Is Job Hunting in the General Workforce Absurd?

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Is it absurd for autistics/allistics to hunt for jobs in the general workforce?

I'm 22 years old now and have limited work experience, but a lot of people would consider me to be exceptionally bright and gifted, especially in music theory, the subject I studied in college. I recently left school to move back in with my mom and try to find some menial work in town (because I have tuition to pay off for the summer semester), and I'm having a really difficult time actually getting hired anywhere. I've applied at nearly a dozen places or so already, from Dollar Tree to Barnes & Noble, with only one job out of all of them really pertaining to my interests and experience - a local music shop called Spotlight Music, which only accepts resumes, something that I've only just begun to work on again just recently. I had a volunteer job at Goodwill during a three week summer break that I had in June, but that didn't go over very well (it induced a lot of anxiety in me). I guess at this point I should explain my psych background - I'm a schizoid aspie, or possibly even just schizophrenic and not autistic at all. I have very deep-seated delusions about people and pretty much view them as cruel and unempathetic monsters, with the exception of close friends and family of course. In this volunteer job at Goodwill, on the very first day (of only two), I worked from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, and when lunchtime came around at about noon, I told the manager there that I wanted a quick break. He said I had fifteen minutes, but the problem with that is I don't drive and if I walked back home, ate, and then walked back, that would take about 45 minutes at the very least. So I told him that "it would be very difficult for me to procure some food in such a short amount of time!" to which he replied with a puzzled look of suspicion on his face, saying "What exactly do you do in real life?" I answered that I was a student, then he gave me a 30 minute break for lunch, an I just ended up calling my mom to have her bring a sandwich over for me. Needless to say, it really bumped up my anxiety a number of levels, because I thought I was already on his bad side.

Fast forward to now, and I've had one interview so far at Discount Tire Co. The manager there seemed puzzled about some things on my application/resume, such as the fact that I wished to work a 9-5 Mon-Fri job there, which he said was the kind of jobs that bank tellers work. I sort of just shrugged my shoulders and we continued with the interview. Needless to say, that didn't go so well and I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna get hired, but again, it's a relatively menial job in the general workforce that really doesn't pertain to my interests/experience. So, to re-iterate, is it absurd to try to push this so much? (when I say "absurd," I am, of course, referring specifically to the philosophical school of thought known as "Absurdism")

I really want to pay off this tuition (and while I'm at it get my mom off my back about the whole job thing, since she's had VERY little patience with me). What do you guys think? What's some good advice for going about this job search?

Yes, job searching is definitely absurd. Even a lot of minimum wage jobs now have crappy online job terminals with a 5-6 page personality test that asks the same few questions in multiple different ways.

It's definitely easier if you have open availability, though.

Yeah, those pesky questionnaires really are quite stupid (and you're right, it is the same stuff rehashed over and over again - the worst was Panda Express, because within that single application there were rehashed questions!). I am extremely available for work, though...but I made the painfully naive mistake of putting specific hours I would like to work on my applications instead of just saying "I'm available anytime you need me," out of fear that my potential employers would make me work all the time instead of negotiating hours with me during the interview (odd how consistent this all seems to be with paranoid delusions...and here I was completely convinced that I was autistic, although I was only diagnosed with PDD-NOS when I was six).

If it pays the bills, it is not absurd.

True. But is that really all that we were meant to do in life - just pay bills until we retire, or maybe even until we die? Because that seems like what is happening. It's not just "pay the bills until someday you don't have to"; indeed, many Americans seem to just be drowned in debt and bills and stuff - and it seems like such a miserable, "absurd" existence. And I don't like Camus' or Nagel's responses to it either - "shake your fist at it in scorn", or "laugh in it's face, because it's hilariously ironic". I think that, like Aristotle wrote, we should simply find our purpose, or "Telos", in life and do that. Mine is being a musician, and if I can find a satisfying niche in the musical world, I feel like life will be less absurd for me. "If it pays the bills, it is not absurd" doesn't seem to make it any less absurd - ironically it just makes it sound more absurd. Thanks for the feedback, though, I really appreciate it. It's nice just to hear back from people.

