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First Job Interview

Poppet
3 months ago

Hi. I’m new to this community but I was diagnosed with autism when I was still a child. It’s been a rough life so far, I’ve experienced what most do, loss, pain and mental struggles but somehow (no idea how) – I’ve gotten through everything that was thrown at me. At times it was dark, I couldn’t see a way forward and yet somehow I got through those terrible days. Finding strength from inside myself when I didn’t think it was possible.

Because I feel better I have been looking at working. I never finished school (too much noise and anxiety, result was a breakdown) and with no grades and qualifications or previous experience in the workplace I didn’t set my hopes too high in being successful in any work I applied for. Still I persevered because I want to make something of my life rather than sit at home all day every day being called lazy and pathetic.

I applied at morrisons last month and about a week later I got an email saying I was unsuccessful – sad but not unexpected. I’ve been rejected by so many people I’ve come to expect it now. It’s the norm. But I still looked and hoped something would turn up and then on Wednesday morning I had an email from mossisons saying I had passed their online questionnaire and they would look at my CV – my CV is bad, very little on it because I could only really say about myself, my skills and interests (no qualifications to add). It read bad and I was sure they would take a brief look and think it’s no good.

And then I had a phone call on Wednesday afternoon (an unknown number) I let it ring because talking on the phone with people I’m unfamiliar with makes me anxious. The call was from morrisons, the woman left a voice mail and said that she was looking at my CV and would be interested in talking to me about it so we could arrange an interview… So now I’ve got an interview on Monday morning. I’m so proud of myself for achieving this, despite having so much doubt and so much negativity from those around me.

I am anxious though. I’ve never been to an interview before and I worry going means I will screw it up. My family have said this to me, they don’t think I’ll be successful which hurts but I fear they are summarising correctly. But my brothers all worked for morrisons at one point and the pay was pretty good and the work benefits were always good. It could secure my future, offering independent living: something I do not have currently.

So really I am here to seek advice on how to get through this interview – and (most importantly) not screw it up! Any and all advice is welcome!

Parents
  • 3 months ago

    First of all I’d like to say congratulations, job hunting at the moment is really difficult for everyone. Just showing up to the interview is really valuable experience, if you can approach it from that perspective it will help you relax as well. 

    • tell the interviewer it’s your first interview- not sure if you plan on disclosing your diagnosis (you don’t have to if I remember correctly)- but knowing it’s your first time often helps them be a little more lenient and potentially offer tips and advice. 
    • Prepare a couple of (‘job friendly’) questions you can ask the interviewer- this shows you’re engaged and interested, and they’ll often ask if you have any questions at the end. “What would a typical day look like?”, “Is there anything that might surprise me about working at Morrisons?”, “How long have you been working at Morrisons?”, “What are the typical challenges of this role?” (You can replace “role” with “being [insert job title]’). I would plan to ask only 1-2, but prepare a few so you can ask a different one if the answer is covered earlier.
    • Do some practice - there are a couple of lifeskills websites (I think Barclays has one?) with interview practice, and lots of YouTube videos. 
    • Be prepared to discuss the gaps on your CV- they’ll want to know why, and that the reasons for it are not going to affect your ability to perform this role. You don’t have to tell the full truth here, but it is definitely important to think about how you want to respond. If you’re uncomfortable speaking about how your autism affects you, you can just say you have a disability that made school difficult and eventually it made you very unwell- they will expect you to explain how you’re doing better now and why you think you’d be able to cope in a job if you couldn’t cope with school. There may also be a time in the interview to discuss reasonable adjustments (eg wearing ear defenders). I’d recommend looking up some disability-specific interview advice and thinking about how you’d answer questions about what/why you have gaps in your cv, and also the strengths you can bring to the role.

    Good luck! Remember everything is valuable experience (even bad experiences).

Reply
  • 3 months ago

    First of all I’d like to say congratulations, job hunting at the moment is really difficult for everyone. Just showing up to the interview is really valuable experience, if you can approach it from that perspective it will help you relax as well. 

    • tell the interviewer it’s your first interview- not sure if you plan on disclosing your diagnosis (you don’t have to if I remember correctly)- but knowing it’s your first time often helps them be a little more lenient and potentially offer tips and advice. 
    • Prepare a couple of (‘job friendly’) questions you can ask the interviewer- this shows you’re engaged and interested, and they’ll often ask if you have any questions at the end. “What would a typical day look like?”, “Is there anything that might surprise me about working at Morrisons?”, “How long have you been working at Morrisons?”, “What are the typical challenges of this role?” (You can replace “role” with “being [insert job title]’). I would plan to ask only 1-2, but prepare a few so you can ask a different one if the answer is covered earlier.
    • Do some practice - there are a couple of lifeskills websites (I think Barclays has one?) with interview practice, and lots of YouTube videos. 
    • Be prepared to discuss the gaps on your CV- they’ll want to know why, and that the reasons for it are not going to affect your ability to perform this role. You don’t have to tell the full truth here, but it is definitely important to think about how you want to respond. If you’re uncomfortable speaking about how your autism affects you, you can just say you have a disability that made school difficult and eventually it made you very unwell- they will expect you to explain how you’re doing better now and why you think you’d be able to cope in a job if you couldn’t cope with school. There may also be a time in the interview to discuss reasonable adjustments (eg wearing ear defenders). I’d recommend looking up some disability-specific interview advice and thinking about how you’d answer questions about what/why you have gaps in your cv, and also the strengths you can bring to the role.

    Good luck! Remember everything is valuable experience (even bad experiences).

Children
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