Need tips for securing a job
Hi WrongPlanet Community:
My name is Kate and I am nearly 25 and have never been able to secure a job. I am able to create a appropriate and thoughtful cover letter and fill out the application well. I am even able to be invited to an interview. I show up confident with a variety of good things to say about myself and well as practiced answers to some commonly asked questions. However, due to being diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (now know as high functioning autism) I tend to give it too much information because I am a highly detailed and analytical person. I also have a hard time balancing the right amount of eye contact and if I feel stressed I begin to get a little pink in the cheeks. Lastly, I have no control over my stimming (repetitive self stimulating behaviors) that soothes my self and allows me to continue on with the interview. Due to all of these things the employer gets scared away. I know I can be a wonderful employee that is respectful, diligent and enthusiastic. Just no one seems to want to give me a chance because my quirks may make them or their company look bad. My question is: Is there anyway to avoid the interview? or, Are there interviews tailored toward people with autism? Any information or advice will be very much appreciated. I want to be somewhat independent some day and provide some things for myself. Thank you very much for your time!
Do you have government respected disability level because of your autism?
If so, you could disclose your Asperger before the interview. It's pretty much the same as disclosing you need a sign language translator or a room on ground floor. According to law they should make some accommodations specific to your disability - and it includes slightly different interview for people in ASD spectrum.
However it is theory - if you state you are disabled before receiving invitation for interview they might not invite you and you can't prove the reason was you are disabled. The only right moment to disclose your need for accommodations is probably while they are inviting you. Something like:
They: Please come for the interview <date>.
You: I will be there. However there is one thing I would like to inform you. I am disabled with level 1 ASD therefore if it is possible please make the interview accommodated to my specific needs:
<state needs here, such as them not paying too much attention to your body language especially eye contact because poor eye contact is a sign of your disability, add some practical test to the interview because it is easier for you to show what you can do then advertise yourself and tell you when you speak too much because you have trouble figuring out how many details is enough>.
Even then it might put you in weird light - but probably no worse than your weird behavior during interview.
At least that's how it works in Poland.
I am usually sending my potential employers link to this website: https://translate.google.pl/translate?s ... t=&act=url (google translation for you, cause there doesn't seem to be working english version, BTW. "As" means "Ace" - the card - in Polish and the website uses the double meaning to show people with Asperger Syndrome can be "Aces" in workplace). I also have it printed and I keep with my CV so I can show it to employer and leave it for him if he wants.
I don't know if it works through because so far I only send it to 3 employers (I got my government respected disability level just recently, its different thing than diagnosis) and got invited by one. And the interview went well. We talked first and then got invited to visit them for a few hours on 2 days so they can see what I can do and I can see if I am alright with their work environment.
But I wasn't alright because one of the workers apparently didn't read the website(despite it lying on her desk in printed form since the interview a week before) and flooded me with a long speech about what I am supposed to do that I barely understood (the website says tasks are better understood in written form - and the other worker did so, which I was thankful for) and in the end she said I am too silent and don't ask any questions(I asked but she ether didn't understand what I ask or thought I am asking rhetorically). The day end with me in shutdown state and I decided not to work there.
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