Looking for a job

A few months ago I'd saw an article on the bbc about a recent graduate. The student got a degree in Criminology and did voluntary work for Victim Support (separate from her degree); applied for vacancies when graduated. The employer said that you needed experience and she asked what experience do I need? Absolutely ridiculous.

Also I'd watched a programme about could AI take away our employment. Some graduates are struggling. 

I'd left a workplace in 2019 and had no support. The sad part was that could been prevented. I was told the next day I'd left, the former colleagues realised that the behaviour had to stop and didn't apologise to me.

Now trying to rebuild my life by finding a group where I meet people, have a chat and get on with the tasks.  Also I go to songs of praise (not television version);

Some of my family and people around me don't understand. 

I'm 28 and struggling to find full-time work. I also have Semantic Pragmatic Disorder (SPD), which basically means that I process information slower than others and I struggle to communicate at times. I mainly have experience in Animal Care but it's mostly been zero hour contract jobs. I used to have 2 jobs, one at a kennel and cattery and another at a dog daycare. I got fired from the dog daycare suddenly and I'm still to this day technically employed at the kennel but they rarely give me shifts anymore. I then took and passed a dog grooming course earlier this year and got a job in a high-profile dog grooming salon but my employment got terminated at the end of the probation period.

This incident led to the conclusion that my disability may have played a part in me losing all of these jobs. Up until that job, I had been told NOT to mention my disability in any job applications. However, now I'm being told to mention it (not in great detail but still) and I worry I'm not gonna get another job for a while if I keep mentioning my disability and even if I do, I might get treated differently from others (specifically special treatment that makes things easier for me that might make others resent me). I was quite self-concious about my disability when I was at school and always tried to keep it quiet. I don't know if mentioning my disability with potential jobs will mean that I might get an assistant to help me at the job (like I had in primary school) but if it does, I'm worried it will look weird to others even if I do need them. Needless to say, this past year and bad luck with my jobs has seriously knocked my confidence by a lot.

Does anyone have any advice regarding where I can find autism-friendly jobs and job support? Both for Animal Care-related jobs and jobs in general? Also, interview techniques because I'm quite shy and I suck at them (I got my kennel and dog daycare jobs via job trials, which I feel I'm better at because I can demonstrate my abilities through actions instead of words)? I'll greatly appreciate it! Also, feel free to share your own stories too!

Thank you :)

No problem! I hope you find the sector you’re looking for!

Hi LavenderPiano

You might find some helpful information on our employment pages here: https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/employment

Best wishes

Sharon Mod

Indeed, I agree with everything you said there. Lack of control over hours and forcing a mask on are huge hurdles for me. I like routine but at my own pace that’s comfortable and not at the control of others and their needs.

I feel like there's always a bad feeling on both sides. You feel miserable if you don't have a job but you also feel miserable if you do have a job. I guess it just depends if you can find the perfect job for you, which seems impossible. 

Oof that sounds terrible. I would not do that work for free if other people get paid for it. 

I have noticed that I would much rather do something I enjoy than spend most of my life in a boring, high-paying job. I think that's also why I struggle a bit though because I don't really know what I would enjoy unless I try it myself, so the volunteering thing sounds like a good idea. 

I've only recently found out about temping and it sounds like a good idea which I'm going to look into

So true, loads of jobs are like "you must have this many years of experience to even be considered for this job" and where am I even going to get that experience if I need experience to get that experience lol

Yeah, I think if I just stick at a job and work my best then eventually I'd get less likely to make mistakes. My main problem is that I don't ask enough questions because I'm kind of scared to but then they get annoyed at me if I don't do something right and it's just like a cycle of me not having the courage to ask and not doing things right. I think I'll just have to push myself to ask questions. 

I'm not really into physical work though because I get tired really easily due to a condition I have, so I guess that crosses off a big sector at least. 

Thanks for your encouragement :)

I mean I definitely want to improve my social skills so that's something I'm working on at the moment and I think it'll be good for most jobs. I have thought about the teaching English thing but I looked into it and I don't think I could handle teaching kids since I don't really like them. Also, thank you for the suggestions but I don't think those are for me.

As for special interests, I really like making schedules and I'm into seasonal stuff, so watching certain things in certain seasons and doing certain activities. I also like music and watching shows. 

I think I do want to work in admin but I'm always thinking about the negative things whichever path I choose. It's nice to know my options though in case there is something better suited to me.

