Getting ready to get a Government job. Please help!!

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Here is the situation,


I got my bachelors degree in 2013 at the tender age of 33, haha. My goal is to obtain a job with the Department of Immigration. However to start that path I have been volunteering down at the VA Hospital here in Cincinnati. The journey out of hell for me has been long and hard and I have made some mistakes after college. I don't want to make these mistakes anymore. Now I decided that volunteering would be a great way to get my foot in the door for employment and it is. It's just that I was not prepared for the sudden change. I had done well for a few years while in college and working in the dry goods section as well as dairy and produce section at a local Kroger. However I was working on average 25 to 32 hours a week and going to school at the rate of 2 sometimes 3 classes per quarter.


I have already not liked volunteering I one section of the VA and have failed out of another. The volunteer position that I failed out of was the information desk.....The reason WHY I failed out of it was because I thought that I had read enough of the book which I did. However I was SO EAGER TO TAKE ON MORE RESPONSIBILITIES THAN what I should. I have learned from the failure, thank god.


Unfortunately I know enough to know that people have started to talk about me. I got some advice from my immediate supervisor that I MIGHT want to volunteer in another position. I am by no means fired, I just need to go somewhere else which I will.


The great thing about federal employment is that they have what is called a Schedule A coordinator. If you have a disability they don't necessarily HAVE to hire you but I get moved to the front of the line. I sent the Disability Coordinator a list of my personal strengths. Actually they are weaknesses but I rewrote them in the context of strength. Here they are:





1.) Performing technical tasks and dealing with information

2.) Work with an established routine

3.) I do well when I am in a structured environment

4.) Accurate and Quality workmanship.

5.) Able to focus on one task at a time.

6.) Great performance with clear expectations.


But I don't know if I should send the Schedule A coordinator a list of things that the employer has to keep in mind when hiring someone with Asperger Syndrome. They are......


Be patient during training, and break instruction into small segments. If an individual is asking an excessive number of questions, it could indicate anxiety or confusion about an assignment

Explain how tasks and assignments fit into the whole the "big picture") and why particular steps or processes are important.

Whenever possible, encourage the use of written notes, outlines, and checklists. Icons and color coded filing systems will help with organization. People with Asperger Syndrome are usually visual not auditory learners.

Assist the individual with creating a personalized "rule book" that contains processes, procedures, and where to go for help

Check for understanding by asking the individual to summarize an assignment

Make expectations specific and quantifiable: "The draft I due in three days, and should include at least six ideas for improving efficiency" or "Thirty entries or more must be made per hour." Avoid vague abstract directives: "Take the data and run with it" or "I want you to take ownership of the project."

If there is a performance problem, bring it to the individual's attention using clear, explicit language. Hints, inferences, and sarcasm will not be understood. Be direct: You must limit e-mails to four paragraphs;" or "There is too much detail in this presentation, what I need is..." or "The priority is to complete the data entry by noon."

Be mindful that [i]what looks like a behavioral or attitude problem is usually a communication problem. [i]Don't take blunt remarks or social gaffes personally.[/I Clarify the individual's intentions. Be specific and matter-of-fact in pointing out inappropriate or unacceptable behavior. General statements such as "you're rude;" or "You're not a team player;" or "How could you say that!?" are confusing. Be direct: "When you tell people to 'be quiet' it's considered rude. Instead, ask them to lower their voices."

Assign a work buddy or mentor to explain social norms, encourage social interaction and answer question. Individuals with Asperger Syndrome often hesitate to ask questions, fearing that they will appear "stupid", or that the wrong question will result in job loss

Relax the standards for "teamwork" where possible and allow these individuals to focus on the technical aspects of the job.

Take sensory difficulties seriously. An individual who is hyper sensitive to noise may require a quiet workspace, noise cancelling headphones, or a white noise machine. Someone with an auditory processing problem may need to use a TTY (text telephone) or other assistive technology. A photo sensitivity can be mitigated by a natural light source, or lamps with incandescent light bulbs.

Give an individual permission to take short breaks in order to avoid sensory overload.

These individuals often experience heightened levels of anxiety, and as a result may magnify a situation. They may panic over a minor mistake or an insignificant disagreement with a co-worker. Often, they do not know how to correct the situation. Do not dismiss concerns as trivial, or something that the individual should know how to handle. Listen, acknowledge concerns and brainstorm an action plan.

Educate human resources personnel, managers, and employees about Asperger's Syndrome. Increased understanding is directly proportional to increased employment success. Retaining just one employee at risk of derailing more than covers investment in training.

