What kind of job should I look for?
I don't mean long-term, career-wise. But I've got a semester off from school and I need to earn some money in case my second appeal for financial aid doesn't go through so I can take some classes in the spring (it's a long story, but I've been dealing with health problems while going to school and failing even though I have a high IQ and had a high GPA taking college classes during high school and the classes were mostly review of material I understood).
Also, I think by getting a job it would be favorable to the appeal process, as it would show that this time I really really have controlled my health problems and am able to maintain attendance (which has been my biggest problem in school - I missed multiple exams in multiple classes).
My question is, as a 25-year-old autistic person with no job history, a very good high school record followed by a very poor and uneven (mainly A's and F's/W's) college record of dropping in and out many times starting at age 18, I don't have a clue what would be a good option. I could probably get a minimum-wage job at a lot of places, but I would want to find a place that I have a reasonable chance of sticking with for three or four months.
I would probably not last very long at a place that normally has a lot of chaotic background noises if I need to talk to people. I don't get meltdowns from noisy places anymore, but my language and speech are majorly impaired under those conditions. So taking orders in a fast food place is unfeasible.
I'm good at physical, solitary, repetitive tasks. I used to haul books around at my high school library, and I was very good at that sort of thing. I have back problems and am not a terribly strong woman, so I couldn't do very heavy lifting. I think I'd be good at a stocking position in a store. My dad is also autistic and did that for a number of years.
Things that involve lots of answering customer questions would probably be difficult for me, as if I'm not familiar with someone's voice, it generally takes three repetitions before I can understand what a stranger is trying to say to me. I'm bad at phone stuff but can do a little. But a talking-all-day job would be extremely difficult, as I would find it increasingly difficult to enunciate clearly or to get words out in the right order.
I have a good eye for detail, am good at counting and mental math, am organized, industrious, and am driven to excel in all that I attempt. I don't have a driver's licence or car so I also depend on bus or walking to get to a workplace.
I'd prefer to start out with part-time work.
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"There are things you need not know of, though you live and die in vain,
There are souls more sick of pleasure than you are sick of pain"
--G. K. Chesterton, The Aristocrat
You say, "I'm good at physical, solitary, repetitive tasks." To me it sounds like you should try out some warehouse work as that fits the type of work you're looking for. Most staffing agencies have warehouse work that is both temporary and seasonal. It's great for those who want to work a variety of assignments for either a short time or to get some solid work experience. You could easily find entry level warehouse jobs that have duties like picking, packing, and loading products. Also keep in mind while some warehouse jobs have heavy lifting, many don't as well. A variety of warehouse jobs I worked at didn't like when I worked for a bread company and packed bread or when I worked for a basket making company and put together baskets. Some also go from temporary to permanent.
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"The less I know about other people's affairs, the happier I am. I'm not interested in caring about people. I once worked with a guy for three years and never learned his name. The best friend I ever had. We still never talk sometimes."
I can definitely identify with you here.
One of my favorite jobs in college was being a dishwasher (small restaurant, only one dishwasher per shift, so I don't know if I would've disliked it at a larger place), I didn't have to deal with anyone for more than 10 seconds at a time.
I also worked layaway at TJ Maxx, which was slightly less physically taxing. Unless it's coming up to Christmas, layaway's pretty quiet, so you do a lot of putting materials back on racks, checking for missing pricetags, or unloading a truck and putting security tags on new merch.
If you want something in a quiet environment, but, a little above minimum wage, I'd have to advise you to check something like Craigslist.
I worked in the architecture/engineering/design industry for years, and while the big companies with formal interviews and long projects had HR departments and advertised through their websites or headhunters, etc. BUT, most design companies are pretty small, and don't have HR departments, so they might just be advertising through free venues like Craigslist. I saw some pretty interesting gigs come up there. I'd imagine there are other small companies like the ones I looked at, which would be doing similar, it's worth a look, you might see something that sounds like 'you' that you otherwise wouldn't have thought of or known was out there.
If you're a good typist, and you like repetitive work, I'd try data entry. The salary is almost always above minimum wage.
This is what I've been doing for 34 years.
Then there's warehouse work, especially on the night shift. Or you could work at a call center (there seems to be lots of jobs in that, with high turnover, so you'd have a pretty good chance of obtaining that type of work).
You can try finding out who the biggest employers are in you're area. Wikipedia articles on individual cities and counties often have this information. The biggest employers by number of people are often warehouses and manufacturing plants, places which are in need of manual labor that does not require strong communication and customer service abilities. You can then search the websites of these companies for job openings. Like some one said before me, these places often have temporary jobs.