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I need a career

Niemand
over 4 years ago

I managed to get through school, and university. My social skills are okay, and when I've been in workplaces for work experience etc, I have done pretty well. But can I get through the interviews process? i think there is an inbuilt discrimination against people like me at the interview stage since I make bad eye contact, and find them hellish. I'm now in my forties, and none of the jobs I have ever done have ever had reasonable pay or required an interview. My CV is woeful even though my intelligence level is clearly above average. (Not genius level, granted!) I do have some issues, but can function at a high level, yet no one wants me. 

What do I do? Even when I've done careers courses, I struggle, and get panic attacks. Yet, I know I can do certain types of work because I have already. Working is not too bad for me. Looking for work has made me feel suicidal. I am lucky I have some level of other support, but this is not enough to pay a lot of my bills and my gas has been cut off.

The really annoying thing is that I got offered a dream job at a bookshop, and turned it down because I was going out of the country for a few months. I have been kicking myself ever since. 

Half the time some stranger speaks to me, they ask me what I do for a living. I'm not into the whole peeing contest aspect of that, but I would like to be able answer something other than telling them undiagnosed ASD has stopped me from ever getting a proper job. 

Parents
  • over 4 years ago

    I am awaiting diagnosis and am 50. I guess I grew up in a situation that I had no coice but to go to college and then work. I was out of work in my early 20 for 18 months and then got a lucky break. I work in IT  which massivley halps the obsessive and logical part of my brain. I do ok at interviews if the interviewer is a technical person who knows his thing, rather than a manager who has never done the job. 

    My CV is not wholely thruthful, probably like many peoples. My 18 month gap is not there, but neither is the two companies either side of that gap as both went bankrupt, and it was 30 years ago.

    Are there any places local to you that only employ people with disabilities? My local library has a cafe that does just that. They are paid the minimum wage and people know that the staff have issues but genrally the local people are supportive. It is all about getting that lucky break, good luck.

Reply
  • over 4 years ago

    I am awaiting diagnosis and am 50. I guess I grew up in a situation that I had no coice but to go to college and then work. I was out of work in my early 20 for 18 months and then got a lucky break. I work in IT  which massivley halps the obsessive and logical part of my brain. I do ok at interviews if the interviewer is a technical person who knows his thing, rather than a manager who has never done the job. 

    My CV is not wholely thruthful, probably like many peoples. My 18 month gap is not there, but neither is the two companies either side of that gap as both went bankrupt, and it was 30 years ago.

    Are there any places local to you that only employ people with disabilities? My local library has a cafe that does just that. They are paid the minimum wage and people know that the staff have issues but genrally the local people are supportive. It is all about getting that lucky break, good luck.

Children