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Is it hard to find a job for aspies?

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kirayng
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16 Sep 2012, 1:20 pm

spaghedeity wrote:
heh, can't speak for anyone else, but it's hard as hell for me to find a job. I'm exceptionally intelligent, well educated, have experience in MANY different fields, and yet...

For me, I think a lot of it has to do with how MANY different temporary / short term positions I have had. I have this horrible habit of doing jobs I am able to do well but am not 'naturally' good at, and for some period of time I actually am successful. Then I have a rough patch inside my head, and find some way to screw it up or quit. I either take another job that I inevitably fail at, or live off my savings until I'm 'better' or (this time) am so broken I have nowhere to turn.

I mean, I HATE phones, but I seriously spent several months working as a tech support representative from home for my last job. I convinced myself it was better than having to leave the house, and that the flexibility meant I could build a schedule that would work around my broken. Unfortunately, I didn't anticipate the possibility of my getting worse and worse, eventually quitting - or rather, when something went wrong I stuck my head in the sand and didn't do what was necessary to keep the job. Then I convinced myself I'd be able to turn a project I used to distract myself into an actual job, and didn't realize until I was almost broke that I just didn't have the funds or social skills left to make it work. In retrospect, this isn't the first time I've done this, I just never got so bad I couldn't slowly claw my way out.

I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place right now, in a pit so deep I'm not even sure which way is up. I've got a couple last ditch efforts in the works, but... As people noted above, employment is all about networking these days, and THAT has always been my worst failing. I'm starting to think disability is a legitimate option, if only because they supposedly help you find a job that works around your limitations. It makes my 'soul' sick to consider, but at the end of the day the bills need to be paid, and I might not have any other options....


This is parallel to my story too. I've applied and am on the waiting list for SSDI, with SSI pending (3-4 month wait for approval). I had no where else to turn. I thought I could finish my bachelor's but I'm so far in debt I can't borrow much more and my parents who could pay for some have lost faith in me-- especially after my diagnosis.

I truly wish I could work but have gotten so ... ugh I don't even have a word, but I haven't recovered from my nervous breakdown in 2008 and haven't finished anything I've started since then, even my associate's degree which required a work component I fubared over the summer.

So now I really can't work, at all. It's a tough place to be ... so defeated.

I agree with the social aspect of networking, it's always been said, "it's not what you know, it's WHO you know" and for older Aspies, our diminishing social circle and inability to maintain network connections makes further employment past entry-level nigh impossible. Especially in my field, I work as a chef, well, I did... and I can't call a single person that still knows me and every job I ever got in this industry was through a connection or a walk-in/let me show you what I can do (and pray you notice).



howzat
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16 Sep 2012, 3:33 pm

At present it is very difficult to get a job.



Fnord
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16 Sep 2012, 4:29 pm

It's more difficult to get a job now than ten years ago (maybe), but there are some things you can do to increase your chances in the U.S.:

  • Stay out of trouble with the Law
  • Earn a high school diploma
  • Earn a driver's license
Lacking any of these will decrease your chances drastically. Other things that will not only increase your chances, but increase the quality of the work you get:
  • Enrolling in R.O.T.C. in high school and college
  • Earning an associates degree in a medical or technical field
  • Earning a four-year degree in a medical or technical field
  • Earning an honorable discharge after a minimum of four years of military service
  • Enlisting in the military as a reservist
Volunteering also looks good on the resume. Here's a list of Community Service options:
  • Cleaning a park
  • Collecting items for charity such as clothes, food, books, or furniture
  • Cleaning roadside verges
  • Helping the elderly in nursing homes
  • Helping the local fire, police, or search-and-rescue service
  • Helping out at a local library
  • Tutoring children, especially those with learning disabilities
  • Cleaning nursing home gardens
  • Cleaning local areas
  • Helping at a local food pantry
  • Volunteering for Red Cross blood drives
  • Helping out at a nearby hospital
  • Working at a soup kitchen
  • Lending your services to community fundraisers
  • Assisting at a local animal shelter
  • Volunteering as a reader or Teacher's Aide for an elementary or junior high school
To become attractive to a potential employer, it is up to you to make yourself attractive to that employer; and if there is one thing we look for that sets those we hire from those we don't, it's whether the person performed voluntary community service or just sat one his or her butt in front of the computer all day.



