Getting rejected after Interviews

Did you get to be a train driver? 

Omg my buttons are pushed at the phrase psychometric tests. These are the worst kind of assessment in my opinion.

I was once ( only once thank goodness) subjected to one of these while employed.

Everyone else was given feedback on their test except me, so I asked my manager why this was. She told me she hadn't wanted to give me mine as those reading my answers had concluded that I was a lier!

Nothing could be further from the truth and I was furious!. I told her to get these clowns on the phone so I could give them a piece of my mind!. For each question ( they are so tricky, and seem like you're being asked the same thing over and over) I had put myself in either an at home scenario, or an at work scenario in my head. Of course my answers were different dependent on which location I had put myself in and sometimes conflicting.

I realise now that the error was in my not understanding that they only wanted to know how I would handle situation in the workplace.....

Since that time approx 30 yrs ago, if a psychometric test is involved I just scrap the application and don't bother lol.

Just sharing my personal experiences, but I think those tests must be peppered with opportunities to fail for people with ASD. I know my daughter and son in law ( both ASD) have struggled.

VLD said:

Surely a job interview just tests how good poeple are at interviews

This is very true - we (interviewers) have to follow a process set out by HR which is designed to give everyone the same chance, but in reality most of the times the candidates will have been given online tests (technical and psychometric) and most of the unsuitable ones are eliminated by interview stage.

So in theory there is a lot of competition from the ones that get through so to differentiate we will focus on how the people think when given a novel problem or deal with a situation that may seem unsolvable.

The point of these is to see if the way someone approaches a problem is aligned with a technical problem solving team. We already know that they know their technica stuff so this is to see how they cope with something new and under pressure.

I would often role play situations with them (my masking and scripting skills coming into play) and assess how they cope with these tasks.

These are great skills to have in a technical support team and unfortunately are not ones most autists have (coping under pressure for a start).

I wonder if this could be considered discrimination when finding the best candidate pobably precludes most autists because of their autistic traits.

Surely a job interview just tests how good poeple are at interviews. Some interviews may be relevant for some jobs but it's universal use actually harms the companies misusing them. If you are recruiting someone to write software, would yoh want the person who is quick and accurate or the one who is good at dealing with an irate  customer when the software is late and doesn't work. 

I hate interviews, I am very poor at interviews. I can do a job standing on my head but ask me questions at an interview and I let myself down. I now believe this was / is due to my autism.

At my age I would not hold out much hope of being successful in an interview so I may well end up on the scrapheap a few years too early.

I always feel confident when I go for an interview, But when it happens, I always freeze and do not know what to say or do, I always stutter a lot and always go of topic sometimes,  

I have definitely struggled in every interview I've done 

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Kind Regards,

Rosie Mod

its nothing to do with Autism, maybe its to do with types of Autism, i have a lot of empathy for animals, i don't take pride in hurting people by being blunt, you seem to embrace it and be proud of it,  I'm just standing up to a bully which you are

Moonshadow said:

because you are blunt means you have no empathy,  did you torture small animals when you were a child?  

My lack of perceived empathy is caused by my disability. ie Autism.

To suggest I tortured animals reflects more on you than you realise.

You are becoming abusive and I'm cutting off further discussion with you now.

i did see what you did there ,  because you are blunt means you have no empathy,  [content removed by Moderator due to breaches of the online community rules and guidelines]

Moonshadow said:

your a neuro diverse bully

What?

How do you reach this conclusion?

I tell the facts as I see them - bluntly - this is not bullying.

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/bullying

the act of harassing, intimidating, or abusing others

You may not like what I have to say but that is fine - I do not believe I reach the minimum criteria to qualify for your attempts to harrass me.

So please do not attempt to bully me (you see what I did there?)

I have read your profile "I also can be a bit blunt at times but that is my preferred form of communication." [content removed by Moderator due to breaches of the online community rules and guidelines]

Moonshadow said:

its nothing to brag about being an hiring manager, you should be ashamed of yourself!

I didn't choose the role - it was always just an aspect of the jobs I was doing at the time as I was often contracted in to deal with IT departents that were performing very badly, either through the staff having largely left already, poor previous management or a lack of appropriate staff for the roles.

Why should I be ashamed of it? I gave the results I was hired for and the departments were left performing exceptionally well when I left

As for changing the system - not a chance. As soon as you step out of line as a consultant then you get replaced. Hiring people who are not fit for the job would be a surefire way to have me back on the dole - I tried it twice with the same result.

Moonshadow said:

You should of been able to spot these talented people!

I am able to spot those who cannot cope under pressure and this is something that is essential for some roles such as customer facing roles in many companies.

Why on earth would I hire someone who freezes up (or worse) when faced with an angry customer for example? I need to see the talent of being able to cope with the pressure AND the technical stuff too.

It it were for back end roles with no pressure (eg database admin) then fine but these roles are almost all already being replaced by AI now.

I tell it how it is - changes like you are asking for will need the NTs to change their mindsets and hiring people who fail will never achieve this.

The best we can possibly expect at this stage in the hiring market is for us to adapt to the roles. We are a tiny percentage of the population (less than 2%, and not all of us have these issues) so to expect them to all adapt to us is not realistic.

"I was a hiring manager" ???  maybe you should of tried to change the culture of the business from being so Prejudice!!, you were inside you could of tried to change it from within ,  its nothing to brag about being an hiring manager, [content removed by Moderator due to breaches of the online community rules and guidelines] You should of been able to spot these talented people!

I can totally relate to you.   I used to physically shake at Interviews.  I had very good qualifications In IT and I would apply for computer network engineering jobs.  I used to have people Interviewing me who were less qualified as me.  I used to fully prepare for days before with mock interviews.  I would have about 100 pre prepared answers ready to any question they may ask like " Where would you like to be in 10 years time"  to which i would reply" I would like to be sitting where you are"  Blah Blah......No matter what i did  i always messed up.  I was so qualified it wasn't difficult for me to get Interviews once i sent my Cv off for a Job.  I would do about 3 Interviews a week, I thought more i did better i would become at it. but alas it never happened,  i read self help books on keeping calm etc. nothing worked, I never got the my dream job, and i ended up giving up and having some dead end job for years,  When i went to an Interview for a job i didn't want, i never used to shake lol,   that was over 20 years ago I am fortunate I don't need to work anymore, The thing is, 20 years ago i didn't know i was autistic , i put it down to having bad nerves , anxiety/depression,   If i could go back in time I would come clean and mention in the Interview that I was Autistic and highlight the plus points of them employing an autistic person.  I would be wary of putting that i am autistic in my Cv as it might of worked against me.  I think you would be best disclosing it at the Interview.   I would personally give it a try. you have nothing to lose and everything to gain

TrainyMcTrainFace said:

its just interviews I have issues with

Then I would focus on the role play of interviews as much as you can get - get the other people to throw in unpredictable questions and get into the habit of answering them until you master the challenge.

You seem to have all the other stuff sorted so that would be how I would do it.

See..Im already a warehouse team leader so I already perform under pressure every single day except its not in an interview fashion, I already lead a team of up to 15-20 people with no issues and im fairly comfortable, its just interviews I have issues with

TrainyMcTrainFace said:

Trainee Train Driver 

You would need to be able to cope well under stress in this role with situations like angry passangers banging on the cab door, hitting an animal crossing the tracks, dealing with a stranded train and upset passangers, a broken down train etc.

Since this will also help a lot with the interview process then that is where I would focus my attention.

Trainee Train Driver