Why do Aspies stumble on interviews

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For NTs tell me the answer and I want a brutal answer.

I'm not NT but I'd guess we are disadvantaged because interviews tend involve building a rapport with the interviewer and a rapport is by definition:

"a close or harmonious relationship in which the people or groups concerned understand each other's feelings or ideas and communicate"

Not being expert in the field of communications and finding it hard to form emotional bonds with people is a serious disadvantage in interviews.

I feel that I just don't give across the warmth that some people do.

I particularly struggle to bond with female interviewers because I find it hard to connect with them.

Male interviewers are more prone to succumb to my quirkiness and vulnerability!

I struggle with psychometric tests as well as interviews. I was wondering whether all Aspies struggle with psychometric testing?

Lack of eye contact.
Rigid posture.
Inability to respond to unexpected questions.
Lack of emotion in voice.
Bringing up the same topic too many times.

The young chippies that do the interviews are NTs to the 10th power. They love fashion and celebrities life stories, they nothing about techie stuff, and have absolutely no clue what's inside a computer, much less how the Internet works. They're all FULL of enthusiasm and hype and Social Networking ! !!

I'm not NT but I've found that "passing" an interview has more to do with your charisma than your qualifications.

AS involves social and communication difficulties; an interview is to gauge those two things. Great difficulty interviewing is recognizing those social agendas (politics of the company).

There's a whole theory of leadership, "The Good Enough Leader." (There are all kinds of pitfalls with "The Great Leader" theory.) For various reasons, we as Aspies want to excel. And you don't want to do that during an interview. You just want to have an okay conversation with another human being.

Think engagement, not conformity. And think measured disclosure. So, during a formal interview (and even if they tell you it's not, it's still a formal interview), you're not going to disclose very much. You are basically going to give pat answers. But there are a variety of pat answers, so you can somewhat choose those in agreement with your personality and approach.

From what I've encountered, this is more descriptive of HR in general than interviewers. Interviewers for a technical positions also tend to be on the AS spectrum - in some instances even more so than me.

That is expecting way, way, WAY too much from an interview.

Yes. I stumble in interviews simply because nobody is actually doing anything productive. My qualifications are self-evident out in the shop, not during mere chatter.

The brutal truth? You are not trying hard enough.

It took me a good day to study up on how to totally mask my personality to be the "model" employee that companies wish to recruit, from the body language to the quality of the answer to the (sigh) small talk that occasionally helps you and makes you appear more social.

However, doing this ironically landed me a job that I now detest in the business environment, so being true to yourself ensures that you land a position that you will really like, as well.

The best job I had in a business environment, was as a temp Receptionist to a group of Electrical Engineers.

They loved me!! It was fantastic.

Anyway I am getting out of business, retail, hospitality, it is too hard to build rapport, even when trying really hard.

I saw your last paragraph coming before you even said it-- the same thing happened to me once.

One factor that no one's mentioned yet, although it has nothing to do with AS, is that a lot of interviewers suck at interviewing. They have no idea what the best questions to ask are, and they might be as nervous as you are. I was actually asked what my zodiac sign was in an interview once.

I totally agree with Marsion!
I'm quirky, vulnerable...and am def called*cute* more than classy or pretty.
I'm a hairdresser...I love the texture of hair (all types) I can't get enough of it! I could care less about trends and styles and see them as an equation...a puzzle...
I work with women...only the nice elderly receptionist responds when I *finally* choose to speak.
I don't get normals, and sometimes feel inadequate, or unable to compete in their mean cruel world.
When I do speak to my co-workers or clients...it's usually about topics that (I have noticed) are WAY over their heads...Is the WHOLE world dumb...or am I an enigma?
Holding a job is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life!
I'm not stupid!! !!
I'm very highly intelligent!! !
WHY does society consider those capable of holding down a job, the smartest???
I'm an aspie who loves to study and can't afford college!
Who loves the texture and the feel of cutting hair, but has no way to relate to her gossip ridden environment! Normal woman scare me!! !
Someday I won't care what people think...someday...I hope...

I am really struggling to move on in my chosen career (medical). I have suffered through 2 years of junior rotations and am desperate to move up so that I can go part time and get more of the 'me' space I desperately need, as a junior part-time is not an option. I have the qualifications and have done the job for 6 months on a temporary contract before having to revert back because there was no money to extend.
So far I have done 12 interviews and really struggle at them, I cannot think on my feet because my brain seems to shut down when I get stressed, sometimes to the extent I struggle to hear the questions! Put a patient in front of me and I'm off and running but ask me to diagnose from a sheet of paper and you may well assume I am a first year student I try to write the questions down after the interview so I can practice the answers for the next time but they seem to change and on bad days I can't remember them at all. I really don't know what to do to improve and I cannot keep going as I am, I am seriously considering packing it in because I am not coping, luckily my treatment of patients has not deteriorated with the stress, it almost seems to act as an escape route, I would have walked out by now if I thought I was endangering them.

Does anyone have any helpful suggestions on how I can reduce the stress of the interview? I wish I could have a week off to prepare in a stress free environment but I use all my holidays to stop myself going crazy and just take time out.

Not NT but I have some thoughts on this.

A job interview is done to get some general ideas about the person, as a person.

They want to get a rough idea of the person's personality: are they friendly, rude, seem a team player, good communicator, etc

They want to get a rough idea of the person's knowledge: how much do they know about the field, niche knowledge, companies in the field, what the company they are applying for does specifically, etc

A good interviewer will know some questions that you cannot bull crap your way through. Also ones that certain personalities will answer in certain ways. A question like "would you work overtime if asked?" can get a lot of information out of someone. If they say yes unconditionally and you know they have a family then that could be a problem.

I guess trying to steer conversation into your interest will help, talking passionately in a conversation will help the odds

A lot of businesses look for team players that are motivated but also have a sense of responsibility. Some person fumbling over their words hardly comes across as confident, even if you were supremely confident of your skills.

Ask granatelli, maybe he will know the answer.