Even entry-level minimum-wage jobs want or expect experience

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[quote=but starting Friday of last week, i've been doing an unpaid internship at Smart and Final, it's a grocery store, i found out about the internship through the Asperger Syndrome Support Group where I live[/quote]

That sounds promising . Is there anyone at the support group who might be able to keep in touch with you and offer some advice? Once you get a feel for the job, they might have suggestions as to how you could encourage your employer to take you on for a paid position if one comes up? Hope it goes well for you, I'm sure the hard work you're putting into looking for a job will pay off soon.

That sounds promising . Is there anyone at the support group who might be able to keep in touch with you and offer some advice? Once you get a feel for the job, they might have suggestions as to how you could encourage your employer to take you on for a paid position if one comes up? Hope it goes well for you, I'm sure the hard work you're putting into looking for a job will pay off soon.[/quote]

Yes, the person who is the coordinator, director of the job transition program, i believe that is what it is called, has given me great advice, but the internship is a way for me to hone my skills, have more training to prepare me for an actual paid job

Yes, the person who is the coordinator, director of the job transition program, i believe that is what it is called, has given me great advice, but the internship is a way for me to hone my skills, have more training to prepare me for an actual paid job[/quote]

it just pisses me off that even entry-level service jobs, minimum-wage jobs, customer-service jobs, even those type of jobs give a crap about qualifications, i can't stand all of the damn competition, and why do people always say to go back to school, college, for those who are not college-educated in order to get a job? do you really need a college degree in order to get hired at a place like McDonalds and a Grocery Store? I don't care, a job is a job, i'm so hardcore desperate for a job that i'm completely comfortable and content working minimum-wage

it just pisses me off that even entry-level service jobs, minimum-wage jobs, customer-service jobs, even those type of jobs give a crap about qualifications, i can't stand all of the damn competition, and why do people always say to go back to school, college, for those who are not college-educated in order to get a job? do you really need a college degree in order to get hired at a place like McDonalds and a Grocery Store? I don't care, a job is a job, i'm so hardcore desperate for a job that i'm completely comfortable and content working minimum-wage[/quote]

whats also confusing to me is that, when i've asked people for advice, questions, this is what i specifically asked them "if a person is at least getting job interviews but not getting hired, what does that mean specifically?"

a lot of people say the answer i expect, in which it means my interview skills need improvement, that it means i look good on paper but not good in person, as in, my job interview performance is killing my chances of getting hired, i also find it annoyingly frustrating when people ask me how do I dress to the interview, one person even asked me are you even dressed properly? and yes!, obviously, all of the interviews i had this year i wore a suit and a tie, dress shoes, was clean shave, good hygiene, etc.

This is an example of an answer that a person told me:

"It could be any number of things, but bottom line, there is a candidate that they liked better. You might have great interview skills but someone else has more experience. You might have great previous experience but another applicant might have a personality that the hiring manager preferred. You might speak English, Spanish and Mandarin, but someone else might speak those languages plus Russian and Creole. Your shoes might remind the manager of his sisters jerk of an ex-boyfriend. There are too many variable to determine what the reason is.

My advice is to find a neutral person to do a mock interview with. Someone honest who doesn't know you too well. A friend of a friend, your neighbors sister-in-law, someone who can give honest feedback without bias."

Someone else said: "If you are brought in for an interview that means you have a good chance of being hired because most candidates who are chosen for an interview have basically the same skills on paper. The interview is to determine if you FIT within the organization. 50% of the time no matter how good your interview skills are you will not have a chance because they don't like your: age, appearance, personality, style, image, posture, style of speaking, etc.

Interviewing is like dating. No matter how hard you try, you can't force people to like you. Some will, some won't"

Some people have also told me if a person is getting job interviews, that means the hiring-manager or employer, HR department, read, checked, saw the persons resume, application and saw something they liked, i also argued against another person by saying if they are not interested in hiring my why do they waste their time interviewing me? after all, Time is Money, and this is what he says to me:
"That's not logical. Interviews are a way of testing you to see if you're a good fit for their company. Without interviewing people, they would not be able to determine that, save for basic education and work requirements."

Overall, what do you think?

It is what it is; interviews, as you've just learned, are for looking for that special yes-man, the one who thrives on sniffing under tails but doesn't strive to take the alpha dog's spot. The ultimate workaround for any aspie is going to be to follow your interests, if you zero in on something that you would do for free and people need what you do, they will come knocking with wads of cash in their hands (whoa, way interesting typo before catching that).

"Yeah but what do I do in the meantime?" If you can fathom being able to do it every single day for the next few years or the rest of your life, or until you get canned for being born without the social gene, go ahead and keep applying at places in that big mall next to the 22. A better alternative IMO is something under-the-table. If you don't mind getting a little dirty and sweaty there are lots of tire shops in 'town'. Lawnmower shops, all kinds of restoration shops in all those little industrial complices. You don't think all of those choppers and hot rods get built in a week on TV by those guys yapping in front of the camera do you? Those places NEED the guy working away in the back. But do NOT just go banging on shop doors, you'll need a bit of an introduction to let your work sell itself. If you do resort to going door-to-door, have a small portfolio with you showing model kits you've built or samples of something you've fabricated or refurbished.

