Episode 15 – Why are you doing this?

I’m pleased to say that yesterday I released my newest book - the First time. A memoir about job hunting for the first time as an openly disabled person.  https://normalness.com/2026/07/27/the-first-time/

Welcome to The Second Time Podcast. I'm Vanessa Smith. This is my weekly update on how job hunting is going - it's the end of my 11th week of job hunting.   I felt particularly unenthused this week. It is incredibly hard toconvince yourself to spend all week doing tasks which have a very low perce…

Settle in for a doozy of a week, including an interview, being invited to apply for entry level work, a cameo from some kangaroos, and possibly the most useless job coaching session ever held on the planet. Episode script and show notes: https://normalness.com/2026/07/17/the-second-time-podcast-e…

Last week I wished for a quieter week, and I got it this week.   I spent a lot of of time trudging through temporary recruitment pools - lots of them closed with the end of the financial year which means you have to reapply to be in the new pool each year. That was half this week - applying for a l…