part-time job recommendations at 16 w/ autism

Post Reply New Topic

i’m almost at the point of college now and i’m on for excellent grades in art, literacy and media studies.

unfortunately, my parents are currently advising me into getting a part-time job somewhere and whereas i went for work experience at a café very recently, i found that i struggled heavily with both interacting with customers and serving food (my balance is terrible, even though i thankfully didn’t spill anything).

as well as that, i’m selectively mute and whereas i do believe i can pass as neurotypical, this is extremely draining for me and i feel much more comfortable communicating over text.

i’ve considered commission work regarding storywriting/artwork/etc. but i don’t really believe this would help me grow a lot. if it helps, my interests are videogames and film, and i’m very good at scripts, typing, and writing essays.

does anybody have any jobs that they might be able to recommend? i’m not quite sure where to start looking. it doesn’t have to be a permanent career; just something that i can make a small amount of money off of (and hopefully soothe my parents’ qualms).

thanks!!

Forget about "growth" and focus on "income". Apply for every kind of job available to you. Take the offer that most closely fits your skills and needs.

Well a good portion of unskilled jobs are in the service industry, which requires sound social skills. Maybe you could consider a cleaning job or something along those lines, or mowing lawns or something like that. If you aren't good with social skills, you'll probably need to do a physical job, unless you personally know anybody that can hire you.

You also may be able to work preparing the food at a fast food place rather than interacting with customers.

At that age I worked in a small "5 and Dime" store. I was a stock boy but I was also did other tasks like assemble bicycles, maintain fish tanks. Not much interaction with customers. So you might apply at Walmart, Dollar General or other medium to large stores for that type of work.

I found secretarial or research assistant jobs were a good fit for me. You did have to interact with people, but usually only internal people (co-workers) and a lot of the time, you worked alone. (NOT receptionist jobs... very aspie-unfriendly, imho.)

If you type well, you might try applying at a temp agency. They will test your typing and maybe software skills. If they figure they can make money off you, they'll get you a job.

Nowadays secretarial jobs are a dying industry, as most executives and professionals do their own typing on computers. But there are still needs for transcription (typing up taped interviews, movie subtitles, etc.) and lots of companies need someone to do a routine, boring repetitive job, such as entering invoices.

That is where I would look. I've worked retail, food service, customer service, but as I think back over my life, I preferred working alone in a quiet location.

When I was a teenager I worked at McDonald's. They mainly kept me in the back in the "grill" where I cooked the meats, fried the fry products and made the sandwiches. I didn't really have to interact with anyone aside from co-workers.