Job interviews unfair and insulting to people like us

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The gap between theory and practice is . . . considerable.

(and is greater in practice than in theory!)

I'm not saying I should end, I'm saying they should have more understanding for how it doesn't "fit" well with some people who would actually be rather good, even perfect for the job.

And whether it can change or not, the fact remains; Such techniques are helping to wipe us out as an active part of society. Therefore, it must be adapted or destroyed completely if we are to get the chance in life we deserve.

I think Myers-Briggs is a step forward, just the idea that people are different. I mean, there are 16 'types' listed, and no one type is in the majority.

Some do but the problem is it costs them money so they are cheap.

Unless this is some competeively vied for position (which being a dock worker almost certainly isn't), the interview is almost certainly just a formality. Don't act like a crazy person and you should be fine.

i do like the myers-briggs, but the statistics on "type" do actually break out into majorities and minorities.

for instance, i usually test out INFP (or INTJ, i'm right on the cusp). INFP's constitute something like 3% or less of the U.S. population. 16 types x 3% =/= 100% of population.

Introverted types are altogether far less common than extraverted types taken as a whole.

and not satisfied with these vague numbers, i found this chart on the myers briggs foundation site:
http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-pers ... y-type.asp

Not saying that it does not have advantages and but you still are going to have to talk with a lot of people to get funding, negotiate deals etc. so it it is no panacea.

It is not a matter of fairness it is a matter of being wrong. If someone has been out of work skills erosion is a legitimate concern. But if you owned a business who would you take a chance on someone who on the first day on the job is already thinking about his or her next career move and will likely spend time that you paying for looking for another job or a desperate person who is appreciative to have any opportunity?

30 years ago the person looking for work on company time would be the one having trouble finding and keeping work. That has turned around 180 degrees for whatever reason. Are we better off for it? I know as aspies we are resistant to change and that is generally a bad thing but not all change is good and in some cases such as this it is bad.

I still can't wrap my head around why someone would avoid someone unemployed? If I saw a perfect candidate who was chomping at the bit to get back to work, I would hire them over another one of those this-might-be-a-better-job-but-I-will-probably-still-leave-within-3-months candidates. I was told over and over by people in hiring positions that there must be a reason I've been out of work so long (i.e. like have a criminal record or am a liar), without seeing the irony that every employer was saying the same thing. Every 'unemployed' person I've seen hired has been better than the 'experienced' person hands down assuming they have similar credentials.

It's almost like nobody can take you at face value. Without going off topic into the L&D forum, it's the same experience I had in dating. Women would read something ridiculous into what you said or didn't say and would run for the hills when you admitted your inexperience. In other words, acting upfront and honest is now seen as strange and you are treated like you are hiding something. I simply cannot play that game and as a result am at a massive disadvantage despite my superior skills.

In my industry, hospitality, I have started to offer 'working interviews' to potential employers as my gold standard of interviewing. Fortunately my work speaks for itself, which hasn't always been the case-- when I was younger, I just took whatever job I was offered so I really never interviewed either, just 'chatted' (meaning, they saw I wasn't a crazy, a drunk, etc. so they wanted to hire me lol).

I think at this point you might want to focus on a way to get your skills across without an interview or sometimes these interviews are formalities and you could train yourself to withstand the occasional thing. But yeah, ultimately, interviews suck and it's hard for us to get the jobs we want if they rely on absent/diminished people skills.

I might be the INTJ type. And point well taken that some types are more rare than others.

Here's what I like about Myers-Briggs. It does not 'pathologize' what should be part of normal human variation. And it starts to break the monopoly that psychology/psychiatry currently seems to hold over Spectrum. Our lives are not defined by a medical professional. Not even by a very good medical professional.

80% of new businesses fail, typically because of undercapitalization (yes, 8 out of 10 of new businesses fail). And people need to understand this going in.

An Internet business could perhaps be started for $10,000. Whereas a reasonable go at a storefront business would take ten times as much money, maybe more.

I also like the Fred DeLuca (of Subway fame) approach, test the main idea as cheaply as you can. Get some interplay going between theory and practice (my addition). But then, when things start going well, sure helps to have the money to start ramping up.

