The real reason why Aspies are often unemployable.

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The problem is that employers don't care about smarts, know-how or ability anymore. It's all about "soft skills" and "likeability". In other words, a bunch of pointless social garbage. Did you know that to get a job at SUBWAY now you have to fill out a personality questionnaire? Everyone lies on those, so why do companies bother wasting our time with them!?

Not only that, but when you apply online for a major company, most of them won't even have an actual person look at your application. Instead they'll have a computer program scan your resumé for keywords, and if you don't have them, the system will throw out your application.

I've pretty much faced the fact that America is a dying, anti-intellectual hellhole. I just hope I can jump ship before it sinks...

Case in point: I took a certification test called A+, the basic cert for computer work, in 2006. In 2008 they overhauled the test. No longer would it focus on, you know, COMPUTERS. Instead the main focus would be on SOFT SKILLS! A lot of computer techs were PISSED! In addition, the cert only lasts for three years now, and you have to retake it every three years. CHA-CHING for CompTIA! I don't need a cert to be a computer repairman, and I sure as hell don't need to be a social butterfly to fix PCs! But if you go into, say, Geek Squad, they only hire GOOD SALESPEOPLE! Their job is to look cool and say "well, we can't fix that, you need to buy a new PC. That'll be $250. Our PC department is over there." I have faced the truth that I won't get admitted to Switzerland before America sinks, so I'm looking at buying some land and raising my own food. I will need to be FAR away from the cities.

You and me both bud.

I hate being negative, but job hunting really is about getting lucky and being in the right place at the right time. Employers have always had the advantage, but with the job market the way it is, they are looking for reasons to exclude applicants. Getting a job is often the hardest part.

Disgraceful! Where's your sense of honor? patriotism? Where's your national pride?
(Save an extra ticket for me. I want to escape with you guys.)

I found this a good read. What do you guys think?

http://www.autism.com/ind_choosing_job.asp

Many people underestimate the role luck and chance plays in our lives.

I love this country....I really do. I love American food, movies, and the landscape. However, the job market here just isn't for someone with my background.

My sarcasm was a little misleading.
I love it here too, but I dislike the economy. (Now I'm getting side-tracked.)

I've had luck and good fortune get me to job interviews, but the fact is that I don't get past the interviews. I've got a degree and voluntary expereince behind me, the latter of which led to one of the interviews. One of the guys interviewing me was a friend who I had worked alongside in volunteer work, and I still didn't get the job. The fact is I just don't interview well at all; the interview I just came from needed no qualifications, and I still didn't get it.

My job history is as strange as one would expect given the challenges we face.

I have "A" levels (Associate degrees) in Pure Maths, Applied Math, Statistics and Physics. I have a degree in Theology. I have military experience. I promoted rock bands. I worked in parapsychology for a few years. I studied for the Anglican priesthood. I chose not to go into a pastoral ministry. I got a temp job in a factory packing floppy disks for a big game that year. three years later I was production scheduler. I set up my own computer company and got out before the market crashed in early 2000. I got a job as an analyst and four years later rose to I.S. Manager.

Most career choice changes happened because I made a serious faux pa and no one knew I was not neurotypical.

The last 12 years have been much better. I discovered the writings of Bandler and Grindler on Neurolinguistic programming (NLP). that gave me tools to allow me to emulate neurotypical behavior for the most part.

The only reason my boss knows I'm AS is he has a son with severe autism. He spotted familiar patterns like hyperfocusing that he knew form his son. Since he's familiar with the spectrum of disorders and knows that Aspies tend to be smarter than the average person, so I've found my opinions being listened to more often than before.

Saw this a while back:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/20 ... c-to-work/

Had a fun (sic) day at work yesterday.

Tried to deal with a billing issue via e-mail. Revised the "letter" 3 times to sound as specific but non-offensive as possible.

You can imagine how it went over.

Boss was more or less okay over it. He knows of my condition, but he started his talk with, "Repeat after me, 'I have no social skills.'" All "public relations" matters need to go through him now. If I see a need to contact someone about something with the office, he is to review it.

It's stuff like this that bothers me. I majored in mass communications in college. I know how to "effectively" communicate with others, yet no matter how I try to be non-offensive, if there is a wrong way to come across, I naturally seem to find it.

It is a major "shortcoming" I have as a prospective employee, but I don't dare admit it in an interview.

Everything about this post is 100% true. I wanna cry. ;__;
Where's that so called Aspie Island people keep talking about. I want to go there. A place where you're valued for your skills, and not how well you can gossip.

Really?!
From what I hear, you guys don't even have real cheese! LOL

The trick, I think, is to just keep looking for work that suits you, and to just accept that it is going to take longer (a lot longer) than for NT people. Random chance plays a huge part in who gets what jobs when, the best thing to do is just keep trying. Give lady luck as many chances as possible to smile upon you.

I recently got a job as a test driver for an automotive engineering company. It is perfect for me. I am alone for the vast majority of the day. What little interaction there is with my coworkers tends to be centered around cars (my own personal special interest). I am respected for my knowledge on the topic, rather than seen as strange for it.

Even the interview was easy. The HR guy had pictures of his favorite cars all over the office, so I just talked to him about that (one of the few things I can converse about naturally).

But if I had let the hopelessness I was feeling when unemployed take over, stop me from looking, I wouldn't have been there when that perfect for me job opened up.