Autism and The Job Market

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I've been thinking about pursuing a career in academia, but I've read that the academia job market is extremely competitive. Could you share more about how you found your current position?

There is around 80%+ unemployment rate for Autistic people.
People with other disabilities are considered more employable than Autistic people.
Employers and society do not want to employ Autistic people.

Which is why I don't tell them.

There’s usually little use in disclosing your autism.

It usually backfires on you.

I have applied for thousands of jobs since completing my college degree. I never received a single interview or call back. Logging in every day and applying for jobs and never getting any feedback was soul destroying and heart breaking. Having to comply with all the requirements to keep my welfare handout is so stressful.

My probably AS grandfather had a business mixing and packaging ingredients. I always expected to work "for myself." When I had to use welfare, it was particularly stressful, because the only way to get off welfare and back into business doing odd jobs was by cheating until I had enough momentum, tools, or whatever. A lawyer and accountant could have proven I was being responsible, but cost-cutting governments hire "social workers" who play gotcha.

BTW, a friend of mine once made a small fortune just before Christmas. At home each day, he made a lot of fancy candles using easy techniques. Then, when the streets were thick with shoppers but the bank had closed, he set up his wares on the old stone steps, and sat in between the two price groups, clearly marked in round numbers. People could get a gift and go in ten seconds flat, and many did. A bit of tinsel on the price boards, etc, pays big dividends.

Since the change over to most jobs being online the ratio of applying to getting any response has declined rapidly.

Looking for work becomes a very depressing full time job I never got any of my jobs that way, the odds are too

bad. Have you tried applying in other ways such as to notices in windows or through your job centre ect or are

still looking within your area of education? how long since you finished? a lot of low paid menial part time jobs

are MUCH better than the the job of looking for work.

It's because governments and councils are only interested in business startups if there's potential for growth and employing others; they ignore or penalise sole traders and artisans so much it's a wonder anyone can manage, but for a lot of people it's the ideal way to work.

Due to my social anxiety, I’m very tense, I barely smile (this is a big problem, obviously) and I’m pretty awkward with body language. This has made me look for jobs with easy interviews (I look at the interview questions on glassdoor) and avoid group interviews at all costs.

I just feel like I’ve exhausted all my options – I’ve tried job agencies, career counseling etc to no avail. I don’t think this counts as a disability so I can’t apply for those employment support schemes. I have been treated for my social anxiety and depression. I don’t think it’s effective but I make the effort to try to get better.

I guess my question is: how is someone with SEVERE social anxiety expected to get a job? I get it – entry level jobs have thousands of applicants and when there’s that much of a surplus, of course they’re not going to hire the person who’s socially anxious, regardless of how much they want the job. I really need help, I’m super depressed seeing other people do well and just thinking that that could be me if I didn’t have to suffer with this problem.

It was so frustrating that I seemingly got passed over for no reason until I once applied at a very crappy hole in the wall automotive shop. They were looking for an accounting clerk and while only paying slightly above minimum wage I thought "at least I will get some experience". When nobody was looking I peeked at the very large stack of resumes and the top one had a Bachelor of Commerce as well as extensive work experience and CA, CGA and CMA designations! At that point I knew I was wasting my time. Meanwhile the employment counsellor refused to return my calls after stating that "jobs are plentiful!" and again told me it was my attitude (even though I went in with a conquer the world attitude at first) yet couldn't give me any concrete examples of where do apply or what to change.

It would have been nice if someone told me a Commerce Degree is practically useless but instead it was framed as "if someone with your credentials and intelligence can't find employment it must be due to your laziness." I laugh when I see that same university brags that it is ranked as "top 5% of business schools" in the world: the bar must be VERY low!

Have you tried temp agencies? Where I work we don't use temps anymore because they are almost always useless. For a few examples:
#1 started trying to bully and boss everyone around and had an incredibly surly attitude.
#2 smoked on the property and when informed of the no smoking policy just said "I am going to do it anyway". He finally relented... and smoked behind a highly flammable container.
#3 reeked of alcohol and it was obvious drank during breaks
#4 was just downright scary and looked (and acted) like he just left prison after a long stay, which he probably did. I was amazed to my knowledge he never stole anything. It was the one and only time I have every felt unsafe at my current employer.

The only one that had any skill at all was planning on leaving the area within weeks but I guarantee would have been hired full time if they stayed around. It's not glamourous but if I had a good temp, they would be at the top of the pile regardless of how many MBAs or PhD's applied to my hypothetical permanent position.

