Is it typical to have a bad employment history?

Post Reply New Topic

Mines more no employment history...

Full degree level qualifications,
plenty of experience,
No voluntary,
no work,
no references,
no professional associations,
not much of anything since coming out of school 10 years ago...

The place of living isn't the best place in the world for the chance to work for most, let alone someone on the spectrum with significant barriers.

I see you are from the UK. Aren't they more tolerable of aspies than here in the US?

There's certainly pockets of intolerance, I come from an area that is small and stuck in the past where something like Aspergers and other identities and such isn't heard about anywhere. Cities I've been told are a lot more tolerant, understanding and provide a better working opportunities than towns and villages, especially in desperately deprived and poor areas.

I come from the state of Georgia here in the US. Here in my town people are extremely prejudiced. If you are the least bit different where I live, forget it. You don't have a chance.

I would say it's like that in most places if you have autism or asperger's, since most people want to associate with people who are like them and not "weird".

I am 30 years old and I have a terrible work history with big job gaps and little to no work experience or skills. I have a lot of skills but there are no jobs available that fit my skills.

From April 2002 - January 2003 I was a janitor/stocker for a hardware store.

March 2005 - April 2006 I worked at McDonald's.

September 2010 - 2013 I worked at Pizza Hut, I was a cook and a delivery driver.

That's my work experience. I always wanted a career doing blue collar work either in carpentry or being an auto mechanic. I always enjoyed fixing things and building things and I also have a natural talent doing that kind of stuff. Unfortunately those kind of jobs don't exist anymore where I live. Wisconsin used to be the place for manufacturing and other blue collar jobs. The only jobs left are food service and retail jobs or office jobs. Now that I'm older I refuse to work in crap jobs anymore and I refuse to work 'dead end' jobs for the rest of my life.

Right now I have given up looking for job. I am currently seeking alternatives. I have applied for SSI and I am also currently starting my own business. I have discovered that starting a business venture is actually easier and less stressful than looking for a job.

I was really good at college because it provided detailed instructions... the real world doesn't do that -- a lot relies on intuition, which I don't have much of (what I do have is learned and inflexible, so probably doesn't qualify as true intuition). Even when college profs didn't provide detailed instruction, I had recourse because it's written into their contract that they must give detailed instruction!

Working isn't like that at all. College didn't prepare me for that. And it's so messed up because I'm super productive when directed properly. At least, I was until I became disabled physically...

I didn't even get my first job until I was 20, and I only kept it for five months, ending with me calling into work one day and announcing that I'm quitting, without giving any formal notice. I sort of regret it, but I needed to do it to preserve my sanity.

Same here.
Looong CV with maaaany jobs..... all of them short, - and I never knew why. Nobody have ever accused me for not being willing to work. On the contrary, I forget the breaks.
Some of the reasons I know, like needing detailed instructions, preferably written, not being fast enough, and missing cues, not reading faces and situations. The last one, I just discovered, have taken its toll on many friendships.
"Realizing" means going a long way.

I posted on this years ago and I still don't work. I haven't even applied anywhere because there is no place that I can think of to apply that would actually hire me and that I could get to and actually do the job.

I struggle every day to get simple daily tasks done that most people think nothing of, like bathing and getting dressed and now I have to do all the dishes and take care of the cats because my mother broke her arm. I don't know how other people manage to get these things done so easily and work full time and do other stuff. I lack motivation and it's hard for me to get anything done.

McDonald's is my first real job, I've almost been there two years. But when I first started, I ended up calling in a lot, and when I didn't call in I would end up crying from the stress to multitask AND be fast at the same time to avoid being screamed at. A big part of the problem was the lack of training, though, not just me. The managers were terrible, and when I wasn't worried about being fired I was trying to figure out how to quit.
Then some managers got transferred, and there's much less stress now. Customers still suck, though. I'm better at ignoring people, but when managers say, "Kill them with kindness!" I still smile to myself and think, "Or just kill them."

I probably wouldn't have gotten the job if the new managers interviewed me. They ask questions I didn't know how to answer, like "Tell me about a time you had to work with someone you disliked," and "What would you do if a customer came to you with a question or concern?" The guy who interviewed me basically just asked if I had a car and if I ever cleaned.
Interviews might be easier now that I have experience, but I worry that I'll have mean managers again or that I'll hate a new job more than I hate McDonald's but won't be hired back. I think I got lucky, and I don't want to push it. lol

Have you ever thought about life after McDonald's?

I confess I have not read this thread from beginning to end, but here's my 2penceworth

An unstable/highly varied job record is probably more a symptom of ADHD than of Asperger's. My own job count runs into 3 figures.

In the late 1960s, I was lucky enough to acquire a skill which was in high demand by employment agencies. It was called Computer Operating, and it has long since ceased to exist, but for a while, I survived by moving from contract to contract on a daily or weekly basis. This was interspersed with periods of employment as a conveyancing assistant in a solicitor's office, a farm worker/tractor driver/livestock feeder, and a canal boat driver. I also spent time following the hippy trail through Europe as far as Istanbul.

After a short period as a builder's labourer, I discovered a need for somebody to clean the chimneys of houses ranging from the meanest hovels of the poor and needy through to some of the grandest stately homes in the land. For more than 30 years, this became my core income, but it was very seasonal, and I needed to find other sources of income mainly during the summer months. This ranged from being a night manager of a 24 hour store to driving the sick and elderly in ambulances to and from their day care centres. I also used the time to pursue an interest in offshore sailing boats, and for several years I funded my hobby by qualifying as an offshore sailing instructor in the waters of northern Europe. After a failed attempt to become a driving instructor, I qualified to drive trucks (articulated lorries) and for more than a decade I survived on a mixture of chimney cleaning and agency work as a truck driver.

As a schoolboy, I had been regarded as gifted, and was expected to go through university before carving out for myself a successful professional career. If I had been 'diagnosed' as having ADHD/Asperger's etc then it is likely that I would have become one of life's failures. But in those days, Autism was unheard of.

In practice, I never became in any way dependent upon any kind of state assistance.

The downside is that I have scraped through life as a complete loner - I have never made a friend, and although I married and fathered 3 children, I now live alone, and struggle with a very complicated relationship with my wife and children.

But my grandkids are great!

After high school, I tried some different classes at the community college. About halfway through each semester I lost interest in the subject as a career, and I'm not sure if I want anything else offered there. I know I'd rather not be at McDonald's forever, but I really don't know what to do instead. Figure out what's least boring (and still acceptable)?
I have a notebook filled with pictures and lists of places, things to see and travel times and distances. lol Maybe everything would be more tolerable if I took a vacation.

True....McDonald's is better than nothing.

Have you ever thought about taking their management course?

I think they even have a "McDonald's University." Perhaps you should look into that as well.

I'll have to research your screen name. When I think of "stars in a margarita," I tend to think of ice, since ice could shine like a prism, giving it the twinkle of "stars."

I've never drank a margarita, by the way.

Hmm, I like that vision. The stars were actually from a star shaped ice cube tray, though. And I think I like vodka better. lol

I think it's "Hamburger University," but I had no idea that was real!
At my last review he said he would like me to become a crew trainer... and maybe open up a little more so I can become a manager. I was kind of excited, for about an hour. I'm not sure that's what I want forever.

I want to do lawn maintenance! Horticulture was something else I would have tried out, but I don't have the money for tuition and books and whatever.