Finding and Keeping jobs - Tips and Advice

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On interviews...

My experience and philosophy are different than most. I have been both the interviewer and interviewee in my life. I personally do not believe an interview will give you a clear picture of a candidate's work quality and habits. Most interviews are bait-and-switch, in my opinion. The person you interviewed is not the same person I thought I hired after he becomes an employee. Usually, the job skills are over-stated or over-exaggerated. Conversely, people with crappy interview skills may turn out to be great employees.

This is not an exact science.

But if you just want your foot in the door, so to speak, then all you have to do during interviews is the following:

1. Be pleasant, but don't smile all the time. It gives me the heebie-jeebies when someone is smiling all the time. This is not natural. No one smiles all the time.

2. Answer questions clearly and directly.

3. Most importantly, ask lots of questions. Your questions reveal a lot more about yourself than I could possibly glean from me asking questions of you.

4. Eye contact. Don't avert your eyes.

5. Don't over-state your skills. The worst thing that can happen is that I discover you've been lying about your qualifications and though I may not fire you, you will be in my doghouse for awhile until you prove yourself. Sometimes, you may never prove yourself. I'm not alone in this view. Other employers hate being scammed.

Very good post and very true things you said.
I am one of of the spoiled ones, as a nurse, I can get a job easy, which is not very flattering...but anyway. Everything you said is true.
I just quit my job again. Again, NT nonsense "scared" me away (disgusted me away, I should say...lol...). The same as always, bikini talk at the nurses station (absolutely no compassion for patients from a lot of medical personnel...unacceptable), me absent from them, being with patients, trying to make their fear of being sick more bearable (and pushing tons of narcotics...which still doesn't feel right, because a lot of people get addicted and don't even know it, but I know better). I got disgusted again of the same old issues. I was suppose to write people up for not doing their job, which is another nonsense, no time for that when I could be taking care of patients. I already got a job that pays 10 dollars more an hour and lets me make my own schedule...I wish everybody would have it so easy to switch jobs, I am talking about NT and AS (but with more concern for AS people, because being one of them, I know the crap they have to deal with in work places). Sorry I am blabbing about myself.

Good post. From experience, I learned that it is so much easier to be yourself when you interview. And asking your prospective employer questions throws them back a little, but they recover...lol...and you can find out things that you wouldn't find out even after working for them for a while. Smiling all the time is definitely weird and fake and just shows insecurity.

Anyway, good luck to everybody. Like I said before, never give up as an autistic, we might be the ones that actually will change the world into a better place, because we are not preocupated with fashion and nonsense...not everybody would agree with me, but it's the truth.

I've worked in companies of various size doing pretty much the same job in teams mostly but now I've found a recipe that works for me:

1. boss who respects + trusts my opinion
2. small company, less than 10 full-time staff
3. colleagues who i find to be nice people

i have minimal contact with strangers and sometimes spend the day 100% alone - i like this

successful interviews for me have always been when I've demonstrated passion, skill and "clicked" with the interviewee

Go to the library and check out books on how to write a resume and how to interview. I finally did this out of desperation, and as soon as I revamped my resume using the tips in the books, I started getting tons of calls for interviews and lots of compliments on my resume. When I followed the advice on interviewing, I got compliments on how well I interviewed and got hired more quickly.

I still have problems keeping a job. I've bounced around from job to job to job over the years. The books don't seem to help on this one. The situations I keep finding myself in are the ones that the books say you should never tolerate. I've been in my current job for a little over a year, and it looks like I might be able to keep this one; however, I've been wrong before. At this point I just hope I can hang on to it long enough to support myself until I can start my own business.

One good option for Aspies that I haven't seen mentioned here is telecommuting. More companies have this option nowadays. It's harder to annoy people if you're not around them!

It's so true that NTs hire based on personality rather than skills. What I really hate is that a boss will want someone who is detail-oriented for a job that requires attention to detail and accuracy, but they don't want to have to deal with the personality that usually goes along with those skills.

Have you ever thought about being an attorney?

Hi Rob,
I'm new to this forum and just found your post...My situation is very similar to yours -I'm self-diagnosed AS or ASD and the sole income provider for my family of 3 (one son 4 with sensory/ADHD issues, another 3.5 with PDD-NOS, and 1 y.o. daughter). How is your situation now - if you don't mind me asking. My situation has also put a strain on our marriage but I think my wife and I's faith has kept us going/together. It's still very hard but we're managing!
Johnny

I've been unemployed now for going on 6 years (I'm 30). My problem is not so much finding a job as keeping it. I've worked since my senior year in high school, and I don't know why I'm like this, but here's what happens: I find out about a job that's right up my alley (usually some kind of animal care), apply for it, get it, fall in love with it and have a great time for anywhere from several months to a year, and then get utterly bored/despise it and have to find something else.