Much of human existence is absurd, but it's generally us artists who see that absurdity for what it is and create a life for ourselves around it. Of course, we have bills to pay too, but we don't see that as the purpose of life. Writers like Kafka, Gombrowicz and Bulgakov (to name but three) took the grinding absurdity that surrounded them and transformed it into elevating works of art.

Other people find life absurd as well, but it tends to be artists, philosophers and other 'weirdos' who actually admit it openly, both to themselves and the world in general.

Ohgosh, that Goodwill manager was awful. But, y'know, if you're ever in that situation again remember that as a volunteer it's all voluntary. There's no contract. You can take as long a break as you want, and he should be grateful to get any volunteers at all.

Anyway, is job hunting absurd? Probably. Is it necessary? Yes. Especially if you want a job. Have you looked over your resume with anybody? There are tons of job help places that can help you with your resume, and maybe some mock interviews. Try looking into them, or the next time your Mom pesters you tell her to be useful instead of critical and look them up for you. That extra pressure can't be good for your anxiety. =/

9-5 jobs don't really exist anymore outside of banks, like the man said. Most common now is 8-5, which is 40 hours, but a lot of places have varying shifts that occur at different hours. Like Pineapplehead said before, a flexible schedule is the best. They can't make you work too many hours. There are laws against it. So, try to be flexible. They probably won't be unreasonable. And the personality quizzes they use that rehash questions actually have a purpose. They're checking for inconsistencies that might indicate what you're saying isn't true. Or at least...that's the theory behind well written ones. Haha~

As for finding a job that pertains to music it's gunna be hard. But, I think, you already know that. Do you play music, or are you more of a music techie? Because I see more job openings for sound people than musicians. Especially in the mega-churches and bars/clubs.

A good thing to remember is that people don't read resumes anymore. Any company that's got more than ten staff probably sends all of the resumes they receive through a computer. It's programmed to go through for keywords and pull those resumes out to be read by real people. In order to get past the first computer phase of the process make sure to tailor your resume to their job description. It's not lying. It's just using their words. It took me a few months to figure this out, but once I did the interviews rolled in like crazy.

Good luck with your job search! Lemme know if you have any more questions.^^

Since you are young, you shouldn't give up on finding a career that is interesting for you and wouldn't be absurd.
In the meantime, you may have to get a job to pay bills, but why not plan long-term for something better?

I don't see it as just artists in general who see life as absurd, but more specifically we autistics/allistics within the art community who see it that way (how absurd would you think someone like Justin Bieber finds life, for example?). And I would even argue that even in other disciplines (like the sciences and maths), people like us find life absurd at times (or all the time in some cases).



I guess it took a lot of emotional/mental strength and sheer willpower for these authors (only one of which I am familiar with) to get through life and turn absurdity into beautiful, thought-provoking pieces of literature. That's precisely what I wish I could do, if not beat the absurd entirely. Thanks for the insight!

You're probably right suggesting that I should look into submitting my resume to a professional to review it (I've only had my mom and my girlfriend look over it so far, and they gave some pretty contradictory criticisms which really only managed to confuse the hell out of me). Mock interviews sound good, too. Only problem with either of those, though, is that I only have til 9/24 to get my first payment of $316.50 in, so I just want to spend that time working. Also - yeah, my mom can be a pain in the neck sometimes about this kind of stuff, but it's only because I'm 22 goddamn years old and I'm still siphoning her for food and stuff like I'm 15, so, needless to say, she's a bit stressed out.



Yeah, that makes sense. Are most people really so sh***y though that employers feel compelled to do this? It's like with STD's - I didn't know how they worked (that people have to be sleeping with several other people in order to catch them, not just be having unprotected sex), but my girlfriend explained the former condition to me, and I asked her "So, places like this university just assume that people are such ravenous animals, and so they feel they have to be taught about STD's? What the hell is wrong with society?!"