WantToHaveALife
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18 Sep 2012, 4:45 pm

yeah it is for me because i don't have much work experience and in this horrible economy, recession, competition is at an all-time high, you need years of experience just to get hired for a simple entry-level, minimum-wage job



kirayng
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20 Sep 2012, 11:20 am

Would you believe there is fierce competition for volunteer positions as well? This shocked me... I'm on the waiting list for the position at the local food bank and have been bounced around another place I wanted to help. I think working for yourself could be the ultimate answer, tbh.



WantToHaveALife
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20 Sep 2012, 3:37 pm

kirayng wrote:
Would you believe there is fierce competition for volunteer positions as well? This shocked me... I'm on the waiting list for the position at the local food bank and have been bounced around another place I wanted to help. I think working for yourself could be the ultimate answer, tbh.


now that is even more shocking



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20 Sep 2012, 7:32 pm

kirayng wrote:
Would you believe there is fierce competition for volunteer positions as well? This shocked me... I'm on the waiting list for the position at the local food bank and have been bounced around another place I wanted to help. I think working for yourself could be the ultimate answer, tbh.


Yes, and most places expect you now to PAY to volunteer (by buying a shirt for example). There's even a number of people who volunteer at multi-billion dollar companies just for the experience. Now THAT is pathetic!



LunaticOnTheGrass
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20 Sep 2012, 9:25 pm

Just wait until you having to pay for an internship (unpaid job, merely for "work experience") becomes more common.



WantToHaveALife
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21 Sep 2012, 3:59 pm

LunaticOnTheGrass wrote:
Just wait until you having to pay for an internship (unpaid job, merely for "work experience") becomes more common.


what is the world coming to



LunaticOnTheGrass
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21 Sep 2012, 9:16 pm

Quote:
what is the world coming to


Free Market policy and a "race to the bottom" in terms of wages, at its finest!



WantToHaveALife
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23 Sep 2012, 12:40 pm

LunaticOnTheGrass wrote:
Quote:
what is the world coming to


Free Market policy and a "race to the bottom" in terms of wages, at its finest!


makes me hate capitalism and free-enterprise sometimes



aussiebloke
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24 Sep 2012, 7:39 pm

Being a brown nose does not come easy to us so yes to your answer :wink:


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24 Sep 2012, 7:41 pm

WantToHaveALife wrote:
LunaticOnTheGrass wrote:
Just wait until you having to pay for an internship (unpaid job, merely for "work experience") becomes more common.


what is the world coming to


Well we have "work for the dole" in this country so I guess it's to be expected I suppose :roll:


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WantToHaveALife
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24 Sep 2012, 11:19 pm

aussiebloke wrote:
WantToHaveALife wrote:
LunaticOnTheGrass wrote:
Just wait until you having to pay for an internship (unpaid job, merely for "work experience") becomes more common.


what is the world coming to


Well we have "work for the dole" in this country so I guess it's to be expected I suppose :roll:


much more severely now ever since this economy became the disaster it still is, have to make yourself stand out more among the god damn competition



aussiebloke
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24 Sep 2012, 11:21 pm

^^^^

well we don't have that "problem" here our unemployment rate has a "5" in it .


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25 Sep 2012, 9:45 am

WantToHaveALife wrote:
makes me hate capitalism and free-enterprise sometimes


There's nothing 'free' about free enterprise. I learned that one the hard way as a idealistic, intelligent but highly naive university graduate. You eventually come to realize 'capitalism' and 'communism' have much more in common than you might think. Thank God I'm unionized otherwise I would be guilt-tripped into working for peanuts because of all the oxygen I consume. I'm not going to get into a political debate but you quickly realize what you learned in economics class has little bearing on reality. I could never figure out why so many people laughed at my fanatical Libertarian views until a few years ago.

I was told to become essentially an indentured servant in order to stand out from the competition but what happens when everyone does the same thing? On the plus side my experiences have served me well to live in a lower income area and be very well respected. I've been in the trenches and I know unemployed Aspies know more about how the world works than most economists.