Tell A Story Of Possitive Work Experience-Need Encouragement

Post Reply New Topic

Has any Apsie out here, had a possitive work expereince? Please tell your story-to build my confedence. about going into the job market What made it work? What stradigies did you employ? How did you learn to cope or react to conflict? Where you able to be establish bounderies? How did you asert your needs? Did you feel trapped? Did you have an exit stragegy if it did not work out? How did you disclose, if at all, that you were an Apsie? Did you get reasonable workplace accomodations?

Did you have intitial fears about working? How did you confront those fears? Did your fears turn out to be true? Why or Why not?

Thanks very much for sharing your expereinces.

I work part-time as a deli clerk at a supermarket back home. I've worked there for about 10 months now and I haven't really had problems. It's a corporate run supermarket, but my managers and coworkers are excellent to work with and they listen. If I need to make a schedule change, they take into account my activities at college and work around them to find a schedule to please both myself and coworkers. At some points it can be a little stressful, including food prep, washing and sanitizing, and working around needed-but-broken machinery, but I've been trained professionally so I take things very calmly.
I don't know if part-time work is the kind you're looking for, but I hope it helps somewhat.

Hi Daniel,
First off, can I recommend this book? - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1931282560

I am currently employed but as my talents are underused I am aiming to change career tacks this year, hence the book.

I have been working part time for nearly 10 years. I haven't ever been permanent full-time but at the moment I work 28 hours a week. I have had a variety of paying jobs, here's a quick rundown:
- restaurant assistant (2 different restaurants)
- shop assistant in Boots (for any non-Brits Boots is a drugstore-cum-department store)
- Betterware lady
- 3 week placement in the HR department of my local council
- 2 days temp placement in a large property company
- "commissioning coordinator" for local council
- assistant in shoe shop
- receptionist/admin bod in a doctor's surgery

The restaurant jobs don't really bear mentioning as they were just menial Saturday jobs. I stayed at Boots for nearly 4 years. I hated it because the hours were long (9 hours a day) and I had no friends, but I couldn't leave because my mum would not have supported me. Also because it was shop work it meant that I had a great deal of contact with members of the public - something I found quite stressful.

I then decided to try my hand at office work as I had the computer skills and wanted to do a job where I'd see less of the public, so I applied for temporary work through different agencies. One of the placements I got was to do desktop publishing for a property company designing their in-house magazine. I loved it because I was left on my own all day to get on with the work and it was fairly creative. The company wanted to keep me on as they were really impressed with my work, which really buoyed my confidence, but I had already accepted another contract. My next job was as a commissioning coordinator - fancy title, easy job. What it entailed was checking data on spreadsheets and making sure that numbers added up. I'm good with numbers. The work was easy and I got to drink tea and eat biscuits and wear my own clothes instead of a uniform. The pay was pretty good too. I just wish I could have enjoyed it more. My lack of social skills and high levels of anxiety made it hard for me to connect with my colleagues and there was one girl in my office who particularly didn't like me. I guess she just didn't "get" me.

After about a year in that job, my boss had to let me go. I always knew that it wasn't going to be a permanent thing and the budget finally ran out. I tried to get another admin job; I applied for lots of things but nothing materialised. I went for three job interviews but got turned down for all of them. The reason I was given in each case was some variation on not being a "team player". Eventually, after about seven months of not having a job (I was studying during this time so it's not as if I was doing nothing at all) all of my money had run out, my bank wouldn't extend my overdraft and I had to get any job at all, so I ended up working in a shoe shop. Actually, it was quite fun. It was an expensive shoe shop, so the turnover of customers was not that high and my colleagues were nice and fun to work with. I even went out for a meal with them once.

However, the pay was really low, so I had to get another job to supplement my earnings. Also, I think my mum was getting fed up of me hanging around the house when I wasn't working, so she got me a job at her workplace. It's a doctor's surgery in a medical centre and it's admin-based. Although I don't always enjoy it, it has helped with my ASD. For instance, my facial expressions were always very fixed and frozen and I found it hard to smile on cue. However, through the sheer number of people I've had to greet whilst sitting on reception I've become very practised at making myself smile at will. The hard part of my job, however, is still interacting with members of the public. I think I have got better at it though, as it doesn't provoke the high levels of anxiety that it used to. But it is something I'm still aware of, as I avoid going on reception when possible and sometimes I have to psyche myself up to make phone calls or pick up the phone if it's ringing.