Yeah, finding music jobs is extremely difficult, you're right. Hell, I looked into some programming jobs at Finale (working with HTML, C, and JavaScript in order to improve the program's overall look), and all three of those required at least a Bachelor's Degree with five years of experience in that type of stuff. This was around 30-50 miles away from where I live, though, which isn't close enough for me to realistically commute. Where I live, however, most music jobs are as private instructors giving lessons or assistant professors at colleges/universities, and I don't have nearly enough experience for that. As far as what kind of musician I am is concerned, I am a theorist/composer with about 10 years of vocal experience (in select mixed choirs since I was in middle school, and as a soloist in college for a few semesters before I came down with crippling depression). I love anything to do with the "language" of music and how composition works (and I've been working on a few myself, including a song with progressive metal leanings, a progressive death metal opera based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and a symphony). The only thing that sucks about my relationship with music is that I'm not very fond of performing music - and that's a bit of a problem with most people. Sure I'm good at singing and playing guitar, and I'm a little proficient with piano, but I still have too much anxiety with it. It kills me (and not in a good, humorous way, either) when people ask "Oh! What instrument do you play?" because it's not that f***ing simple! It's like when people ask my girlfriend, who's an artist, what she draws or paints, and she has to say "neither, really, I'm a jewler and metalsmith." So performance may be out of the question, at least until I get good enough by my standards and can manage my anxiety better.



And this is the pinnacle of absurdity to me. Why do people have to be so damn tact all the time? Is it out of insecurity, or what? It just doesn't make any sense. Thanks, though, for all of the feedback! It's very much appreciated.

I'm trying to plan for something better in the long-run, but I just can't seem to get my s*** together, you know? It doesn't help, either, that I may be going through the prodromal phase of schizophrenia onset (I have pretty pervasive paranoid and persecutory delusions about people, and when I was 18, I thought I was a god - from a metaphysical perspective, though, not a religious one). It's just hard with the state of the music job market out there - it seems to be almost as bad as it is for artists. People just don't value the liberal arts like they used to; nowadays, it's all about "science, and math, and industry!" you know? Just doing stuff more "productive" to society (as if art, literature, theater, and music don't do anything for society - c'mon, gimme a break! ).

It is totally absurd. It's all about obedience and malleability. If you read interview advice information, it's crazy just how much of a game this is. Like a dog being trained. Say this/don't say that/say so-and-so that way. The worst part is the interview, because you can't just answer the goddamn questions. No,, you have to know what they want you to say. But if everyone knows what the answer is supposed to be and just spits it out, whats the point of that question? To make sure you're on board with the group think mentality. That you can spit the program back out to them. So artificial.

There are plenty of 9-5 office jobs. Not necessarily alot of available ones, but they surely exist as I have one and work in a place where everyone does. 9-5:30 to be precise.

Perhaps applying for retail jobs may not be the best thing to do. With your having difficulties with your perceptions of people, Id have to imagine constant interaction would be very wearing. Especially face to face. I work in data entry, and while the monotony makes me want to scratch my eyes out on an almost daily basis, it's a way for me to have a job that pays me enough to live and just lets me stay in my own world, not interact iwth anyone and get my paycheck and go the hell home. My ability to socialize or even interview well was basically irrelevant.

I would suggest an employment agency. They will do most of the leg work for you to get you in the door for interviews. On many short term assignments you never even have to interview, just show up. <any times those scenarios would be getting hired in a group which always helped me feel more comfortable transitioning into the job. And even if the job doesn't keep you, so long as you do your job and show up on time the agency will keep putting you on new assignments with layoffs int between. They can test you on certain aptitudes and provide said results to employers. They are commission-based so they are motivated to place you. You have your own salesperson selling you in the required language. They'll even in some cases coach you up for the interview, tell you what they really want to hear and not hear. Try as many as you can in your area as there are many people out of work and they are busy and may not always get back to you with something. But most of my jobs have been obtained this way.

