Idea: build an AS job support network in Sydney/Australia?

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Hi there.

Would anyone be interested in starting a local Sydney/Australia employment support group for AS job seekers with different levels of insight and work experience. E.g. I'm good at some aspects of job seeking - such as cover letter and resume writing - but have little white collar work experience and don't know how to find the right jobs, predict which work environments would work (without being there), and obtain the kind of job know-how I need to get a job - that will last. I could contribute with the aspects I do well, and hopefully be able to benefit from others' insights and skills from different industries. For me, a mentor who understands both the job market, workplace environments, and common AS-related challenges would be invaluable.

Perhaps it would be possible to establish a permanent job support network of people with high functioning autism / Asperger's?

I am located in the West Sydney area. It is not looking good with my job seeking so far, and I feel like every one of the jobs I have applied for so far is likely to be a road to disaster. There isn't much to apply for, and it is hard to know whether I can cope with a particular work environment because the kind of information I need in order to evaluate it, isn't available in job ads because it is things that wouldn't bother normal people and which they wouldn't even notice.

The pool of jobs I can apply for is quite limited due to my issues with noise sensitivity, propensity to sensory overload, and subtle social difficulties (not visible at first glance). Many so called "easy", widely available jobs like customer service in noisy, fast paced environments are off limits due to e.g. frequent beeping (fast food), sensory overload (malls, inner city, department stores, supermarkets), and/or they are too social and fast paced therefore incredible stressing. I'm applying for "normal" white collar jobs now like research assistant, admin, coordinator et.c. I hope for luck with my applications of course, but am also terrified because of the high likelihood that I won't be able to cope with the sensory and/or social work environment, or be so exhausted all the time that I'll be pretty much brain dead at work or unable to focus, and will disappoint everyone, get sacked and be unable to pay my bills. (I think that's called "Catastrophising";-)

Some months ago I saw I a career counsellor who specialises in job seekers with Asperger's for a free introductory session to see if it was useful. She was very nice, but I couldn't really see how she'd be able to help me get a job. I have also tried a disability employment agency hoping they could help, but they seemed confused and puzzled that I even need help because I am well spoken, look OK and appear to have high qualifications, they sounded very doubtful they could help and didn't call back.

Please let me know if there is any interest for the idea of a local AS employment support network.

Thank you.

Anna

Hi Anna,

I'm currently living in Sydney. I have a super awesome dream job at the moment*, but it's so far outside the norm that my experiences would likely be completely useless to anyone else. So I don't know about a support group...

I'm probably on the spectrum, but have never been diagnosed. All I know for sure is that I'm extremely introverted, always nervous, and have never had (or wanted) any kind of social life.

Like you, I look great on paper. I have excellent academic qualifications. Had no trouble getting interviews. Any problems have always came later - at the interview or on the job. Open plan offices are hell for people like us. I don't have too many complaints about my career record, but I think I'd be 5 years further ahead if I had more of an NT personality.

* Lets see how long it lasts. The thing about interesting jobs is that you have to sacrifice something for them, because everyone else wants them too. So you end up moving from place to place, working ridiculous hours, dealing with high stress, low pay, low job security, or all of the above.

Hey Anna,

I think it's great that you're looking to start an AS support network.

I grew up and I used to live in Sydney, but I no longer do unfortunately - else I would definitely join.

I don't know how bad your sensory overload is, so I can't predict how this will affect your ability to cope in the office environment.

As for exhaustion and the inability to cope with the social environment - you're right, it will likely suck. However, it's unlikely to play out the same way as your catastrophe scenario. You will likely be in numerous situations which will stress you out, or which you may not know how to deal with, or where your colleagues will think you are odd or a bit off. You'll likely try hard and do okay in some areas, and do badly (but not unacceptably so) in others. Maybe your reviews at the start will be extremely mediocre or below average. It might feel that you are stagnating in your job, and that you simply aren't able to progress further or gain the respect of your peers. However, there are tonnes of worse qualities to have in a job than having Aspergers - having a bad or aggressive attitude, having a terrible work ethic, being argumentative etc. Likely, at worst, your colleagues will think you're okay and you can do the job, but will point out various areas that you need to work on. You'll probably seem to develop at a slow level compared to your peers.

However, eventually you'll start to cope with your weaknesses, both automatically and intentionally. You'll find ways to cope with your stress and sensitivity, both throughout the day and across the week. You'll learn how to act during key social situations and group engagements, and you'll learn how to brush off or laugh off any social missteps that you might make. Eventually, you'll get to the stage where your social skills and your energy level and your anxieties are no longer bad enough to overshadow your positives. I think after you reach this point, you can really start to develop yourself professionally - you'll no longer be significantly held back by your weaknesses and you can focus on promoting your positives.