That's why I would get so angry when people would say "Start your own business if you can't find a job" as if it were that easy. Unfortunately, I have this thing called intelligence and I know that an entrepreneur is most likely to fail. Business cost a fortune to start and those who start cheap (say, by using a paper sign and plastic furniture for a restaurant) are going to fail, period! A new sit down restaurant just opened near my home in an old fast food restaurant (that's failed repeatedly under two different brands) and I actually wrote the opening date on my calendar to see when it will fail. I swear many entrepreneurs WANT to fail and don't seem to understand WHY large companies are successful.

People would complain at this point that I just have a negative attitude and that's why I can't succeed. Yeah, I guess not having delusions of grandeur is a bad thing!

A number of years ago, a guy in Houston was laid off and had gone through all of his unemployment benefits with no job in sight.

Out of desperation, his wife made some tamales one day and he went out and sat by the side of the road and sold them. They sold, he kept doing it, and people kept coming back for more. Before long, he was able to buy a large van and equip it for selling tamales.

From then on, his job was selling tamales on the side of the road. If I remember correctly, his location depended on the day of the week.

You could also stop and buy soft drinks as well. Occasionally when I was on my bicycle and ran out of water, I would stop and buy a soft drink if I was thirsty.

In one city/suburb, the city council was considering a vote to ban the practice of selling food on the side of the road like that. Their wives let them know that they weren't going to do that because that guy in the van on the side of the road was where most of them bought their tamales.

I haven't lived in the area in more than twenty years and haven't been in that area in nearly twenty years and have no idea if he is still there. I would imagine that he is retired by now.

He started that business on a shoestring and it did well enough for him and his family to live on.

Some people in Houston laid off from work have remodeled part of their homes as restaurants -- the joy of living in a city without zoning. I've had some pretty good meals in such places.

From what I understand, for former convicts in the US who want to go straight, the best option is to form their own business, often as independent contractors. For example, they might become contractors to install carpets for local businesses that sell carpets.

if you are creating a start-up with an eye to a full-fledged business with potentially unlimited growth potential, yes you may need capitalization.

but there is a growing industry of "lifestyle businesses" - businesses people start specifically to allow them more freedom and independence and self-determination, based on whatever their core skills and special knowledge might be.

i am looking intensively at this because i am sick and tired of trying and failing at regular employment.

things i am looking at:
- leveraging my cooking skills by making fresh foods and selling them (fresh pasta, sauces, something like that) or offering to cook meals in someone's home once or twice a week. i really love to cook so this is probably my best option.
- dog walking / pet sitting (and yes you can make some serious cash doing this), or something else to do with pets; maybe a groomer? i think you have to get certified to do this now.
- freelance writing (not blogging, i don't have the patience for it)
- buying and selling stuff (i seem to be good at it)
- doing onsite oil changes/minor maintenance (not hard to learn how, i know some of it already, but would need a vehicle, don't currently have one)
- becoming a virtual assistant (although i would probably hate it, i do have the skillset)

setting up a website and marketing is the easy part; coming up with the concept and settling on a price schedule is harder for me. i can do my own websites, SEO, etc., make fliers, etc. make it cheap or free for first few customers, get some character referrals from them, go from there.

of course, i am not in a position where i need to be fully self-supporting at least not right away, and i don't need to support a family either while i do it.

my main criteria is it has to be something i can do well and preferably enjoy, something that won't force me to show up when i feel like crap (so dog walking may be out), something not too physically demanding, and something that requires little or no startup funds (since i have little to nothing to put into it).

my cousin Benjy started making fresh pasta and selling it as a way to generate a little income while he was in law school. it took off and now he doesn't practice law at all, he just sells fresh pasta to restaurants all over the new england area, has been doing great for over 20 years. i wouldn't need to be nearly that successful.

my ex-husband's psycho idiot ex-wife set up a palm-reading business in Salem, MA. i figure if she can do that, i can do anything.

Years ago, I read about one American who went to Argentina to live. After running out of money and having no job, he spent all the money that he had to buy some kind of snack in a store and then went outside and sold it on the streets for more. Then he took the money from that to buy more snacks to sell.

He had it rough at first, but he supposedly turned that into a fairly decent way of earning a living.