I don't believe that today you need to perform to have people hear and pay for your music. I know there are a few DIY bands that have gathered a fan base, or at least started off that way. You don't even need to have a band if you can write/play all the material. Such things do cost money, but it's not as though it isn't possible is my point. If you gain a fan base, you can sell some cds, maybe sell some merchandise and perhaps make a little money for yourself. And more importantly I'd imagine, know that people have heard and loved your music. Progressive death metal opera is something I'd certainly at the very least be interested to hear. I many not have the fullest capacity to appreciate it's depth, and it's possible it may not be my personal taste, but Id personally love to hear how that came together.

Reminds me of when I almost joined the USMC in eleventh grade. That wasn't fun. The first red flag was when the recruiter asked with which religion I was affiliated, and I said I was agnostic, and he said "That's alright - we'll try to fix that!" Oh boy...

Later, he attributed greatness to being a marine, as if it was a one-to-one function and greatness couldn't be attributed to anything else, and he gave examples of marines who led great lives after being discharged or retiring. And I asked "Well, couldn't greatness be attributed to other things, too? You don't have to be a marine for that!" And he just gave me a puzzled look, so I just said "Okay, yeah, I could see that..." and he went on. The scariest part is when my mom said "Okay, we're just gonna leave now" because we could both tell he was a bit f***ing crazy, and then for several weeks he just kept leaving voicemails that made him sound like a friggin stalker, even screaming "Semper Fi!" into one of 'em. And interviewing for jobs sounds like this too. Just training people to just "get with the program."



Yeah, I can understand that - I had a job as an inter-library loan borrower/lender at my university's library for a few months, and it had very low interaction with people and required a very high attention to detail (which seems average to me, and that everyone else just has below average attention to detail ). It was a good job, but I missed a couple of days (or I was tardy, or something) and my boss spoke with me about it and even asked if I needed a break or to quit, and I decided to quit because I was stressed with school and figured that if she was already concerned about my attendance, it wasn't worth it to try to continue on with it. One of the worst mistakes of my life, I really wish I had kept that job.



Sounds like it could help...if I had the time to go through all the bull**** that's likely involved with it.
But I kind of need to work now, so it might not be an option for me at this point...thanks, though.

The only problem with being a DIY musician that I could see is that I need a steady income right now (because of a monthly payment arrangement with my school's student business office), and this doesn't seem nearly steady enough. It seems much more long-term, when I am financially stable enough to "pull it off", so to speak. As far as your interest in hearing how I've interpreted Frankenstein, I really do appreciate that - you have no idea how much that means to me! It's just been one of my favorite novels ever since I first read it in high school, and I thought it would be cool to make a metal opera based off it (with Mikael Åkerfeldt as "The Creature"). I love that novel so much that I even drew a parallel between it and Avengers: Age of Ultron about 20 minutes or so into the movie, thinking that that was a pretty cool move on the part of the producers (and I guess Marvel Comics in general, if they intended to make that connection).

You shouldn't have to pay for these services. They're usually free at unemployment, and sponsored by the government. You'd have to search for things in your own area, since I don't know where you are. If someone asks you to pay for it, find another place.


First note: look into entry level jobs. There are plenty of programming jobs that don't require much in the way of experience. Especially low level stuff. Unless the job market has changed dramatically in the four weeks since I stopped watching it. I also do front-end web development so I was watching those trends.

For music, either become a private instructor: in which case, it's based on you and not necessarily your experience. Though, 10 years experience in choirs looks good on paper. Or, like I suggested before, look into any churches or bars/clubs that need people to work their music. I have a friend who's sum music experience is that he's the bassist in our band and he managed to get a choir directing job at a tiny church nearby. Faith has nothing to do with it, by law, if you're not applying to be a pastor.

I don't suggest being a performer if you're not comfortable with it. It doesn't make you more or less a musician.


I'm not sure how this is absurd. It's utilizing technology to make searching for job candidates more streamlined and efficient. Simply logic.