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Would diagnosis help unemployed 25 yr old stepson

Katie H

My partner's son is 24 years old. He performed well academically at school and went to uni for four years. He did not attain BSc and we recently discovered that when he was not attending (some) lectures, he shut himself away in his room to eat an play a game on the internet, had very little social contact, received zero support from the uni and was not confident enough to ask for help. (I did not know him well at this time.)

Two years later he remains unemployed. He has had some warehouse work and a short temporary job which had fantastic potential but the organisation ended his appointment abruptly due to a minor incident and as a agency worker there was little that could be done due to the terms of his contract.

I am not sure if this is helpful but prior to my involvement he did not appear to have any idea about how or where to look for work, what to include in a CV, how to respond to email messages, respond to interview questions. 

This past year he has focused on gaining an apprenticeship and I have been helping him with interview prep but he is not getting past the first interview. At primary school, Asperger's was suggested but "as he had friends and was doing well" no further action was taken. I understand there is possibility of support available once he is IN a job but would diagnosis and formal confirmation help for the APPLICATION and INTERVIEW stages? 

If the answer is Yes, would he first ask his GP? What precise tests are essential that he undertakes.

Any feedback and suggestions from this community would be appreciated as I am rather heart broken by the negative experiences this young man is enduring.

Parents
  • Dara said:
    I have to say that unfortunately, I can't imagine that disclosing autism at the application or interview stage would be a good idea, because most people don't understand it and will think that he might not be able to do the job properly. An exception may be if someone's communication skills were so challenging that they cannot manage to perform well in an interview, whereas explaining autism and the strengths it could bring to the job could help.

    Other posters said don't disclose as well, but I do because I had tried to muddle through employment up to 2007 without, but finding I would have to in future after being told to "improve at communication skills" in appraisals at a public sector employer.

    Katie H said:
    When we do interview practise his responses are weak. We have chatted at length with very little improvement. He doesn't really 'get' what the NT world is asking (and why should he but that's another subject!). I feel that we are trying to mould him into someone he is not in order to jump through the hoops to employment.

    My responses would be weak too, I just can't get out fluent sounding answers to the likes of 'Why do you want this job / to work here / Why should I hire you'.  Being honest about diagnosis when you have one ought to be seen as a positive quality, as well as mentioned as to how it could bring some strengths to roles offsetting the weaknesses.

    Just meeting job descriptions and 'person specifications' is part of the battle, they tend to combine so many elements. I have computer and numeracy skills so would be well suited to a 'back office' role with a lot of spreadsheet / database / finance work but roles are often combined with reception / telephone / customer / public elements that I would not do well at, so I'm only ever a partial match on any given occasion.

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  • Dara said:
    I have to say that unfortunately, I can't imagine that disclosing autism at the application or interview stage would be a good idea, because most people don't understand it and will think that he might not be able to do the job properly. An exception may be if someone's communication skills were so challenging that they cannot manage to perform well in an interview, whereas explaining autism and the strengths it could bring to the job could help.

    Other posters said don't disclose as well, but I do because I had tried to muddle through employment up to 2007 without, but finding I would have to in future after being told to "improve at communication skills" in appraisals at a public sector employer.

    Katie H said:
    When we do interview practise his responses are weak. We have chatted at length with very little improvement. He doesn't really 'get' what the NT world is asking (and why should he but that's another subject!). I feel that we are trying to mould him into someone he is not in order to jump through the hoops to employment.

    My responses would be weak too, I just can't get out fluent sounding answers to the likes of 'Why do you want this job / to work here / Why should I hire you'.  Being honest about diagnosis when you have one ought to be seen as a positive quality, as well as mentioned as to how it could bring some strengths to roles offsetting the weaknesses.

    Just meeting job descriptions and 'person specifications' is part of the battle, they tend to combine so many elements. I have computer and numeracy skills so would be well suited to a 'back office' role with a lot of spreadsheet / database / finance work but roles are often combined with reception / telephone / customer / public elements that I would not do well at, so I'm only ever a partial match on any given occasion.

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