On... Being Unemployable

Recently I was hired for an admin/marketing job at a local renovation company. I tried it but quit within two weeks. It is safe to say that I am currently unemployable.

It was work that was offered by a friend. He kind of 'needed' my help, which is why I chose to give it a try. My gut feeling said no, but my heart said yes. Lo and behold my gut feeling turned out to be right.

First, I have to say that it is a job that I have no experience with. So, there is no way that I can add value to my friend's business. However, I thought that if I use AI to teach me, I can learn anything. Secondly, I have to consider my personal worth per hour of work.

If I put those two points together, it is actually very clear that I should turn down the job offer. Like I told my wife (the day I quit), it is a lose-lose situation. My personal worth is about 100 to 200 AUD per hour. There is no way that I can ask for 100 AUD per hour for a job that I am not qualified to do. In the end, we agreed on minimum wage of 25 AUD per hour. A total loss on my part, and him. I am severely underpaid and he is not getting the service that he required.

The chart below shows some salary scenarios. The Blue bar shows the cumulative salary if I work for him for the next ten years. The Grey bar is if I were to be paid 100 AUD per hour. And the Brown bar is the target growth that I use for my investing/trading portfolio of 10% annual growth. Clearly, if I were to work for my friend, I would be much poorer after ten years.

This experience reminds me that I am currently unemployable. Everyone becomes unemployable at a certain age, mine happens to be now.