Troubleshooting why I can't get a job

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Long story short, I was out of work for all of 2014. Decided to study for the first half of 2015, and since then many applications and interviews, but no luck. I'm on government support, and it's a living hell. I'm dreading applying for jobs as it seems like a huge waste of time. No not dreading... Furious! Because these people say they'd "like to meet me" and then I end up wasting half my day traveling back and forth to meet people who've already decided I'm not good enough to work with them.

My industry is web, multimedia, digital design.

Possible barriers:

- I'm 30 and female. Young males in their early 20s, fresh out of university are much more desirable.

- I have AS. People who've met people on the spectrum before can tell. People who don't may think I'm nervous and lack facial expression. The lack of expression puts people off.

- My jobs (always contract) have never lasted longer than 4-ish months. "That's how long the contract lasted" seems to mean, "I wasn't good enough to keep around."

- Having AS, makes it hard to be the extrovert and go out to public events to make connections with people.

- I haven't won any awards or have anything shiny like that on my resume.

- Finding a job outside my industry... Uh huh? It's a bit like saying I'm qualified to be a doctor because I role-played one in a LARP.

I seem to be on some kind of reserve bench, where people will take me up only if there's an overflow of work, if I'm lucky.

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/life ... k-/273665/

This article and many others like it suggest that you should consider work outside your industry.

I dunno, I think you should keep at it. That's what my sister does and she hasn't quite finished her degree yet. She's doing pretty well. I think she's the director at her company now. She just kept plugging away, applying everywhere, changing jobs when she didn't get promoted or get a raise, and eventually it worked.

You may eventually run into another aspie who is looking to hire, or a person who wants an autistic person in the job. It's not necessarily bad just because you feel like people can tell.

Sometimes the people hiring already have autistic workers, or an autistic person used to be in the job that is now open. Even if they are not autism-savvy, they might recognize that you are the "kind of person" they're looking for and hire you for that, in addition for your skills.

An important question--how good are you at what you do?

A lot of engineers don't stay engineers--because they get their degree and find out that they don't have an aptitude or designing bridges or even kitchen tables--but that has traditionally been OK because an engineering degree, because of its difficulty, often qualifies you for management and other desirable jobs.

Many of my male friends who studied engineering have ended up doing manual labor. However, ones who studied science or medicine can at least be some sort of assistant or researcher, if not something more significant.

People who study something say like graphic/web design need to be really awesome. - Otherwise you compete with small business owners who think their designs with MS Office are superior, and that Wix or their website with the default WordPress theme is the bee's knees.

Maybe this will help
http://www.amazon.com/Light-Science-Mag ... 0240812255
One of my special interests is photography--lots of people don't know how to properly light photographs

People do tend to be swayed by appearance--perhaps a bit of advanced photography skill might give you the edge you need to give your sample work the "pop" it deserves.

I'd love to get paid to do photography. Unfortunately, people these days think that their smartphone or entry level DSLR is the bee's knees, and hiring a photographer is a waste of money.

Also if you mean photographing my own work - I think only other photographers will notice if it's been well lit or not. Most people don't care.

I did engineering because it was easy for me--and it turned out pretty good, because I've now have enough in savings and investments to retire early, if I so choose. But, things are much different these days.

One of my co-worker's kids, who is really bright, is in a vocational program to become an electrician. Not only is a really good job that pays well, but has great job prospects around here as the old guys who do that sort of stuff around here are going to retire soon. Lots of guys would like to get that job--but can't pass the licensing exams--I'm sure he won't have any trouble--he does stuff like team robot competitions.

Should I perhaps consider moving to another city?

I'm currently in Melbourne, and have been here all my life. Is Melbourne/Australia known to be particularly discriminatory towards people with ASD? Is there a city/country that is more open-minded to ASD?

Or should I be looking at types of jobs/industry that "suit" autistic women?