Are you employed?

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I read that 80% of aspies are unemployed, and from different sources. The percentage varies a little with each report I read, but it's always around 80%. I still think that doesn't sound right. I know a lot of people here who hold jobs. Do you?

I have had two long term jobs for about 9 years each both low paying. One job I got through a friend and did not have to interview. The second job I was hired on as a temp and one of their emplyees quit without notice so they put me on the job and I did extremely well at it so they kept me. Right now I have been laid off since October. I think this will be the worst time for me to get a job since we are in a recession and employers are going to be looking for the best employee they can find. I come off as strange and nervous durring an interview so I believe my chance for further employment will be cut in half. I have never gotten a job through an interview which I have have had many of them failling at each interview. I am going to be doing some job training in July - October if this training fails to help gain employment then I am giving up and will try to get on ssi or ssdi. Screw it, I am in my 40's and just do not care anymore.

I'm 28 & I've never had a job in my life . Though it's not something I'm proud of, it's not something I can help either & it's embarrassing to admit.

I'm undiagnosed, though.

I have no job and I dont think I will ever get one unless I find a way to make one for myself. in 1985 to 1986 I have applied for so many jobs and had plenty of interviews of those. I was successful in only one because the one in which I was successful I was the only applicant. In that job I was exploited by the employer. What I was actually doing was not in the job description in the advert. That only lasted about 4 months. just filling bottles with lubrication gel for ultrasound scans and the gay comunity. What was that to do with being a lab assistant? Nothing; afterwards I tried for other jobs and I did not get anywhere. I been to a few more interviews and failed at the interview stage. The potential employers were only interested in neurotypicals. The trying to use the correct posture/body language etc only triggered off years of epileptic seizures. I am not going through that again. I even tried for a job in a Tesco store shelf filling but I never got anywhere with that. I now have to find a way to create a job for myself as applying and going through the usual routes the selection process is unfair to Asperger syndrome people. People are just starting to take AS into consideration but only for younger people. For older ones it is still as bad as it was in the 1980's and may never change.

Very much. Right now, I'm actually working six days a week (and want my other day off back). I'm a Skills Enhancement trainer for a homeless recovery program, meaning I teach Money Management, Basic Computer Skills, Employment Skills, and Personal Leadership.

I'm also a published poet, but as yet, unpaid.

I have been employed constantly since I was 16 (even during the undergraduate years).

I have never been fired or layed off a single time, every interview I have ever had (except one) has led to a job offer.

All employment terminations have been voluntary on my part.


6 jobs total:

1st. Cashier at a grocery store, eventually got promoted to assistant bookkeeper due to never being short.

2nd. Cashier at different store, less successful and the management hated me but I was tolerated.

3rd. 1-hour photo lab technician. Got yelled at by management for being nasty to the customers but I was the most competent of everyone.

4th. Overnight truck loader for fed-ex ground (brutal). Was recognized for efficiency in quickly loading the packages.

5th. Assistant Research Scientist (first real job): Got research published for discovering the first mutations in a particular human gene.

6th. Grad Student (I get paid for this): Got thesis work published in SCIENCE, the most prestigious scientific journal in the world.


I have absolutely no friends however, and get quite depressed over this. Hopefully I can work on this when I graduate in the next few months.

Never had one. I'm need to get one soon.

I work full time and almost steadily (sometimes part time, though) since I was 18. I don't mind working and am very dependable - I'll do whatever my boss wants me to do, with no grumbling because I don't care. It's their job to tell me what to do, so I just go with the flow. They seem to like it. I haven't found anything I'm truly happy with though, so I've held few jobs for longer than a couple of years.

I'm now retired (I always planned to retire at 50) but my working history was not good and I always found it difficult to hold down a decent job. AS always meant that eventually I would get someone's back up and I would have to leave.

Vanilla_Slice

I've held a number of jobs over the years. The pattern I've noticed is that I seem to be fine right up until I have to share duties with someone else and coordinate my efforts with theirs in the same position. Then things start to fall apart, but I'm never sure why.

I've been employed part-time at Wal-Mart for a little over two years now.

I work an average of 50 hours a month.

My wife and I run an avocado farm, which is great since it doesn't involve much of any need to win acceptance with the public or with any boss, etc. I used to be an electronics technician; first as a TV repairman when I was a teenager through my 30s. I did a LOT of interacting with customers since I repaired TVs in peoples' homes. I was always seen as weird, but I was nice, polite, and had the reputation of honesty and I'd get the job done right. So my regular customers overlooked the Aspie issues, I guess. Then when TV repair became obsolete, I got a job at an aerospace subcontractor in their electronics test lab, and I got ISO 9001-certified, and all. I was there 3 years, but the repetitive nature of going to the same place and doing the same thing everyday 40 hours per week, didn't work for me. The boredom outshined the comfort of routine after the first year. I also hated the lunch room and all it's laughter and hyper-friendliness, so I'd hurry and drive to the nearest Del Taco or other place, shove my food down, and hurry back. I asked to go on per-diem, which had me working maybe 4 days in a row, then off a week, and so on. I was OK with the pay that way, and the boredom and anxiety diminished, but then by nature it was an insecure income. Now I'm happy with the situation I'm in, and it's working well for us! Granted it's not a guaranteed income, but we live within our means, and God willing we will be secure with wise financial habits in the future.

If I had to point out one thing I'm uncomfortable with, it's having to hire & fire. I know what my responsibilities are, which I accepted along with the benefits of this kind of occupation. I've had to choose and hire, and unfortunately I've had to fire 3 people in the last 3 years.

Charles

I've never been officially employed per se, but I worked in a Hobby Lobby with a school program intended to help kids with potential career skills problems to get some experience, but most of them had a lot more issues than I did, and I got frustrated quickly, because I was kept on a tighter leash than is really reasonable for me, and had to deal with a lot of foolishness from the other three in my group.


One girl was mostly okay but really quiet, the other girl was crazy and liked to pick fights, and the other guy had some learning disabilities that made him frustrating to work with, but I tried to help him when I could, and he is still my friend now, and we talk on YIM sometimes, although I admit I sometimes avoid him. I get frustrated dealing with it, but he's a good kid, and I want him to do well for himself, and I've already given him a good amount of useful advice that may have saved him from some awful circumstances.

I've been employed for the last couple of years. I feel like I'm having to work harder than the average person to cope, but I'm independent and doing quite well for myself.

It was a long time before I got to this point, though, with no real jobs before that unless you count the small amount of freelance work I did for a few years. I feel I got pretty lucky with my current job, and enjoy it a lot despite the social stress.

I find it grounding to remember that they are only measuring those Aspies they know about.(i.e. those that have come to their attention through parental/school intervention) There are hundreds of thousands of undiagnosed Aspies that are absorbed by society in what ever capacity that they have found a niche. Of these, those employed are probably much higher.

Merle

(oh, and yes, I just observed my fourth anniversary on my current job - the longest I have been employed by one employer in my life. I have to attribute that to self diagnosing early in my employment and me working through the formal DX and finding out how to adjust and weather the work day world.)