Do Aspies have a hard time finding jobs?

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I have a problem with interviews in that I do not react well with the interviewer. I sometimes think maybe I should tell them ok I do not come across very well at interviews however on paper I am articulate, I am a good time keeper, hard working and a big picture thinker. Basically demonstrate that although my social skills may not be that of a neurotypical I have attributes that compensate. After all at the moment I am going for jobs where the majority of the work does not involve dealing with people. Any comments or suggests.

I think one problem I have is my resume is all a bunch of entry-level items, which is a hard mold to break out of.

Also, I have to remind myself not to fall into despair over every little setback, and not get overwhelmed by the situations that present themselves in the first place.

Don't lie in your CV (for the US: Resume), but reconsider the exact wording:

If you job title includes the wording "junior", is it really necessary to repeat this? Can you find wordings which do not give away in the very first read that it was a junior position? If you were not responsible for decision making in a job, but you can perhaps safely write that you learned (or even influenced) the decision making process?

For example: I had a brief time in the B-2-B sector as a developer support engineer and I was a lousy support engineer and I was a junior member of the team. Do I write this in my CV? No! I write that I was support engineer, I gained experience in B-2-B technologies and in the working of support teams. Not a lie, the true. I would not apply for support role again, but this is an other issue.

Aw, yeah... the old putting-the-words "technician" or "engineer" and-whatnot-at-the-end-of-everything trick, right? I got 'ya, heh-heh!

I think it depends on the type of job. From experience, I have found working in the electronics, IT or engineering profession seems best suited. Ironically, I discovered that alot of people with AS do go into these fields so you will be able to get on better with them in the workplace.

I have had a few nightmare jobs such as secretarial work where I had to greet guests make coffee etc etc... and it just didn't work out.

Damn right it would be. But that doesn't concern me. The idea of being somebody's "boss" or "manager" sounds far too intimidating to me.

Sometimes I have this irrational fear that I'm going to impress people with my work performance more than I expected and get a promotion into a management position thrown at me, and me be all like...... but I doubt it works that way IRL unless a company is doing horrible.

i just scored a library job through my mental health resource center.

I have never, in 25 years of on and off employment, gotten a job from a resume, active "networking" or an interview.

Never. People have hired me blind because they heard I had a skill set, but I never had to fill out an app, interview or otherwise gladhandle anyone.

After being RiFed from the Army (the only decent job I ever had) I took the poisoned bait and went into crushig debt to get a degree - one that was supposed to pay for the debt. Right.

8 years later the best I've been able to do is Temp & (eventually) work as an office boy for a failing architectural firm.

IMO the entire "process" for looking for work is in violent opposition to the AS trait set finally defined by my PsyD. Not that I can't work I just can't get hired through any traditional means - and god knows I've tried.

Exactly the problem. I know I'm competent, but I have no skill at making people believe I'm competent. I really wish someone would give me a trial period instead of an interview.

I have recently get shortlisted for interviews (even asked to attend a formal interview after they narrowed the candidate list down following an informal one) but that's where I seem to stop. I wonder if I have troubles during interviews.

I say anything that is wanted from the interviewers but still get over-looked. How could I find the weak points and then manage them?

a lot of people are having troubles finding jobs

Yes, the current economy sucks. But most people don't have professional job hunts jasting moer than 8 years.

Like the poster above... if I get a trial, I become irreplaceable in a hurry. Most places are too interested in filling the correct checkbox on an app/govt form though. So I got an official ADA compliant diagnosis. Most companies think that's a good checkbox to fill.

According to Internet folk lore, the unemployment rate for Aspies is 70%. So consider yourself lucky to have a job at all. And from what I've read we all underperform in relation to our actual job qualifications. I know that all my life I've been told that I have good potential. But I've never been able to translate that into success.
To be honest, there are probably a lot of jobs I could do. But every one of them requires interacting with people hundreds of times a day. That's something I could never do.

And in some ways this makes it worse. If the economy was good and there were lots of jobs and I still wasn't getting hired, at least I would know for sure the problem is me. But as things stand, I don't know and so I can't do anything about it and I just keep trying...

This is the reason, and ONLY reason, I took the time, effort & $$$ to seek out a definitive yes/no "diagnosis".

IMO Hiring Practices hav been so skewed away from KSAs (knowledge, skills & abilities) and towards "Social Skills" that people with AS are at an extreme discriminatory disadvantage.

You may be the best at whatever it is you do/obsess about, but the Happy Shiney Smily People Person running the HR programme will never hire you because you don't make them "feel good".

In my Web Searches, I saw a lot of resources in NJ. Use them. If the system is both stacked against you AND provides a lever to use against it, by all means use the lever.

And if after you get the job and you don't get promoted/get fired because you can't be a part of the watercooler set? Sue them for breech of ADA.

Be efficient, stay efficient and thell the NTs to go take a flying leap... because if you play it right you will be in a position to prove that you are, in every demonstrable way, better at PRODUCING than they are.

That's my plan and I'm sticking to it.

I have a diagnosis, but I'm high-functioning, so I don't know whether it's specifically the AS that's keeping me from getting a job.

I know I'm very bad at interviewing. I also know I'm short on skills and experience. My main strength is being a fast learner, but that's never going to get me in ahead of someone who already knows how to do the job.

Also, I'm under the impression that AS isn't specifically covered by the ADA. I feel like it's better to just not mention my dx. Is it possible to get support services but keep them secret from potential employers?

I went to a normal career coach and didn't mention AS. I'm doing my best to follow his get-a-job program but so far not much luck. (He spontaneously commented that my social skills didn't seem too bad, but maybe he was just trying to be encouraging.)