Provide a coach who is familiar with conditions like Asperger's Syndrome to work with an employee and his or her manager. The pragmatic, goal oriented nature of coaching, combined with an action plan based on organizational needs, assures that performance objectives are addressed. (Although in most cases it is illegal, under the Americans with Disabilities Act, to ask an employee about a disability, you CAN discuss performance issues.



Should I send those bullet points to the Schedule A coordinator?

Do you mean USCIS or CBP?



Don't forget attention to detail and commitment to public service. Demonstrating those will generally help you in the federal interview process. This is a good list though.



No. The federal work environment is not as flexible as the private sector, but it already places less emphasis on the social element (caveat below). Regardless, this is not the point in time where you would try to ask for accommodations (or even hint that they will be necessary). Schedule A is only a means to top up your federal application (GS-11 and below) with a few additional points. It's exactly the same benefit as veteran's preference. You aren't moved to the front of the line per se, but by the OPM rules, you will be "preferred" over anyone with fewer points.
One caveat to federal employment placing less emphasis on social skills are the many jobs that serve an intelligence function. CBP and particularly USCIS are light in this regard vis-a-vis CIA or State Department for example, but may still require a greater degree of human interaction and the ability to read people.
You may also find immihelp useful. The forums there are frequented by IOs and COs.

Actually I was told the opposite by a Job Placement Service that gets utilized by the Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation. They informed me in the Private Sector is like a landmine. Some companies may not want to hire and some won't care. The Federal Government is pretty accommodating.

Having worked for the federal government and the private sector, my experience is:
Federal agencies follow OPM rules (sometimes their own variation of those rules), and will make accommodations to the letter of the law, but the accommodation process is very bureaucratic and may not even be necessary since there is not so much emphasis on social performance in the first place. Accommodations are viewed objectively and you will not get any breaks in the performance evaluation process. Your case load will not be any lighter than other agents. Most people still don't know what accommodations are necessary for people with mental illnesses, so while you may easily get an ergonomic keyboard or a lumbar support, most of your requests will be seen as unnecessary preferential treatment Unfortunately if a compelling case isn't made for accommodations like that, the answer is usually no.
In the private sector, there are organizations of all kinds and in general, the more a workplace is a professional environment, the more likely accommodations will be taken seriously. Like most things, the government is somewhere in the middle of the spectrum.

Well in that case I have BIG PROBLEM because I sent that list over an hour ago by e-mail to the Schedule A coordinator....How do I fix this!! !

It's not a big problem. Your coordinator most likely will not transmit your requests to your HR manager unless you are hired. And then the HR manager will only communicate the approved accommodations to your line manager. In any case, the worst that can happen is that your list is rejected and you get the same work arrangements as everyone else. If it comes back to you, just say that these are some medical accommodations that your doctor has agreed will help you do your job in a timely and efficient manner.

Thank You!!

See my response in your other thread. I recommend LYING. I would say that you accidentally attached a document that you meant to send to your son's school. No one will care whether or not you actually have a son. Then say something like "where is my brain?" or "not enough coffee!"

I have gotten attachments about personal information before, such as information about a person's CHURCH going habits, when that person was trying to get me to hire them. It's not appropriate and made me throw that person's resume in the trash. Not before I made a mental note to forward their resume to my trash bin if I ever saw it again. Don't lead with a weak foot, or tell people personal stuff before you're hired.

I have a serious disability, I used to be a hiring manager, and I now study autism in the workplace.

This is a great idea. I second that.
However, as far as I know, the Schedule A coordinator has no authority to determine who is hired and who isn't, but only determines when Schedule A points are awarded. In federal employment, staffing decisions at most agencies are made by a group of line managers with input from HR, IR, and/or OIG. Schedule A is administrated by the OPM and I assume JohnConnor was referring to his OPM point of contact.

All the better. But I wouldn't take any chances. I really don't think it's a good idea to let people know personal things about you before you get hired.

This goes back even to a study I read about how people with black sounding names get interviews less often than people with white sounding names. The more "regular" (non minority, and autistic people are minorities) you seem, the better.

I've read parts of that study. It seems to me that most people underpin performance expectations with socio-economic indicators and use ethnic, cultural, or racial background as a proxy. I could go on and on about that, but suffice to say, neurodiversity falls outside the scope of minority in conventional thought. Actually, minority itself falls outside the scope of minority, but that's neither here nor there. I would say that we get worse outsider treatment than conventional minorities though. There's a study that's more on point about perceptions of an individual upon discovery that they are deceptive. The authors found that there was a greater backlash against deceptive people when they were initially in-group, this reversal effect was exacerbated for females who were more attractive. Since we give off signals that are confused with deception, I would imagine we're more like "no good damned liars" than "icky different people" in the minds of our own tribes (whatever may delineate them).

I'm going to keep the Asperger on the down low for now.