That was my pattern before my big ol' nervous breakdown thing, anyway. I was downsized from my last real job in 2003 and pretty much lost my mind a few months later, and really haven't been the same since. I don't exactly need to work, per se, it's just my husband and myself and he makes good money, but I don't think he likes the idea of me just sitting here at home, so he's always bugging me about getting a job. And I try, I really do, but even after 6 years I am just NOT ready to go back into the standard workforce. I lasted a week at one job before I had to quit; I spent more time crying and heaving in the bathroom than I did actually working. I applied for another part-time job and got it, and then the day before I was to start I just had to back out of it because I was literally making myself sick with worry. I do have a job right now, I'm an independent contractor with a company, I just don't have any clients at the moment.

I don't know what my point is with all this, other than to ask if anyone's had similar anxiety about new jobs and how to deal with it. It's crippling, and misunderstood, and disheartening to say the least.

CatDogPerson,
I had a similar experience recently that led to a "nervous breakdown" and I ended up in the psych ER (which I do not recommend to anybody!). Anyways I got some meds and that has helped me deal with the social anxiety/depression that I am currently facing. It sounds like you're anxiety is so bad that you need some meds to "stabilize" and then learn some coping strategies so that you don't have to take the meds forever. I would say keep trying - maybe you could start your own business. I have a sister who prefers not to work with people for various reasons, and she has a dog walking business that is doing fairly well.
Anyways, good luck!! !
Johnny08

Hello Again,

Been in Iraq for three years as a civilian contractor (I purified water). The above post describes how I feel to a tee. Find a job, love it, then despise it. I lasted three years before being stabbed in the back by fellow employees while on vacation, decided it was time to come home. Unfortunetly I have withdrawn from humanity big time. Have not seen another living person in a week.

Need some contact, so I came here.

Wish I never had to work again. That would be ideal.

Mark.

back in the real world where noone is trying to blow me up.

Getting the job is much easier than keepingit,. have been told i am 'picked on'at work.. bullied, how to stop it? i stand up for myself.

Have had over 40 jobs, most not good paying and went out of business.. sure it is related to the aspergers.. just scored 26 on the baroon-cohen test that says '32' means you are 'asp'. Any ideas?

For over 30 years I worked in the IT field. I started with main frames. Computers have been my life. I worked several years at my last job but management changed and I was pushed out. In retrospect I didn't have to quit but while in the situation I thought it was my only option. That was 3 years ago. Right after I quit my job I applied for other jobs and got offers but I had lost all confidence. I actually accepted a few jobs but called back before my start date and declined the offers. I was an emotional wreck. My husband told me to take time to rest and heal. We sold our home to have money to live off of but that money is almost gone. I'm ready to work again but I didn't realize that the longer the gap is between jobs, the harder it is to get job offers. Or that IT moves so quickly that any gap in employment would make my skills outdated. Sometimes I don't figure out things that others see as obvious.

In the past year I've applied for hundreds of jobs on-line but most of them are blind so I don't know who the true employer is. I continue to apply at known sites, like government and big companies but IT skills change rapidly and require "recent" experience and often a college degree. I keep applying but haven't been selected for any interviews.

I've found out that a lot of the blind job offers are placed by job placement agencies. Placement agencies contacted me with offers to sign up with them so I signed up with 2 agencies. They immediately offered me call center jobs that paid a fraction of what I had been earning previously. The agencies told me that my IT skills are outdated and that I'll never get back into that field without further training so call center jobs are my only option. I learned all of my computer skills on the job and don't have a college degree. School was a nightmare for me and I totally blank during test taking so I don't consider going back to school an option.

I didn't want to work at a call center. I didn't want to be on a rotating work schedule. I don't drive because of depth perception and spacial awareness issues and public transportation takes a long time and often doesn't run during the weird shifts that a 24/7 call center has. I turned down a couple of call center job offers so the agencies dropped me.