Don't know if this all applies but you'll definitely be happier in a "get 'er done" occupation, highly demanded skills make an aspie pretty much bulletproof

i just hate how even the minimum-wage entry-level service jobs give a crap about qualifications

As someone who sometimes writes job descriptions, I think you have missed the fact that a lot of lists of job requirements are a wish list.

Granted, when the industrial bakery says that a job requires being able to regularly lift 50lb bags of flour, they really mean it. But they know that the number of people who can lift a 50lb bag of flour AND who have the right set of skills to function in a bakery is way smaller than the number of people who have lifted 50lb bags of flour in a bakery before.

Right now the job market is a nightmare so it's worse than usual. Back in 2003 i was in your shoes. I had a friend who had a technical support job at a place that advertised a software testing job while i was looking for work as a software tester, so I applied. And then later i asked my friend to find out why they didn't even bother rejecting me. He told me that the HR lady said that over 1000 people applied and they gave the job to a guy with a masters degree. Sometimes it just isn't your fault that you didn't measure up.

Funny thing - the guy who got that job got me my current job. And got laid off last week.

If a job is being filled by a human resources or staffing person who has never done the job you're trying to get, they will be strict about their list of features that applicants have to have and if you don't have the experience that is on the list they will reject you. That is a fact and i'm sorry to say it. Sometimes life isn't fair.

But if you can get in touch with the people who do that job - with the people who you would be working with and for - sometimes they can see past a list of knowledge to an actual person.

I hired a guy about a year ago who had no experience in software testing, but he was dying to get out of support escalations at another software company. I could tell from the way he solved problems that he had the right sort of mind for the work. I could tell from the sort of support tasks he'd been tasked with that he was thinking about why those problems should have never happened in the first place, and i knew that he would make a good tester.

And he did make a good tester.

So, here's some basic advice:

Decide what you want to do. "earn money" might be the most we can ask for here.

Try to determine what kind of company you want to work for.

When you apply for work at a company, find out what you can about them and use that knowledge in your interview and/or cover letter. It also helps to re-tweak your resume for every application. This is just like talking to a girl - they are always more impressed if you talk about things they are interested in. Be able to talk about why you want to work for them in reasons that go past a pay check.

Be positive and professional. There will be situations where you are anxious or feel slighted. Be ever aware that if someone is in a situation where they don't know if they are ready to say yes, they are generally certain that they can say no. Don't give them any reason to want to say no.

I've applied for jobs where my skills and experience checked every single box that they were asking for in their advertisement. And then I get a letter saying, "Thank you for your interest but we had a lot of applicants whose skills and experience more closely matched our requirements."

I felt like sending the letter back to them with a photocopy of my original application and the advert, highlighting the salient points, and large red writing across their letter saying, "Explain how, please?"

Or just "LIAR" would have made me feel better.

well i'm enjoying my internship so far

Don't let it get you down. People get hired for the strangest reasons.

I am pretty sure that i ended up at my current place of employment because they were in a bind and the hiring manager had a worse commute than i did.

I had been interviewing twice a week, but almost all of my interviews were in salt lake city, 40 miles from where i live, and many of them on the even less convenient east side of salt lake city.

This was when gas was hitting $4/gal and every place i interviewed at expressed a concern about whether i would keep working for them for a long time with gas prices going crazy and a 40 mile commute.

And then i got interviewed by a guy with a 60 mile commute. And he hired me.

I was reading that you wore a formal suit type of attire for interviews at McDonald's and such. For minimum wage entry jobs, I would think that is overdressing a little bit. Try and be more casual for an interview in a minimum wage setting: Wear a button up shirt and it does not have to be fancy, wear dark dress pants, and make sure you have good shoes at least. The Tie and jacket seems inapropriate for that type of setting in my opinion. I got by just fine with what I was wearing and I looked reasonably presentable.
A side story for you based on my most recent interview.
In my previous interview at my current place for a promotion, I had the best interview and was believed to be the best fit for the job. My college experience was a strong point for me as well since it was relative to the job I applied for. Unfortunately, I work in a union environment and the senior guy applying for the job got it instead because he used his seniority status to get it.

Agreed. Don't over do the attire.

If you are going to work in an office, wear a suit.

so the dressing, clothing material you mentioned, i get it now that it's best to wear those for a place like McDonalds or a Grocery Store, also, same-thing with a place such as Home-Depot, OSH, Target, Walmart, Home-Depot, overall, the customer-service type jobs?

I think so. That's how I dressed for interviews at WalMart & Target.

When applying at target wear a red shirt. They will probably think you already work there.

yeah that makes sense