Tough job market --- Any effects for Aspies?

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What do you think about this article about "Tough job market drives teens to alternatives
Economy's 'most marginal workers' try volunteering, self-employment" and really, what are the effects of the current economic downturn to us Aspies? Should we just go directly to school to further enhance our skills, or should we try some other alternatives in life?

AS or NT, getting your way in the world comes from finding a path that works.

Those who stick to the status quo hawked out the masses often never get there.

This mean --- we should do what we love?

welp, since I've recently joined the unemployed; surprisingly, when I sit at the Employment office, or go to the 'How to get a job' classes, what I'm seeing is mainly people born in the 1950s. Highly intelligent people, all types.

I did finish up one of those classes that looked at your 'type' by a sort of Myers-Briggs, Holland, and a few other psych registers, and after listening to them, I think that whether consciously or not, the job seeking process plays to everything we're not.

The idea nowadays is that your resume should be an advertisement calling attention to yourself, about all the wonderful things you've done, and the interview process is based on reading hidden, non-verbal cues and discovering from observation, what emotional type they are. Plus having to rewrite your resume for every single job, to apply to the hidden buzzwords that they're looking for. If this is torture, it seems to me it would be for most Aspies.

It's not just teens, but I do think it's going to be a lot harder on aspies

Well....I'm a bit too pragmatic to promote that idea, but if you can find something that pays you to do what you enjoy doing enough to not get bored with it, that's a help.

In better terms. Too many are in an assembly line process. Education, go to interviews, try to get the same job as everyone else.

But in a tough job market, those who get ahead tend to explore options most people don't consider.

Too many going for not enough available jobs while overlooking options that lie outside the status quo of the workforce.

He's right - it's all a matter of balancing dreams with reality. If only it didn't take so cursedly long to acquire the ability to determine which was which...

I think the problem is the work place not being able to adjust to Aspies. I worked at a school, but after my Mom moved away (she was my support and stood up for me whenever people started to doubt me), it got rough on me. It seemed everything I did, no matter how hard I tried, was wrong. I didn't dress like everyone else. I can't stand to be in very feminine things. I prefer pants, cargo if I can get away with it, long sleeve shirt under a button-down. I hid my arms. I'm an Aspie with tattoos. I don't know how unusual that is, but I seem to have a high tolerance for that sort of pain. Emotional pain I have a LOW tolerance for. What I mean is I don't get very emotional, but when life interrupts my world is when I go off the deep end. Tennis shoes. My hair was really short. Kids often confused me as being male. I'm female and proud of it, but I don't dress like it. Which makes me very much the oddball.

I majored in English and people ask me if I would have ever considered being a teacher. Well they don't really know me, do they? I majored specifically in creative writing. That's my real love, but I haven't found it to be a finanical outlet yet.

I think the work place has become nastier as a whole and that affects aspies.

Ideally, if they have to cutback, why can't they do what most employees would prefer and cut everyone's working week down by a few hours and their wages accordingly. Although a few may need the higher wage to pay off mortages and other bills, for many it will mean just a few cutbacks in their spending or ability to save less but would free up a bit of spare time which is useful. I think the working week is far too long already - well 40 hours typically... Why not 35? What happened to 9 to 5 with an hour for lunch? Most of the time I'd happily work 35 instead for 7/8 of the pay.

Unless, of course, and this is what I think it is like, it is not that they are reducing staff because there is less work to do but just because it's an excuse to. They can they say to those that are left behind that they are lucky to have jobs, and force them to work harder and more hours to cover the work of those they have got rid of.

I started right after the crash. I quit four months later, and four months after that, I am working again. This is better than normal for me.

The workplace has changed drastically, at least in IT.

I'm a 'semi-skilled' (have some certs, lots of experience) worker, and I'm finding out that that market seems to have vanished overseas. Right now, jobs are either temp (not to perm) low wage entry-level jobs, or high-skilled (multi-part certs that cost thousands to get, and years of experience). I don't know about other fields, but I wouldn't be surprised.

The thing they hammered into me in all those 'how to get a job' courses I had to take, is that there's such a supply out there of people, that companies can set the standards as high as they like, and still get swamped with resumes.

To get noticed, you have to network (dip into your vast circle of friends to get out the idea that you're available), to contact the inner workings of the company you're interested in (almost all the jobs are 'hired from within'), and your resume has to 'talk' (bragging is not only encouraged, but demanded). You have to work people, be really confident, and use your 'non-verbal' skills to get a job. If that is aspie, then I've missed something.