Job Search

Hi! What are your interests? What is meaningful to you? Maybe think about volunteering first in some area that you feel passionate about. Volunteering shows employers that you are serious about your area of interest and gives you some experience. There are now many jobs you can do from home. But are you looking for something that is remote but also people neutral, like would you be able to be part of a remote team who met on Zoom for example or do you need to work completely autonomously of a team. These are all things you could think about - passions and environment. Once you have those, you can begin to look around. There are also charities in the UK findable on Google that support people who have had mental health challenges (I don't know if this is still a part of your life, so just putting it out there) into work and help them stay in work. Good luck! 

Hello from America, Dee-Dee!

Is there anyone that can help you with the job search? Like a friend or family member? I ask because I’m an employment specialist and a big part of my job is helping people with disabilities in my area find jobs. Many of my clients would be totally unable to seek out jobs, let alone contact potential employers, without help. Some people who are ND just need a little more support finding a job, and that’s okay. If you can find someone who is willing to go with you to interviews, cold call local businesses to see if they are hiring, and etc., that could be a big improvement to your job search.

Hello Dee-Dee ,

Thank you for sharing this with the Community. It's great that you're considering looking for work, but understandable that you're feeling slightly overwhelmed. You might find it useful to have a look at our information on the NAS on Employment, which includes advice around how to find a job that suites you, support in gaining work experience, and ways in which you may be able to seek support and reasonable adjustments: 

Employment

How can I find a job thats right for me

Support to get work experience and find a job

What support can I get at work

I hope this helps your search.

All the best,

Chloe Mod

What A levels do you have? Are they technical, e.g. maths, physics, or arts, e.g. history, sociology?

Technical jobs are often easier to work in small groups or alone, with a lot of interaction in writing.

You problem at the moment is probably being confused about what any of the jobs are.

While jobs are harder to get at the moment, good people are still wanted. But a lot is through contacts as the impersonal job application process doesn't really work for either party anymore.

One challenge you may have is how to explain the gap from 18 to 26 in a way that won't scare people off. 

In terms of panic attacks I would think this would go after a week if the place is calm and quiet and the novelty has worn off, particularly if you had a mentor to help. My place has a number of ND people. Indeed most of the key people are or have traits. No one either can, or wants, to do my job.

We take on lots (c. 100) of interns in busy periods, with a few being kept each year. It's not super glamorous though.

Sign on at a job centre and ask them for help and advice.

Dee-Dee said:

Ideally, I'd like to work from home as travelling is very stressful to me

I think it best to offer a reality check here. If you have no track record of working in a field then there will be few roles of this nature that you could do without a lot of training and oversight that would normally only be performed at the company locations. If you have no significant skills that are hard to find elsewhere then competition will be very high from people with the skills and experience in the current job market.

I'm not saying this is impossible but it is highly unlikely - I didn't want you to get your hopes up.

The sort of thing I can think of that would suit your skills/experience level is an entry level job in a factory or warehouse where you have your own responsibilities that you are mostly left to get on with and so long as you meet your performance targets then you get little interference from your supervisor.

Do you drive and enjoy it? A courier type role could work although you do have human interaction at both collection and delivery points.

Maybe a lower paying role that requires very little could work - house sitter type positions have been mentioned here as a good way to also be independent although you will need to look after the place, keep it clean and live on your own if this is to work.

What we can suggest will be influenced by a few things overall - are you willing to improve your ability to cope with your stressers and are you willing to train yourself for new skills.

To endure a job you have to develop coping mechanisms, learn to interact with others and manage pressure to a degree. Without these the chances of you having only a succession of failed regular jobs is high. Finding a job that is suited to your limitations will help but there will always be a need to interact so in honesty it would be better to learn the skills sooner and give yourself a wider range of options to choose from.

Those of us who have jobs will tell you they are very rarely easy or nice. You learn to cope as best you can but the fact is you are selling yourself for money at the end of the day and the employer will expect a lot for that pay. They can get that service from a neurotypical with less hassle if they want so we have to be capable of operating on more or less the same level to be in with a chance to compete.

It is not all doom and gloom though - the money you do make can make a huge difference in quality of life so it helps to look at the benefits of an income as well as the costs to you.

It would depend on your qualifications but not necessarily either way you will probably need some sort of cv. And some idea of what you can do or want to do everyday.