Still in the job seekers boat myself and not quite feeling a reasonable level of motivation to do any job that I can picture myself doing currently. There may well be something out there I could feel comfortable doing and perhaps even enjoy if it was mostly solitary with as little human interaction as possible. I also worry about making mistakes because I judge myself harshly and expect perfection, there’s little room in my ego for any errors I make myself and that train of thought applies to everything I wish to feel proud of or at the very least competent at. My background is office work but I’ve had my fill of that, did almost 20 years of it and it has very little variation, you end up feeling like the living dead with every day pretty much exactly the same. 

Iain said:

That is not a bad ratio

That's because I only applied for jobs i could do and would accept if they offered them.  I didn't apply just for the sake of applying and keeping the job centre happy.

Robert124 said:

In the last year I estimate that I've applied for 200 jobs and got 20 interviews.

That is not a bad ratio. 

10 to 1 is better than I used to get and i wasn't out of work for long. It can depend a lot on the field as I noticed that IT had a lot of fake jobs which a freind who works in recruiting told me to keep an eye out for.

Many are CV harvesting schemes to then sell to marketing firms who will then target for for training courses, coaching sessions, CV improvement services etc.

The roles that tend to be very vague but with a decent salary are the ones they typically use as they can get a lot of applicants who meet some of the vague criteria.

Getting better at interviews is the one skill that really helps though - lots of masking is required, but at the end it will always be hard for us to survive in a mostly NT environment afterwards.

In the last year I estimate that I've applied for 200 jobs and got 20 interviews. These were a mixture of in person, by phone and by video.

I also attended a year long employability course, one day a week.

And I'm still unemployed and desperately short of cash to even pay the rent.

There is some good news in a negative way which I'm keeping to myself.

It’s hard not to write about this topic without sounding in any way vexed. I think what I’ve noticed since graduating (25-&15 years ago) is that a lot of roles advertised as permanent really are not. From a company perspective it makes sense to have a younger workforce as they are more enthusiastic and energetic, they are also naive in many ways. Because companies are perfectionst (unrealistic) and also ageist in who they employ and use to represent them. Both these things are discriminatory but seem to silently make it through when recruiting teams. I'd say most of the jobs I havent got were because people expected someone else from looking at my cv. Visually you have to be a fit for the organisation. 

the wake up call for me was going to an interview in the centre of the city in my suit. I arrive, there are 20 other people all wearing suits. Guy comes out gives us all a map and walks us to the train station. We were expected to travel go door to door in an area and sell their products, for no pay. I told him I was not going to work for free. No doubt next day they would do this with 20 more unsuspecting graduates. This is called churning, this is what annoys me so much about big companies that advertise their success because they burn so many people growing their business this way. Think of all the unpaid and low paid workers that made Apple or Amazon into trillion dollar companies. 

my advice is to find something you enjoy doing with your time and don’t panic about the money part. This could be charity work or helping in your community. Volunteering can help you get out and talking to people during the day. Searching and applying for jobs need only take 30 mins in the morning. 

That’s really helpful information - thank you. My relative struggles not to find it demoralising to keep not getting anywhere which her search for a job - as anyone would. It’s always good to know you’re not alone isn’t it? I do think the country is in a right mess on multiple levels - I have to work quite hard not to get too depressed about it - so we have to take care of our mental health in times like this. We’re not alone and to feel solidarity with others and from others really helps. 

It is tough because of the last Labour budget (tax on jobs) and the looming one. Few companies are expanding due to bigger uncertainties too.

In my experience you get the same number of interviews by sticking your CV on LinkedIn and a few decent sites as by applying for stuff, and you don't have to spend so much demoralising wasted effort filling in forms. Any place that needs 5-6 interviews on also not worth the effort. They don't know what they want, can't make decisions, value themselves too highly and will waste your time, money and effort. If you get the job they'll think they own you.

The problem at the moment is jobs are bots talking to bots. You never get through the filtering. Also because you can apply in a few clicks people apply for hundreds of things, so everyone is swamped and nothing gets read.

You get a job by talking to people and contacts. You are better offer going into reception of a few big companies of you ask me. Another way is temping. It is not glamorous but good people stand out. You become a lower risk as they can see you. The hardest part is getting your foot in the door.

Use AI help polish your CV, not write it all. Don't be scared to talk yourself up, everyone else does, the AI can help with this. It is a very alien thing for autistic people I think. I tend to be factual or understate things, I think I undersell myself. But it's the game you have to play. Don't lie though.

From what people in my family tell me it’s really tough in the job market at the moment - so you are far from alone. We even know of someone with an 2.1 degree from Oxford Uni and an MA - and even they are struggling to find a job. You have to think what more to employers want - but it seems it’s not easy if you haven’t got lots of experience. This is crazy because how can you get experience in the first place if no one will employ you without it?! I can only wish you luck as tbh I don’t understand why everything is so difficult right now.