Finding Employment with AuDHD

You’re absolutely right. I‘ve only been an employment specialist for less than a year, and I have found that calling HR and/or walking into the reception IS the best way to secure a job. It’s so easy for your application to get lost or ignored if it is submitted online. Whenever you send an online application to a company, visit them in person, email them, or call them to “check if the application went through.” 

Is it easy for the average Autistic person to engage with employers? Absolutely not. So I recommend finding a NT buddy that can embark on missions with you. I don’t have that luxury given my position, but that’s what I’d recommend for others.

This totally, I know people that have got good jobs but haven't gone the traditional 'academic' route. Passion can shine through and make you stand out for a job. 

Don’t use that as reason, you’re not doing yourself an favours. I never completed college either and done terribly at school with fails in most subjects. It’s not easy, however, you can keep trying and I still recommend not disclosing any disability to increase interview chances - it’s not how the world should be, but sadly most places do discriminate. I started in a call centre at 18 and build my own website in spare time, learning to code and pestered all the IT managers I could find until I got an interview then demonstrated what I learned. Got a junior dev job and the test is history. What areas are you looking to gain employment in? 

The best way to get a job is by word of mouth. Family, friends, neighbour, guy in the pub, anything. They can help or recommend you.

If you have some places in mind, try walking into their reception and asking if they have any jobs. I'm starting to think this might be the best way.

The alternative is to put your details onIine and wait for people to call you. I have had more success doing nothing in the past than by applying. I think applying is mostly a waste of time now. I read that recruitment is just bots talking to bots 

Companies find it very hard to find people. They are deluged with applications. CV's can be sorted without people reading them. Also many lie on their CV's or wildly exaggerate.You have to bypass this by trying to see a human.

Cinnabar_wing said:

-I've come to believe a good job is good because you have a good manager

Indeed. A company is a legal fiction, known as corporate personhood.

Anyway, there is no physical thing, what is real is a bunch of people. Working with good people is all you really want.

Corporate culture is one of the hardest things to change. Also plenty of insecure people play games trying to look good and climb the ladder.

I’ve been employed for 15 years with some gaps of a few months here are there. I learned that the moment I say I have ASD or ADHD then I never get any further. I’ve been a hiring manager, head of department and the individual contributor. I will say discrimination absolutely exists and I’ve been privy to some internal communications and ‘private chats’ between other colleagues. My advice is never disclose on an interview (or before) unless you want radio silence or to be part of a tickbox exercise (some companies need to be seen to interview certain people but they rarely hire them). I only recently learned this year of my conditions so I look back and realise I heavily masked all along (which was probably whey I remained employed, but struggled ). 

I work for a large well known bank and I can say for a fact they discriminate despite saying all the right words and BS about advocating for neurodiversity. I recently disclosed to my boss about AuDHD and I suddenly didn’t get my bonus (a very significant amount) and my rating magically dropped from ‘outstanding’ to ‘below expectations’. This was after asking for reasonable adjustments. I now feel they are trying to make me leave. I will NEVER disclose any such thing again in my life to an employer. They don’t care. The ones that do are sadly a rare occurrence, at least in my career so far and I’ve job hoped a lot. They will find someone ‘easier’ to manage. So my answer is: increase your odds by keeping quiet and just get in, do the job and find ways to decompress around your job, use sick days wisely alongside holidays to get time away. Sad but true. 

i never completed college so things are more difficult for me, i also had to have help with my cv and cover letters but they still dont seem to be helping much.

So, I don't know if I'm going to answer your question right, as I don't know if you mean no responses on here, or no responses to applications?

I am going to answer the former, but if it's the latter, then it's job coaching/CV advice, just let me know.

Finding the right job for you will depend on your strengths and weaknesses. There isn't a magic job for AuDHD, as we are all on a spectrum and can't all work then same job, but those of us that have jobs can offer advice and what we do/did? But my career, like many others wasn't based around being autistic, I've only just found out after 18 years of work and hitting a point where I burned out. 

So I would advice, so we can help, reframing the question both on here and in your own mind. Don't ask how your AuDHD can get you a job, but rather what does NeuroDiverse_Goose  want out of a job? Money obviously, as you need to pay them bills, but also work that plays to your strengths and weaknesses so it will be more then temporarily. 

To enjoy a job, it doesn't have to be about the job itself, but about feeling good that you can do something without burnout. If you tell us your strengths and weaknesses, maybe we can give better tips? 

I knew I wanted to do something with art (special interest since early childhood), discovered a uni course I could, made contacts at uni, managed to get my first job, and have just been working at that. I was doing well till I was made Lead, and my perfectionism led me to work myself into burnout. 

I think the job market is very tough these days, so I know you must be struggling. But either know what you want, and see what you can do to get into that field, or look at each job that comes up and weigh up the pros and cons. If you can focus on aspects of a job that you can do, then you can do anything. 

And of course there is the human element -I've come to believe a good job is good because you have a good manager. You good have the ideal job, but if your manager is an **** then I with always leave that job in the end at it wouldn't be worth it!