Hi everyone, first of all, thank you for checking out my post!

So I’ve been unemployed for the past 18 months. Tried the digital nomad lifestyle and was able to find some side-gigs for a while, but unfortunately, I couldn’t sustain that lifestyle and things didn’t work out. So in actuality, I’ve only been actively searching for a full-time job for a few months now.

About a week ago, I had an interview at the Australian Embassy for a contract position as a visa processing officer. It was also my very first government interview and I was so nervous I was barely myself haha. So yeah, I did not do well.

Anyway, I’ve been 0ffered the job but I’m struggling to decide whether or not to accept this offer. I’ve been out of work so long that I really can’t afford to make any more of these career mistakes. If I were to accept this job offer, I’d be employed under one-year contract. There’s also no guarantee my contract would be renewed, and I just feel that it’d be devasting to go through all the job hunting and interviews all over again. It’s truly soul crushing.

At the moment, there’s also the possibility that I might receive another job offer at a local advertising company, as an events/marketing manager.

I guess I’m just not sure which career path should I go after. Also, I should note that I dropped out of university at the end of the second year (psychology), so my choices are somewhat limited. Working at Australian Embassy does sound like a great opportunity (great culture too) but I was just wondering how far can a visa officer go, in terms of the career path? I’m afraid it’d be like any other dead-end jobs – not to mention the possibility of not having my contract renewed.

What would you do?