How about freelance, lots of people need small amounts of accounting done but don't have enough work for

another employee. The trick is to get the first client, even if the pay is cr*p, word of mouth would be the best way

to get other clients and build up that way. Advertise yourself to small businesses, sole traders, they will all need to

fill in their tax stuff. Are you classed as an accountant? If you're not a full accountant point out that the more

hours they give you the less hours they will need to give to a full accountant that will cost more per hour. If you

are reliable, competent, and honest, they will recommend you to others; it's getting that first gig that will be

hard but I think you can do it.

If you don't feel confident enough to try this yet you could start with something like cleaning. I know you are

overqualified but don't be fooled by the depiction of cleaners being treated as rubbish on tv. Everywhere I've

worked cleaners were valued highly, paid min wage but appreciated because they are so hard to replace. The

hours are bitty so you can end up doing lots of hours at several places but end up with part time wage because

of travel time and costs but you are usually left to yourself to work. I recommend private homes, particularly

the elderly. No one will give a sh*t whether you are awkward and the interview is more them desperate for you

to take the job. It's not a long term goal obviously but it works well as a starting point (helps with confidence)

and can always be relied on as a side hustle. If there's something you hate (like bathrooms) consider specialising

in cleaning ovens. And you could continue as you built up the accounting side (keeping the nicer jobs).

Let me put it this way:
My position: 480 qualified applicants for 2 openings.

Last time I interviewed at a job that required a business degree (at a bank)? I was offered a chance to apply for an unpaid(! !) internship leading into a job that in a few years might have paid $15-20/hr.

Latest Custodial job (I was on the interview panel): 10 applicants, only 1(! !) was worth interviewing. Pay? $20/hr with ample benefits. It is H-A-R-D to find good, experienced custodians. To demonstrate how bad the applicants were, one literally just wrote their name on a resume.

I knew a teacher who switched to janitor to keep working, and the pay wasn't an issue. A guy who was a school janitor all his life said that he had to hustle to get it done in eight hours the first day, but after a few years, it was just an easy five, at the same Union pay.
I know an almost completely dysfunctional woman who is able to clean motel rooms if she can't get alcohol. She gets driven everywhere by her cleaning company, if they can find her in the morning.
Here's a possible niche: I used to work at a high-tech company, and they had cleaners come in for the office area. However, pay was higher in the shop, and there, the machinists had to do their own sweeping. I soon realized that after sweeping, they might pluck a $100 machine part from the pan. There's a need for "smart cleaners" who will put anything they are not sure is trash in a box for checking.
As a handyman, I can't compete on speed, but I sure can do a job with less noise and dust than most.
A friend of mine was visiting a mill town, where all the chatter was about upcoming layoffs for two weeks so the main mill roller could be re-polished. He realized that it could be polished in place, by someone laying on the floor under it as it worked. He saved the mill a small fortune, and took a nice chunk of it home himself, while getting endless free beer every evening.
Always look for a situation where your differences can be an asset.

A college degree often ends up being a wasted degree that leads to nothing. Graduate jobs only take on the top 20% students with grades, relevant work experience, hobbies/interest and the bottom 80% will struggle to find work that mainly not relevant to what he/she has wasted years of time studying. Most entry level jobs require 2 or 3 years experience. With a college degree I am over qualified for accounting clerk and book keeper roles that require no qualifications. I have applied for jobs beneath me that I do not want to do and the same result I did not receive any feed back.

Without CA or CPA you are not a professional accountant and is just a worthless degree. There are thousands of graduates and not many jobs in accounting. It is a competitive job market and college for me was a huge mistake and my college degree is worthless. A full time job as a factory worker or retail worker and never gone to college would have been a better career path and beats being an unemployable college graduate.

Less than half of people with a disability are employed. Employers do not want to employ people with disabilities and they put us in the too hard basket. People with Autism have higher rates of unemployment than people with other physical or intellectual disabilities. It is just the way it is.

Sure, but what about STEM degrees only?  People with degrees in the Arts & Humanities seem to have a higher incidence of unemployment or underemployment than people with STEM degrees.

For instance, all of our engineers, programmers and technicians are full-time workers, and they outnumber our clerical staff by about 12 to 1, who are mostly part-timers or temps.

We just don't seem to need any more paper-pushers.