The point of the story is: don't worry too much - you'll eventually make it.

Good luck with the AS network!

Hi NewRotIck.

Thank you for your reply! That sounds nice... What kind of industry is your awesome dream job in?

I don't actually looking that great on paper, because (trying to make a long story short:) I'm in my 40s and have had around 30 - 40 jobs in my lifetime, mostly menial, casual or short term jobs in different industries that don't relate to my education, I basically just took whatever I could get, which was generally unattractive jobs where casual labour was in high demand. I have had one office job, which lasted a few years. I have put together a presentable resume at a glance - it attempts to smooth out my fragmented work history by grouping job types with a few examples, leaving out most jobs and only describe a selected few in any details... but a sharp HR recruiter person's eye will probably see through that "smoothed out" facade, no matter how well it is done. As for cover letters, I'm good at writing them (based on the feedback I get), but there too there is only so much I can do to sound like the right person for the job, when my actual job history signals "employment difficulties". So I do have trouble getting to the interviews too, in addition to the other aspects of the job process - except the writing aspect in itself, I am good at that.

I agree about open plan offices - not working.

Hi Aspinnaker,

Thank you for your reply. Yes I'm hoping that something can come out of it. The idea is that since social networks are always touted as being important for finding job opportunities and getting industry or company know-how, and since most aspies (including myself) lack social networks, hey maybe it is possible to make a social network for that purpose. It doesn't need to be face to face - the point of it being a local network is potential sharing of knowledge of local organisations, services, business and perhaps social contacts. Local meaning greater metropolitan Sydney or something like that.

Is asking them if you can tour the office before you join an option? If they have already made you the offer, I definitely don't think this is unreasonable in the slightest (or even when you are in the process of interviewing for them). The negative about this is that they will start introducing you to people who work there - although I personally think this is painful but bearable, and that it is much better than the alternative of showing up to work and wanting to quit straight away because of the environment.

Also, actually asking if the work environment is relatively loud or quiet isn't that bad (I think). It's not just Aspies that like quiet working environments you know! There are plenty of people that would hate the environment you mentioned.

I think (although this might be an overgeneralization), that any division or company that requires significantly outside interaction would be inherently noisy and attract noisy people; while many (though not all) internally focused divisions or companies would be quieter and attract quieter people.

There are an increasing number of companies where everyone uses laptops and and will go to meetings rooms for calls, rather than have them at their desk. Usually anything longer than a quick question is done at a meeting room also - this means that almost everyone at their desk is usually just quietly working, while the discussions are all done in the meeting rooms. This is more common in technology (and related) companies, where the office is the source of internal product development and optimization (rather than say the factory, with the office having a co-coordinating function), and therefore external contact via phone is the exception rather than the norm.

Sounds awesome! I wish we could establish something like that here in Germany.

Hi Scott.

Thank you for your reply. I don't know... I don't detect a strong interest so far.

There is an employment councillor for Asperger's here in Sydney (~ at least one): Aspect Capable: http://autismspectrum.org.au/content/aspect-capable-employment-service run by Vicky Little under the Aspect Australia services umbrella. I've met with her once, and she seemed OK but said she doesn't have any contacts (employers) in my area, and it wasn't clear to me what she can offer beyond what I'm able to do myself (with no luck so far).

I've also tried a new disability service concept in Australia that started in 2014 (funded by the government), named Ability Links. It is a person-centred service that works with anyone who says they have a disability to help them achieve their goals, whatever they might be, making their community networks and knowledge available. They are much more flexible than traditional disability services, work outside the system supplementing the system, and don't require people to go through the usual bureaucratic procedures - although they'll link the clients into the conventional disability services if that's most relevant, and if not they'll use their own networks to help the person. The service is free - all one needs to do is call, and they'll come and meet the person where ever it is most convenient to the client, factoring in that some people may have trouble with transport. That's a pretty awesome concept.

In my case, they thought what was most relevant was to hook me up with a conventional disability employment agency, so that's where I am now - in the early stages of that process, equal parts intimidated and hopeful.

I'd still very much like to have a local aspie employment group, where people could help each other with aspie-relevant company information, mentoring and perhaps even some contacts. Such a group wouldn't be really useful until reaching a critical mass, since the probability of people being in industries that are relevant to each other is very small initially, when it is just a few people. It would be good to start though, and gradually build up a work-orientated safe-space kind of network, which eventually could end up being very useful.

What it shouldn't be about: complaining about neurotypicals and "who feels this way too" kind of updates... That would be useless. It should be about opportunities, information and skills - constructive.