I think my job coach is not best for me but cannot be sure

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There are a number of reasons.

1.) She doesn't seem to get that I cannot handle call center jobs (which have a horrible reputation anyway and have high turnover, so I doubt I would last long. She had pressured me to do this more than once. The first few times, I just "forgot" (either by accident, and one time I delayed till it was too late). Lately, I did apply,. it had a lot of forms, which I filled out. When it showed that I'd have to deal with angry customers who would try and trash me to HR in their sample calls, I got a bit uneasy, wondering if this would be the right job. (I'd heard bad things about call centers.) So I halted on the form, though they both emailed and called me, asking to interview anyway (even though I hadn't filled out the forms fully, though they did recommend that I fill out the forms first or I wouldn't get the interview.) This in itself told me they were a bit desperate. So I was even more uneasy. I looked up the place on both Indeed and Glassdoor and found a large amount of bad reviews on BOTH of them, saying many of the same things, making it unlikely that it's just a bunch of disgruntled workers with axes to grind. So I decided not to do it. My Mom backed me up.

So I went to meet with the job coach and another job coach-like person, and they kind of made me feel bad that I didn't try on it. However, my Mom backed me up, saying that actually she knows two friends who work at said call center and THEY said it was bad.

Basically, the job coach and her co-worker said that both the two friends of my Mom and all the people on Indeed and Glassdoor must all be wrong and that I shoulda tried to go for the interview (which woulda been at least 20 miles away anyway, it wasn't like it was right in town.). (BTW, said call center called me again to try and get me to sign up, but I ignored them. I really feel that I made the right decision.)

2.) I have told her that when I do get to the point where I feel SO overwhelmed, that I often will just "move to get it done, and will try but won't try too hard as I'm too overloaded". (It's what I did at school when I had too much; I just had to admit that sometimes I had to contribute less to some group projects than others and had to sometimes admit that some classes were taking up a lot of time and had to divert attention from them to other classes, which needed time too and also, to make sure that school wasn't dominating my whole life, sometimes had to just turn in things not the best done so that I could actually do stuff that WASN'T school related.) However, my job coach had said that my approach was "Unacceptable". I said, "Maybe, but I cannot handle past my breaking point. I sometimes have to 'just go and try and get it over with and who cares how it turns out' sometimes." She said "That's still unacceptable." and I said "Well, I cannot change who I am."

3.) She and the other job-coach person wanted me to change my resume. It did need sprucing up, but I actually wonder if I had it better before, as it listed my actual skills. She had it changed so that it more showed my degrees. Personally,I think they just made it WORSE for me, as "Bachelors for Computer Science" could apply to a lot of fields, and with the quick glance and busy market, they aren't likely to just call me to find out and so I think my resume are just getting canned. I told her this, but she said "We do this for a living. We know what we're doing." Plus, I might add that showing the degrees only, rather than the skills, which could be more generic too, I think I'm also being turned down often for being overqualified too.

4.) I am not one to bother applying to positions that I KNOW I have less than half the qualifications for, but she keeps saying "Who knows, maybe they'll not find anyone qualified and hire you and train you." Personally, I think that's not likely. Also, one time I had originally not applied for a job I might have been able to get as I had accidentally looked at the wrong page and read "mid-level" which I'm not, so I had thought that it would be lying to apply for something I KNOW I couldn't do and that it was rude to the employers and also dishonest. However, my job coach used the same argument that, even if so, that maybe they would not find anyone and hire and train me.

5.) Despite me saying that I didn't think I would be good at sales, she says "Well, that's likely what you'll have to do around here." (which is likely true, to some degree) However, the two times I actually got an in person interview, I think it was obvious to the interviewers that I felt that, as much as I felt pressured to play down my weaknesses, that my body language and nervousness and answers were giving the impression that I wasn't interested and couldn't handle it. So, both those two interviews never went anywhere.

6.) Despite hearing that maybe temp agencies could help, she said that she was only there to get permanent jobs and so wouldn't (or perhaps couldn't due to her orders) help me at all on that.

7.) She doesn't seem to get that sometimes I am not trying as hard because, after two years of not finding a job, I am starting to get into a "why bother" mode and am increasingly leaning toward self-employment.

Often, I dread Wednesdays and am feeling like students in Danny Phantom who went to see Spectra for counseling (i.e. I felt WORSE after going in to see her than before I saw her.)

Okay, sorry, but I'm going to have to start out with a "loooollll!" But there's a reason.

Does this job coach know anything about autism? Just get over it! Unacceptable! What if you didn't have any hands? Sure, you can get false ones, but I don't think you'd be playing the piano. Unacceptable! Play! Come on, now, it's silly! SALES?? There are some aspies here who work in sales, but unless they actually believe in the product, it depresses them, fast. It probably depresses most neurotypical people too.

Didn't you say you have a Bachelors in Computer Science? Why do you need a job coach?

There was another person on this forum...I can't remember his username, but he was using a job service that was doing a terrible job of placing him in something appropriate. He eventually found someone on his own and I think he's still working there. In a college bookstore? I wish we could tag users on here. He could give you some good advice.

I think you should just put in some applications at places that you wouldn't mind working. There are IT positions in most companies so you would have a lot of places to choose from.

Well, here's the thing, IMO, about Job Coaches, and Vocational Rehab (VR): They're not working for YOU, as, I imagine, anyone would expect, they're working for THEMSELVES----or, at the very least, working for their company! It's all a numbers game----they probably have a quota, for the number of people they place, in positions. They don't care what your "wants" / needs are, they don't care if you have a degree / don't have a degree, they don't care that you're not interested in whatever type of job, all they care about is that they can say they've placed another person!

I hate to say it, but some things you DO have to "just get over it"----BUT, I say that in regard to, say, getting along with people; we, ASDers, just HAVE TO learn, and it's sooooo difficult; but, we're never gonna be able to get / retain a position, if we don't.

As for them playing-up your degree----especially, for the types of positions, they're putting you in, for----I don't feel that's a wise decision. I feel, like others have said, that you need to have more than one / several resumes, and that they should be VERY job / ad -centric!! For instance, I have experience as a Cater Waiter----for one ad, to which I respond, I might play-up the fact that I have organizational skills; for another ad, I might play-up the fact, that I have people skills; for another ad, I might play-up the fact that I can multitask. Yes, you SHOULD have a sort-of template, but you MUST cater EACH resume to that SPECIFIC job / ad----just having ONE resume, and sending it to EVERYBODY, isn't gonna cut it!

As for "We do this for a living. We know what we're doing.": They're saying "trust us", and when I hear THAT, I DON'T----cuz, IMO, that means that they're just trying to "sell" to you, and that means they'll tell you ANYTHING (again, just to say they've made a placement)! !

Bottom line: If your gut tells you they're not helping, they're not helping; and, if your gut tells you, you shouldn't be playing-up your degree, go with your gut!

Also, this isn't related to the post, but somehow when I posted the one above, it suddenly went to a CAPCHA page to check to see if I was a human or to see if I had malware or something wacky. That was weird.