Hi all. I'll try to be brief, just a quick background: I'm aspie, 61, with dyslexia and numeracy problems. I have played guitar, bass, etc., at a pro/semi-pro level and still write songs, written about five books, two which are important in their niche field, and worked on just over 30 games as a self-employed artist and designer - the latter came to an end after key games were pirated and I lost quite a lot of money, my music has since gone the same way. An album I co-wrote and released just last month was pirated the same day.
I come from a time when it was possible to get into jobs based on merit rather than having a degree, which all came to an end about 30 years ago with the rise of 'american-ism' in my industry in the mid-80's, when my opportunities to find work rapidly diminished. I've had some 43 jobs since leaving school (including part time and doing multiple jobs at once) Career curve based on time: commis chef, labourer, warehouseman, games artist, writer/journalist/editor of games mag's, PR exec, then the fall as more employers wanted qualifications: author (pirated titles killed this one off too), hall porter, bloke that sweeps up and cleans toilets, then nothing as I got to a point where I couldn't face doing the kind of menial job that I was capable of doing. No driving license, no quallys, dyslexia, etc.. means that I can't get work, compounded by the fact that I live in a university city where students will do anything for the lowest rates, so even getting a job in crispy-donut land is pretty much out of the question, particularly at my age. Spent some time as a self-employed painter and decorator, gardener and anything else I could turn my hand to, now all that has dried up and I haven't worked for nearly 15 years other than as an author and historical researcher with little or no money coming in from either.
Strangely, I spent about 18 months teaching adults how to get into work: how to deal with interviews, how to do CV's and all the rest of it, and managed to increase the success rate of the unit I was employed at by some 40%. Not using myself as an example, I'm a shambles, two key things to consider when doing a job interview:
In surveys I carried out, businesses said that, for the most part, they made their decision to employ based on a gut reaction to the person - in less than twenty seconds of first meeting them. Any oddities, such as 'individual' dress-style, quirky language modes, over-under talkative were warning signs to them. Employers want you to fit in as though you had worked for them forever, so you have to seem as normal as possible, bland even unless the post requires a particular trait, such as being out-going, etc..
Employers place a great deal of importance on the candidate's ability to talk about themselves and their goals. I consistently found that out of the hundreds I 'taught', the majority lacked the ability to answer what is usually question 1 - 'tell me about yourself', often because it might sound arrogant to list their qualities, or because they simply hadn't tried to do it before. Do it. Being able to express yourself is a crucial test of a person's sense of self, confidence, ability, and employability in their eyes. Get someone you know to act as a potential employer, and try to answer the question in about five sentences without rambling or talking about your love of cats. It is a nightmare, but you can learn to do it without sounding like it's rehearsed. and it really will help a lot.
12 Mar 2015, 5:20 am
