flexibility, and having a loose plan is advantageous. Plans change, it’s ok, and should be expected. Certainty is an idea. Uncertainty the reality. Be ready for uncertainty, it’s what life is.

Life’s like a jar, you make room for uncertainty (contents). There is always space. Make the jar bigger with support. See the video at the end for original source.

So how can I become someone I want to be? Reflection. I thrive off thinking about what I want, and how I can get there. Aligning these actions isn’t easy. It may not be an agreeable course of action for the people around you but it will get results. The effort (not balance, balance is a bad – loaded word) is to live life without harming others. An effort some people are not aware of, not interested in, not motivated to pursue but has an affect nonetheless. For example, not making a decision, like not answering an invite, forces a certain course of action.

Your network is your net worth, so if you upset our network intentionally or not, there are tangible consequences. For example, upset a friend, they may not be in touch as much, upset a colleague and they may not include you as much, inclusion is probably a good word to describe the consequences. Sometimes a desired consequence unfortunately. All manageable through self-awareness. Back to navigating interests, being aware of our interests and making decisions on those interests can create a lifestyle around what we enjoy by definition.

How to navigate interests is a question of priorities. Do you want x more than Y? I relinquished my Olympic dreams and love of swimming after my coach left the club I was with in my second year of uni. This challenge created a huge opportunity for me. I unknowingly was able to transfer this focus and determination onto any pursuit I encountered. My placement year, my degree, and my career. As someone with Attention Deficit my diagnosis suggests prioritisation is something I struggle with. And I love being underestimated. I would counter and say my prioritisation is on point moment to moment and keeps what I do fresh, relevant and in line with my motives and ambitions. Navigate your interests however you want, it’s your life, no one else’s.

Stay brave, Stay You, Stay Fruity.

Real Rubens

Resilience when applying for a job

What is resilience? Resilience could be seen as the ability to pick yourself up after a setback. For example, missing a promotion, not obtaining a medal in a competition, loosing a loved one, and aptly, when facing financial challenges. To make this post as relatable as possible I will discuss points of my life which required resilience and how this is transferable to job searching.

Firstly, my swimming career has presented various challenges. Swimming ‘career’ you ask? Yes, I am a competitive swimmer, swimming 5+ days a week for over 10 years, it’s a lifestyle choice and career. One challenge which is frequent is a change in coach. This implies a change in communication, engagement, feedback style, type of sets and level of enjoyment in the bigger picture. Linking to job searching, applying for a new job at first glance is like changing a swim coach, you need to adapt your cv and cover letter to the job and you need to work with the interviewer to answer the questions in a way they want while communicating what you want.

Reflection in life is useful for resilience. Asking yourself if a job is what you want, where you want it and how much of your life you sacrifice to maintain it is helpful to keep your activities aligned with your current values. After my placement year, I felt my resilience was low. I reflected that this was something I needed to improve. Partly also explained by autism making it difficult to deal with a change of plans (namely wanting a career change different to my degree which at the time was a significant change). I did a resilience course with Mind. I started to develop my resilience and self-understanding. Self-understanding is a good tool which helps deal with set back when job searching hits a hurdle.

I recall leaving a job which challenged me greatly. Since this is an open platform, I’m happy to share I struggled with communication, becoming settled and felt behind everyone else who had more experience than me. This links to a job application I completed where I wasn’t told how I did for weeks then wasn’t communicated with in between. Very anxiety inducing. I struggled with the uncertainty and I was aware I needed support. My struggles were compounded by my complex needs, and neurodiversity. With the assistance of an employment advisor I calmed my nerves and made a plan to reduce my anxiety. Therefore having support to help with your resilience when job searching may be helpful.

A common example of rejection that builds our resilience is when people say no. For example, friends not able to meet up or cancelling plans, family keeping you out of the loop with events or gatherings, or support providers unable to continue to support you for funding reasons. These examples illustrate how the word ‘no’ is important. Valuable so we know where else to focus our energy, useful to establish boundaries with people taking up our time begrudgingly and key to keeping momentum when job searching. No’s are natural. Not necessarily personal. No’s help us refocus. No’s guide us towards greener pastures. No’s build resilience.

Resilience is acquired with practice, life experience and patience. Treat yourself as a friend throughout the process. You got this.

Stay You, Stay Fruity.

Real Rubens

Job searching: Abundance of opportunities – Bonus Post!

Mystery why there’s been a record number of vacancies last month capturing a job seekers market (Office for National Statistics, 2022) and Omoigui, 2022).

How will you respond to increased availability of opportunities? Tighten up your search, try a new profession or something else? Let me know in the comments.

How to use LinkedIn:

What to do with LinkedIn, and a timeline demonstrating how to use LinkedIn over time.

What LinkedIn can be used for:

– LinkedIn learning which provides continuous professional development opportunities. This evidence can add credibility to skills added to your profile. Or see colleague’s tips on flourishing in the company.

– Discover information that may not be on company websites. For example, to speed up recruitment, speed up the recruitment process by sharing opportunities early, creating a competitive advantage and capitalise on opportunities.

-Job searching and online presence. A professional Facebook, a recruitment and job searching platform. Gives the opportunity to add certificates, attach your CV, summarise your experience, and gives you control of what information is shared with other professionals. Also request and provide recommendations, acting as on tap references.

-Share job adverts. This is encouraged since personal posts may reach a wider audience than a post by a company, especially if shared. 

-For sales lead generation. This can be helpful to find out more information about someone or a company before making a call.

-Network, stay in touch and capitalise on relationships with industry leaders. Add people you already talk to into your professional connections. There’s an option to see what connections they have and who else might be in similar professional circles who may be beneficial to reach out to. Message connections without needing their email address. This can show how your ‘network is your ‘net worth’.

Search options:

Visible, partly anonymous or fully anonymous searching. Visible is good if you want to make connections and grow your network, partly anonymous if you want to keep your picture and job title hidden, or anonymous searching is good if you want no traceability to your profile. 

LinkedIn Timeline:

Just downloaded:

Uploading a picture helps put a face to a name when searching online, (subject to privacy settings). LinkedIn can be used to make meaningful connections. There is a balance between increasing your network to make your posts more visible and equally having the right people see your posts. 

Building a presence:

Caution when using LinkedIn as an online CV since not all experience may be relevant. Equally having relevant companies on your profile like past volunteering can help increase visibility for example, if someone else is searching for a particular volunteering group.

Standing out:

Create a unique URL. Utilise the creator mode. Write an article. Share content. Actively engage with your network.

The platform offers dynamic content along with the unique opportunity bridge the geographic gap between professionals. Hopefully you can harness the power of LinkedIn.

Thank you for reading. Stay Tuned, Stay You, Stay Fruity.