no career change or development or coaching options for actual adults?

There are no high paid skilled jobs, even if they exist you only get them due to nepotism. Most jobs that come up on sites like Indeed are in industries with high turnover/low pay such as retail, care or warehousing. That and they can also be zero-hours with no consistency in work.

As for autism, most employers don't hire as they see us as liabilities most of the time. If you fail to adapt to a mostly NT setting and don't participate in cliquish games with these people, you don't fit their 'company culture'. Then again, I'd much rather quit a job instead of forcing myself to stay in a toxic environment. Of course, there are good workplaces that provide support but most if not nearly all have toxicity festering everywhere.

I had the pleasure to work with an outplacement company after I've been made redundant. Absolutely useless if you are not a middle of the road neurotypical person. 

Software development isn't a career path anymore and since Trump changed taxation for tech companies the market is swamped with highly qualified people that worked at FANG or Microsoft. Salaries in Eastern Europe and Asia are a lot cheaper as well. With AI now doing lots of the more basic programming as well, it's a cull-de-sac. 

Same goes for Data Science and related. 

I explored these routes because it would have been the obvious choice given my professional background

I don't have the money to pay any tailored coaching and support

Don't forget that older people are seen as more expensive too, because of the warped way the minimum wage acts with lower pay for younger people, it disincentivises employers from giving jobs to older people.

We desperately need proper adult education in this country, there are so few ways to build your skill base, or build a totally new one. I remember when you could do courses in almost anything at colleges in the evening, everything from massage to maths. Now it seems there are only a few STEM courses available. There are still access courses, they can be a bit of a mine field too, some of them are general but many of them are trying to funnel people into social work, nursing and teaching, they don't really prepare you for moving into higher education. I know poeple always bang on about the OU, and for many it's been great, but for others of us, theres little of value to us.

Governments keep going on about creating high paid skilled jobs across the country, but where do people get the skills from if theres nowhere for them to learn?

In this case I think it is a bit more difficult.

I am not aware there is anything that does what you want, but the closest would be outplacement companies that help companies find jobs for employees when they are made redundant. They can counsel, help with CVs, do interview coaching and help assess skills and possible employment routes. I expect it will cost thousands though, assuming they would take on individuals. I suppose there are also life coaches, but I don't know about this.

There are government backed schemes to cross train people in software, where you can get the fee back if you don't get a job at the end.

There are apprenticeships, which you already looked at.

Or you can pay people just to write your CV.

Appreciate everyone taking the time to respond as well, but I am not after generalised advice. I am after services and support where actual peopel engage beyond telling me general advice I can get of Google or ChatGPT. I am also not after talking in lengths about how hostile the world is, we can't change that at the pace to make a difference for me. 

I think I will start a new post, reformulating my question. 

Your CV is doing ok if you are getting interviews. That is the point of the CV, to get through the filtering, get noticed and get you in front of someone.

Then it comes down to being ok in the interviews, and how good the other candidates are. You can control the first one, not the second. Being confident, not too confident, and knowing something about the role and the company helps.

Do you get any feedback on how you did?

Have you had big gaps in your employment?

Are you applying for the right level of job?  If you are too over qualified you may be able to do the job but not get it as they don't think you will stay.

Could you try applying for some different types of job to see what would happen?

Quite often people get jobs through their contacts, it is one of the main ways, since someone can put in a good word for you. Which is a big problem if you are isolated.

As you get older you are supposed to emphasise your skills and knowledge, since you have examples from what you have done before. You know you as well as anyone else. You are also supposed to know something about what you are doing, so there is no real help.

Unless you have spme skills that are in demand it is a struggle.

Permie jobs have been like contractor jobs for 30 years. There is no much emphasis on long term potential and whether people can be trained, more on whether you can be productive from the start. It's not like it was 40 years ago. 

There is also a marked slow down in hiring at the moment which will not help. It is not as bad as during the financial crisis when I got made redundant and it took a year to get 1 interview. But I seem to have been unlucky multiple times, or am perhaps not so good at selling myself.

Sorry I don't have any good suggestions, it is just down to persistence.

Exactly that. 

I appreciate your input, but I know all of that. But it's like knowing all the football rules doesn't mean one is able to play well or at all

Hi Anna, I have yet to find resources that are useful for older self diagnosed women. I might have missed them? 

The issue is most schemes have a cut off point which is the age of 25 - even so, the schemes which exist tend to exploit younger people and don't address unemployment issues (I know from experience as I worked for a dodgy employer on the Kick-start Scheme before going full-time as a receptionist for a local council).

I think for older people, the job market is just as bad to navigate due to the reasons you stated: when older you are seen as too overqualified for most jobs as employers tend to feel threatened by your experience. Most employers don't even want to train either, just expect you to know everything as training resources cost £££. My former employer used to charge staff for employee expenses and would use this for their holidays (as they were often off every month). 

I suppose with the courses given by Job Centres it is the same BS of how to write a CV, how to interview, using STAR etc. Nothing new is taught and most of the time courses are delivered by 3rd parties who want to fill their weekly quota.

Good morning NAS94755,

Thank you for your post and I am sorry to hear about the difficulties you are experiencing. Just to add to the very good advice you have been given by other members I would like to direct you to our advice and guidance section on employment. There are a few headings which you can explore and hopefully there is some advice there that will help you. 

Please find the link here:

https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/employment

With best wishes, 

Anna Mod

Okay some quick tips for interviews I wish I knew before I took my current job:

1. When they ask you if you have any questions, always have one prepared to ask. Like: How many workers do you have employed? Or: What does the break schedule look like? If you have questions, it looks like you really care about the job/business.

2. When the interviewer is silent between questions, let it be silent. If you fill all the silence with chatter it can show that you are nervous or you might end up saying something contradictory.

3. Whether you disclose any disabilities during the interview process is a deeply personal decision only you can make, but there are still some employers out there that do - illegally, I might add - discriminate. My personal recommendation is to only disclose if you need accommodations AND the environment seems open to it.

4. Send a thank you letter/email after an interview. This ensures they don’t just forget about you and it shows that you really care about getting the position.

I feel like these are four things that don’t get said enough. Especially #2 is a huge downfall for people with disabilities, because it’s so easy to fall into the trap of oversharing and overcompensating. I hope some of this can help!

I think a lot of older people feel the same and not just those who are ND, as you've found there's no help, no real training and you can't get an apprenticeship because you're too old, whilst at the same time being told you've got to work for longer before you can claim a pension, have a well paid job so as you can not only pay more tax but to build up your pension pot and savings?

So many adults have to change career or are made redundant, some several times, and yet theres no help or understanding, it's wrong.