Money became a huge issue so I swallowed my pride and accepted a call center job from a 3rd temp agency. The job was pure hell. I sobbed every night before falling asleep. My training consisted of sitting behind a seriously overworked guy watching his mouse zip rapidly around 3 monitors placed in a semi-circle around him. He took calls in rapid succession and he didn't have time to answer my questions (about what he was doing and his methodology). I tried to write notes but when I looked down to write I missed critical steps in the process. Multiple software apps were used during the process of assisting customers and there were lots of exceptions. I tried writing notes without looking at my writing pad and found I couldn't read them when I was through. After 1.5 days of training I had to work on my own (little cubicle all to myself, which was cool) but I didn't understand what to do. It took me 30 minutes to figure out what others accomplished in 5. Customers got irritated at me. I start babbling when I'm stressed and talk really fast. I couldn't make small talk and work at the same time and if I kept them on hold too long they would hang up. I tried to not let any customer stay on hold longer than 2 minutes but the stress of watching the time while trying to work was too much. I began asking customers if I could call them back once I had processed their request. I thought I could figure out what to do and call them back but the phone kept ringing - and I had to answer the calls. I asked more people if I could call them back. It seemed the right thing to do at the time but I got further behind. At the end of my shift I would sometimes have 20 people that were waiting for me to process their request and call them back. I starting coming to work earlier and earlier, worked through breaks and lunch and stayed late. I didn't get paid for the extra time and I couldn't get caught up. It was awful. I made mistakes and got in trouble. I asked if I could be placed in another position and was told to suck it up and tough it out. I didn't know what to do so I quit after 1.5 weeks. I hated telling people I would call them back and not do it. I try and speak the truth. I hate making mistakes. There were too many variables at this job and no documentation. I made my coworkers mad because I asked too many questions. They didn't understand why I couldn't just figure things out. The work pace was too fast. Because I quit the placement agency that sent me to this job will no longer represent me and it was one of the best agencies in town.

Last week I went to a career counselor and paid to have her review my resume. She recognized my Aspie traits right away. She said that I am in a bad place because I've worked in the same field for so many years. I can't get an IT job because my skills are outdated. Potential employers are intimidated by my resume and don't want to match the salary I was making. I'm considered over qualified if I apply for lesser jobs but those are the only jobs I have a chance at getting. She told me to seriously dummy down my resume, change the job titles, get on-line training on popular software apps and try to sell myself as an office worker in positions that doesn't deal with the public. What a joke. I can't pretend to be something I'm not. The truth would come out in the interview and if an employer called for prior employment verification they would be told the actual job titles I held. Another suggestion was to call a government agency that retrains individuals. I contacted them and the only retaining that they offer is to work in a call center. Aargh!

I'll keep applying for jobs but I wish things were different. I'm old. I don't look professional and don't want to pretend. I have arthritis and can't stand for long, lift or bend. It will be several years before I can apply for Social Security benefits. I'm detail oriented and work very hard. I wish employers considered life experience as valuable as current work experience. I hate to think that my only option is to work in a call center.

Sorry this is so long. I just needed to tell someone who might understand.

I've been fired from jobs just because people thought I was "creepy". That of course is due to my social problems.

For instance, a guy named Dennis Obrikat offered me a job at Microsoft. I packed up everything I owned, moved 700 miles, leased an apartment, got all moved in and the bastard fired me 3 days later.

Hey, I'm new here, and I think I have horrible luck with job hunting.

I've been looking for my stereotypical "first job" since I was 14. 4 years later, I'm still jobless. I've applied to over 70 business within the closest bus route to my house (which encompasses a BIG mall, and 2-3 long roads of nothing but stores). Early on, they didn't want to hire me due to inexperience. I thought from that point "No big deal, right?" I kept on going, looking for any position that was even at a reduced rate of pay, JUST to get that experience that was "so desperately needed." Turns out, my friends were getting jobs to the places I applied, some of which YOUNGER and more INEXPERIENCED than me.

Trying not to be disheartened, I trudged on, looking for that ever-elusive job. I would go to a store, look around on what they had, and listen in on when someone asked for an Application. Afterwards, I would go up myself a few minutes later, and ask for one. Almost EVERY place said that "we're not hiring, or even looking at applications." Then, I looked at online Applications. Upon finishing about 26 online applications, I'd wait a day as instructed online, then go to each store and request the current status of my applications. The first few times were "We haven't received it yet." After the 3rd visit to each place I'd get "You are Under qualified to work here. Try looking for places 'better suited' for your 'talents'" Apparently, I'm under qualified to work at a McDonalds, UDF (a convience store), and Krogers (a "local" Grocery Chain)

This has been going on for 4 years.

Every day, these businesses advertise "We hire anyone looking for work. Even the Mentally Handicapped!" And sure enough, I always see someone with some form of a mental disability asking me if "I want paper or Plastic?" or "Do you want fries with that?" My dad, who I currently live with until graduation, says "IF these F***ing ret*ds can get jobs, why can't you, you stupid piece of S***? DO I need to put you in a group home like those ret*ds? Maybe they'll help you, B****." (needless to say, he's an arrogant, ignorant muscular middle aged white man with severe anger issues)

I have about a month and a half to find a job before I get kicked out and become homeless. Needless to say, If I'm homeless, I can't go to college. (already accepted to a community college, but no dorms/fraternities) I have no other family alive that could help me.

What are my options? Is there an Agency or group that could help me find work? If I can't find anything in time, where could I go to get assistance?