I'm no longer as anxious as I used to be and I think that this job has helped me in that respect. I've been at the same job for a little over two years, but now I feel that I'd like to take on more responsibility. My aim for this year is to keep improving my social skills so that I can look towards forwarding my employment prospects - I hope!

I work as a data transcriber for the IRS. I applied online, went to a testing session, to an interview and was hired.

The interview wasn't as stressful as I'd imagined it would be. Since they hire so many people at a time, everyone just stood in line waiting to be called to a table where someone would ask a few questions(nothing too stressful).

Work is easy. Once I learned the proper codes and formats I was able to just come into work, sit down, put on my headphones and work. Somedays I don't actually say anything at all to any of my coworkers. I just listen to comedy, gaming or scifi podcasts or music. Music is especially great because it gives me a rhythm to type to(love that technical death metal).

I work a regular schedule, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week(but it's seasonal, so right now I'm not working at all). I get an extra 10percent for working at night(5pm - 130am), plus incentive pay for my(apparently site record setting according to my supervisor) speed and accuracy.

The only real problem is that during the seasons I am working there is a constant stream of digits flowing through my head all day and night, but it doesn't bother me too much, and if it does I can usually distract myself.

I work in a school, fixing computers, and I enjoy it, on balance. I get a constant supply of different things to take apart and put back together, I get interesting software problems to solve that I can fix more often than not, and despite there being hundreds of people around I don't usually have to deal with more than one person at a time, which I can handle reasonably well. I get to choose what I want to do and when and how I do it, most of the time, which is good. I have constant internet access. When things aren't especially busy I can listen to music (although as I hate having to stop listening to a song part way through, I prefer only to try to listen when I'm not likely to be disturbed). I'm even getting pretty comfortable with the internal telephone (I used not to be able to "do" telephones at all).
There are certainly a lot of downsides, everything you'd expect, and there have been many occasions when I've been unable to handle things, but my colleagues are understanding, which is good. I think working in the public sector, and a fairly laid-back (not lazy, just laid back!) part of the public sector helps. I don't get paid much, but as I live with my parents and don't have huge bills to pay I don't have money worries. I don't have any significant social contact with anyone at work though, after five years there.

I'm a very recently diagnosed aspie with ADHD (inattentive type). I used worked in a Taco Del Mar (before I was diagnosed), and finally had to quit due to a move. If I hadn't moved, and the business had done better, I know for certain I could have kept the job. I got along famously with the other employees, the work was relatively repetitive, and my boss thought I was the greatest, as he would make this very obvious to me. However, I think this was at least partly due to a couple of a reasons.

Because Aspies more or less seem to get along with people who are out of the norm in a social setting or society in some way, I believe that this helped me. I am caucasian, and I'm 18. My coworkers were all hispanic, and were either in their twenties, or in their forties. Aspies also seem to get along better with adults than people their own age. My social awkwardness presented very little challenge, if any, because I've trained myself to converse especially well with people on shallow level, especially if we have common interest or purpose.

I think that finding a job where you can find repetitive work among people who aren't your own age but are "out of the majority" is a good strategy. It worked for me, at least.

I have countless stories of great things happening in the workplace. Really the only negative things that I have had happen were either when I was 16 and new to working, or in social situations that had no effect on my actual work performance.

Don't worry about work too much. Just focus on your strengths and try not to get overwhelmed. Be yourself, be honest, work hard, and don't purposefully create any enemies. I have found that if you follow that, bosses tend to be very happy with you.

Amen!

For me -- growing up, my interests were primarily in math, maps, and the patterns in music. I played to a couple of my strenghts, and am now a reasonably successful actuary.

(For those unaware of the profession -- actuaries are specialists in evaluating and quantifying risk generally within the insurance industry. Oversimplifying...among other things, we are the folks responsible for figuring out how much your auto insurer will charge you for insurance.)

