Lost job today - need some advice (if any) - Sales
I was never diagnosed with my AS early enough and with little support I have dragged my way through life to make it the best I possibly can, now at 28 I find myself hopping in and out of jobs unable to settle in with a work environment and complete new job to a similar standard to what I have done before.
I will try to me more upbeat - I have worked in retail, sales and security. I have worked for small independent firms, large corporates and even ran my own business for a while so I have a good and interesting Sales CV.
Now I have been diagnosed I am considering changing my approach towards finding work and wanted some advice. I love Sales and what I do but I don't know if I can cope with the pressure it brings, I would enjoy a job that is more remedial but I wan't it to lead somewhere so I don't feel unfulfilled in my career.
All indications point towards starting my own business again like before but there might be something better for me that other Aspies have considered and it has worked out well for them.
Sales would terrify me. All that interaction with other people, I would be a nervous wreck! I need a quiet environment with little outside noise or disturbance, even a traditional office scares me. I am lucky, I have spent years working up to it but now I work from home, full time in a job that I love and hopefully allows me to help others in their careers.
Sometimes it just takes time, you have to have a plan and work it through. Meantime you just suck it up and take the stuff that is thrown at you.
Maybe do a personality test (Kinsey is good) and find out where you fit best? It may not always be what you think!
How good are your analysis skills?
From what I've read, people with AS have a dificulty intuitively socializing and emotionally connecting to other people , so maybe that is your main obstacle in sales.
However you might be very skilled at analyzing consumer preferences, trends, needs and manage to suggest the product or service they are willing to spend or invest in.
You can still be in sales while leaving the emotional persuasion and influencing to those charismatic socializers and good listeners. You could be their analyst, strategic planner, evaluator, supervisor etc.
ASPartOfMe
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Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 67
Gender: Male
Posts: 36,257
Location: Long Island, New York
You have to do a self inventory and think of what specific aspects of sales you liked, what specific aspects of sales you disliked and specific aspects of sales were pressure packed. Also which type of company you liked working for large, small, formal, informal?
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
I have tried sales jobs myself. I found that face to face sales, doesn't work for me because I failed to pick up some social cues in the facial expressions. Telesales works great for me. To compensate for our empathy weakness, it is best to be a sales in a very niche areas such that expertise can compensate for our weak areas. Sales in niche areas also means more money to cover up the down times during unemployment.
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The bible says, "God purposely chose... what the world considers weak in order to shame the powerful." Your weaknesses are not an accident. God deliberately allowed them in your life for the purpose of demonstrati
Thank you very much for all of your replies, please allow me to elaborate.
Because of my inability to recognise social cues and take the lead in a small-talk conversation other than on a mutual observation, as well as the deep rapport building I have shied away from pursuing a field (face to face) sales and opted for Business Development/Lead Generation which is all telephone based and requires very minimal rapport building as it is only the first few stages of a sales cycle. Once I have created appointments for a client it is no longer under my control.
You can see why I like it it is very repetitive and requires a lot of research and analysing and the targets are very simple, you create a client meeting in your work day, or you don't - not a lot of pressure.
My problem is working for companies whose expectations are higher that what is expected and companies expect you to work they way they want you to work - as long as they are putting money in your a/c says to them that I should come in a do the job assigned but it is not that simple. When I am unhappy, distracted or stressed I turn into a different person and cannot focus.
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