How to find a job being Autistic or Aspergers?

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GoodwillSV recently started a 5-week program in San Jose, CA to help people diagnosed with autism (Aspergers) improve their social and technical skills. The idea is to create a simulated real life work environment to help candidates adapt to the work environment. The first cohort (size 10) consist of people flying in all from over US, at the end of the 5-week course, candidates were invited to interview at places such as Visa, MasterCard, Lending Club, OpenTable, SAP and Ernest & Yonge.



What are your thoughts?

Sounds like a good opportunity to puts some things into practice, see what works and what doesn't. I'd say get as much out of the experience as you can. Don't be afraid to make mistakes; it's a learning environment....that is the best place to make them!! !

Would you be willing to give us some updates on how the process went? Thanks for sharing. Shark

It's also important for a person to possess consummate interview skills. There should be many "mock interviews" performed with these people.

These days, one really has to have a very well-thought out and concise resume, too.

Resumes which "go on and on," and which contain "typos" tend to be thrown in the trash.

I always had better luck making my own work, but it would have been far better with the right partner to do more of the people interfacing. I focussed on the jobs no one else could or would do. Some didn't make any money, but there were some worth celebrating, too.

I envy your entrepeneurial spirit.

For me, I've just kind of fallen into lines of work. I currently have been working in the Medical Device industry for about 4 years now. Some of the customer service aspects I really suck at, but the regulatory side, the process improvement side, I really love.

Too bad no one else cares about process improvement on my team...

Maybe I was inspired by my probably-AS grandfather, who ran a simple compounding business, but there just were no jobs for me for a while. I preferred the flexibility of a small business when I was on wage. If you can excel at any job, the trick is to avoid sabotage by the people who look bad in comparison, and get the attention of management as far up as you can, or in another company.

Personally I just need to know how to pass an interview. I am confident that once you hire me you will see I work hard. But I have realized there must be things about my words or body language that never give me the chance.

I've been accused of using methamphetamine before and asked if "was ret*d?". They asked this without me bringing up my autism at all. Something about me tipped them off.

At the time it was kind of upsetting. It was said by a women with English as a second language. Her husband seemed very embarrassed. So I try to make myself feel better thinking maybe she used the wrong word.

Better employers create a happier workplace by considering more that pure performance when selecting team members. The classic salesman's advice is that every time you get turned down, you are one step closer to finding the deal that does fit everyone's needs. If you seem odd during an interview, you are usually too much of a risk compared to other applicants. There are classes for job-seekers where you might be able to get some practice interviews and feedback. You might do best with an offer of a free day's work, to show both ability and desire. If there's a job you think would be particularly good for you, but it is filled, you might tell the manager that you don't want to bother him too much, but you do want to prove you are reliable by returning and asking about it every X many days. Stay polite and patient, learn as much as you can about the jobs, and, if in the U.S., smile a lot.

Thanks for reading my post! The first cohort is very successful, it's only been 3 weeks since the class is over and over 60% of the cohort has received an offer! The staff is helping the rest of the cohort land a job. I'm currently volunteering at Goodwill to help them recruit more people into the program. If anyone is interested PMMM ME!! !. Also on a side note, this program is not restricted to location, people fly in just to participate in this program.

The program conducts many mock interviews and gives you a taste of real work environment. At the end, candidates skip the phone screen and head directly into onsite face to face interviews which they have practiced throughout the course.

This is an interesting read on the program:
https://blog.buzzhero.io/2017/06/02/aut ... rofiles-2/

Are there any vocational rehab services in your area? If there are, try applying for services through them.

If you are eligible for services, keep to the vocational rehab services and no one else.

Not really, it's very very ultra easy to find a job.

To find a job only you have to do this for real, like not thinking about doing it, but actually doing it, then it becomes painless and super easy.

Goodwill will pretty much take anyone, but just make sure that once you get your feet wet from them to move on quickly. They say the time to look for a job is when you already have one so get your feet wet on Goodwill and then move on. They take advantage of the special needs a lot.

I was once subjected to a "training seminar" on interviewing for a job, forced on me by the state as part of the requirements for receiving unemployment benefits. At the time, I'd been in the workforce for more than 2 decades and successfully negotiated plenty of interviews. The "mock interviews" we were forced to endure were the worst kid of condescending, pandering crap you can imagine - they were nothing like any real job interview I'd ever sat through, and coached us to say the most mindless, stereotypical robotic nonsense possible - having been in management and conducted interviews myself, I'd have passed over anyone who followed their "blueprint for success" as an idiot who could only repeat something they're read in a self-help book.

In any case, my problem as an Aspergian was never so much getting through the interview process, I can fake normal for a 30-minute shakedown cruise - the real problem is KEEPING a job, when management imbeciles decide they need to look smart and productive and start CHANGING things - rearranging schedules, reassigning duties and responsibilities, moving equipment, changing offices, altering the paperwork, etc. You know, all those pointless busywork things that don't improve employee morale or make the workplace more productive at all, but give the impression of activity and shiny "newness." "Shaking things up." "Pushing people out of their comfort zones."

Of course, many of us are at our MOST productive BECAUSE of our routines and our comfort zones, and sudden mulitple changes just cause overwhelming PANIC ATTACKS, which make us incapable of functioning at all. Of course, middle-management dimwits invariably interpret this as "stubborness," or "insubordination." Which is to say, "Automatic Pink Slip." Buh-bye. Yoah Fie-yuhd.

And then, there's the fact that I can only focus on jobs that involve a personal obsessive interest. Otherwise, it's a guaranteed meltdown within two or three weeks, if I'm not fired before then, for being unable to concentrate on the tasks required.

I am slowly but surely beginning to learn that I must stop treating human beings like traffic cones if I am to hold down a job for any amount of time.

It's unsurprising that many of us are faced with being out of work for long periods of time as depression, low self-esteem and anxiety are seemingly inevitable for most individuals on the spectrum at one time or another.

I have been guilty of perceiving other human beings as the enemy in the past, thus the chances of me finding work were markedly diminished.

I am hopeful that spending close to a decade inside of my own head will be a character building exercise that will allow me to flourish in the future.