I'll never be a "superstar actuary" (at least from the profession's point of view), as I have little interest in expending the energy for the polished appearance and presentation the profession tries to advocate, but I have work that interests me, I'm paid well, and I'm as happy as I'm going to be until retirement or until I win the lottery.

Within the industry, actuaries have the reputation for being a bit odd, and the absent-minded professor is one of our stereotypes. I suspect that there's a higher-than-normal proportion of actuarial aspies (probably mostly undiagnosed) than you'd find in other careers. On an online actuarial forum, a poll about a year and a half ago had 1-in-6 participants falling in aspie range on one of the online self-tests.

There are a wide variety of roles which can be called "actuarial"...and admittedly, not all of them would fit most aspies. But my current job fits quite well. I work with several folks around the country, so most of my interaction is via email. I have a number of projects floating around at any given time, so it's usually fine if I get "lost" in one at any given time. If I look away and take a moment or two to think about answers to verbal/phone questions...well, that's what actuaries are supposed to do.

Yes, I do work in an office, and I have other occasional responsibilities where I need to mostly conform to NT norms (business dinners, conferences, etc.) Business-social functions may suck, but they do provide a bit of opportunity to observe/learn how the folks I support think, and they let those same folks be exposed to me enough that any "oddness" is viewed as "interesting character" than anything negative. And, if on occasion I need to excuse myself from a lunch/dinner because "I have something I need to take care of", or if at a conference I'll occasionally sit off by myself and catch up on email/news on my phone....when framed appropriately, such breaks can fit well within NT standards of behavior.

Based on my 20+ years in the workforce, I've found for us Aspies especially, it's all about the people you work for/with and it's pure luck of the draw. Some will judge you primarily on your skill and work ethic. The majority will not. I've found they will at first be impressed by your skills and shrug off your social awkwardness, but after a while the latter overrules the former. It's largely why I've found that contract/short-term/seasonal work suits me best.

That said, perhaps my most successful employment experience and pat on the back:

5 years ago? I worked as a volunteer A/V tech for the Sedona (AZ) Film Festival. All day, no pay. The following year, the festival director called me to ask me back, telling me, "I want you to know the Technical Director personally asked me to beg you to come back, that you are the only one from last year being asked back, and it's because you are the only one he says who worked as if you were being paid even though you weren't. For that reason, I've now made it a paying position."

As far as communicating with him Aspie-NT, the Technical Director is the stuff Aspie nightmares are made of. Circular logic, assumes untold unspoken givens which aren't given, and just can't seem to learn that you need to press the talk button on the walkie BEFORE you start talking, otherwise I only hear you say "activate the Omega-13" when what you really said is "For the love of god, DON'T activate the Omega-13." Worse, he has a tendency to hire his friends as my co-workers who therefore assume they are second in command and are being paid to not work but treat me like crap. As a person, this man is very sweet and I love him to pieces, but as a boss, thank the gods I only work with him 2 weeks out of the year and that other aspects of the gig make it fun enough to keep me coming back.

But, unlike most bosses I've had, this man also recognizes (mostly) when I do good work and judges me on that, not my social blindfold. He has even pulled his friends aside and smacked them down for treating me like crap.

One such friend displayed insane alpha-male jealousy one year when the TD had to leave for a couple of hours and gave me what the friend perceived as the cool, smart-person task. I don't know then if it's coincidence, but the following year the TD gave me that perceived cool, smart-person task for the entire festival.

How many bosses would do that for the oddball employee whom they just don't relate to?

So all I can say based on my experiences is that there is an awful lot of injustice out there - even when I've had an office full of good bosses, it only takes one nasty one to shoo you right out of the job you love and are the best at. But the good bosses *do* exist, and sometimes, if luck is on your side, they even rule the day!

- Jo

Thank-you all for sharing your experiences with me, it has been quite helpful!! !

OK, here you go.

After I left school I worked in a bank, as a matter of company policy they moved you from branch to branch every two years or so which meant that I saw lots of new faces. My first branch was OK but my second was a major disaster.

The guy running the branch was a major as*hole. He was a banker of the old school who prepared every memo by hand using beautiful copperplate handwriting, each day he wore a three-piece suit to work which was accompanied by a bowler hat when outside. Unfortunately he was a graduate of the Basil Fawlty school of management which meant that he often had blazing arguments with his staff (even in front of customers) and the amount of stress in the place was unbelievable.

Eventually the HR department took pity on me and I was transferred again, the next branch was a revelation! On my first day the branch manager took me aside and told me that he knew about what went on at my previous branch and this was my chance for a new start. We then went out into the courtyard where he put my file in a trashcan and then set fire to it. All of the people were friendly and I got on really well with them. That Christmas he held a party at his house and all of the staff were invited. After two years another transfer order came through but the manager contacted HR and asked them to forget about it because in his judgement I was an asset to the branch.

So, my message to you is this. Yes, there are bosses out there who do not deserve to be in the job but there are also others who are real diamonds. Good luck and I hope you find yours.

Vanilla Slice

I just started working in a new big project, the whole thing is new, less than two or three months old. It's a big project, and we are over 70 people.
Well, I am employee of the month. And I only have ONE month working there!
There was an opening ceremony for the whole project last friday, and even the Big BIG bosses came. Can't talk much about the project, but it's a big thing, many businesses.
Anyway, about the success story: I was called to come to the front in the ceremony, so there I went, walking awkward and standing in the middle, my shyness to the roof I didn't shave that day!
f*** amazing and unbelievable, it was great
Now everyone knows my name, and people are starting to come to me for advice

Hey good to hear you new job is going well.

hi Bman Yes, it's going good



I'll continue with my previous message:

What made it work: my work (resume) has spoken for me, and I've had the luck(blessing?) that the people that have hired me in this and previous work didn't care a lot about the way I act and all that, seeing my resume they see that apart from the 9-5 work I've tried to do other freelancing jobs, so they see that I am active in seeking things to do.

Strategies trying to get a job:
1.- Networking. This is the most important way to have a job. Call people, it doesn't matter if they not even your friends, just call them and ask them if they know of any job openings.
2.- Show up. Don't be lazy sending your resume by email. GO to the businesses and try to at least talk to someone, do a little research before so you know the name of the people, the secretary name or the HRresources person name.

In the interview,:
1.- I try to prepare a couple of days before for it, so I don't get nervous, and very important, In the interview they are the ones that talk most of the time, I don't mean to say that I don't speak, I mean I try to let them guide the talk. I act serious, I speak of the achievements in my previous job, and I call a couple days later after the interview, so they see I'm interested. And that's it.
2.- Show up early to the interview. The day before have EVERYTHING ready, resume printed, clean clothes, gas in your car or money for the taxi. A paper were you wrote your achievements and what to say at the interview. Enough said.

Boundaries:
1.- If there's still work to do, I DON'T ever ever ever take it home. Work is work, home is home.
If there's more work that can be done in the 9-5, there's something wrong, either you're too slow or you're being overwhelmed with excess work (very probably).
2.- People are people, try to keep a professional relationship professional, get your job done,

How did you asert your needs?
1.- Speak, there's no other way.

Did you feel trapped?
1.- Of course there are days when all you want is the week to end, please read this article on how to improve your life: http://www.amacad.org/publications/spring2004/frank.pdf

Did you have an exit stragegy if it did not work out?
1.- Search for new jobs, but DON'T quit your current job, because sometimes it takes Months to find a new one (it happened to me).

How did you disclose, if at all, that you were an Apsie? Did you get reasonable workplace accomodations?
1.- Nope, not disclosed.
Noise stresses me, so I'll buy a pair of noise cancelling headphones.

Did you have intitial fears about working? How did you confront those fears? Did your fears turn out to be true? Why or Why not?
1.- Of course, it's natural to feel unsure the first couple of weeks, but as you start gaining experience from previous jobs, you feel less and less fear each time you get a new job.


Last but not least: Have a good attitude, if others ask for help help them (but first do your job -but it depends, sometimes they truly need help with simple small things - but if you're feeling abused by other people, doing their jobs be assertive, keep boundaries), also, be cool and open, and keep a good attitude.

hope this helps (: