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Greentea
Bull in China Shop par Excellence!
Joined: Jun 15, 2007
Posts: 2133
Location: Middle East
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 Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 12:31 pm Post subject: Job seekers' support thread |
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My heart goes out to all of you who are looking for a job right now.
I learned last week that I'm being fired and so I started looking for a job today.
It's hard to go back to the same stage I was in exactly a year ago, at home all day browsing ads, calling placement agencies to ask if there's anything new, going to interviews where they investigate every irrelevant detail of my work history, and how to explain all the jobs I've had in such a short time when they never heard (nor want to hear) about AS...
So...anyone else here looking for a job right now? Thought we might have our own thread for mutual support...
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"It is the wounded oyster that mends its shell with pearl" - Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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RustyShackleford
Velociraptor
Joined: Apr 22, 2008
Age: 28
Posts: 409
Location: Nottingham UK
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| Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 12:35 pm Post subject: |
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Snap! I am in exactly the same boat. Went for an interview at the university library but started stuttering and having mental blocks half way through. In retrospect I think trying to hold interviewer's eye contact a little too hard may have made me seem overly aggressive or just insane i'm not sure. If I don't force myself I end up looking at the floor though.
Good luck with the search. I am looking for others to apply for after I write this (or maybe after I go make some chocolate milk) |
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Greentea
Bull in China Shop par Excellence!
Joined: Jun 15, 2007
Posts: 2133
Location: Middle East
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| Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 12:42 pm Post subject: |
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Hi Rusty, nice to hear from you!
Sorry to hear this one didn't go so well.
How long have you been searching? This is my first day this year.
Í think I'll have some chocolate ice cream now, to reward myself for the first day of search. 
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"It is the wounded oyster that mends its shell with pearl" - Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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RustyShackleford
Velociraptor
Joined: Apr 22, 2008
Age: 28
Posts: 409
Location: Nottingham UK
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| Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 12:51 pm Post subject: |
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| I had a job in the fraud department of a credit card company for six months up until March. I quit that job, found another in the billing department of an energy company which I quit after a month. I then had a job mowing hillsides with industrial flail mowers which I quit after two weeks and a few very near misses. I don't know why I can't just keep a job (it's in the region of 26 jobs now I think) and equally I don't know how I keep finding people willing to hire me; one of life's mysteries. How bout you? |
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Greentea
Bull in China Shop par Excellence!
Joined: Jun 15, 2007
Posts: 2133
Location: Middle East
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| Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 1:03 pm Post subject: |
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Well, at least you quit, you don't get fired like me... And at least your jobs sound like interesting experiences each.
The longest I was ever able to hold down a job was 5 years. That ended 3 years ago. Since then I've alternated between: unemployed - working - fired - unemployed - working - fired.
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"It is the wounded oyster that mends its shell with pearl" - Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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RustyShackleford
Velociraptor
Joined: Apr 22, 2008
Age: 28
Posts: 409
Location: Nottingham UK
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| Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 1:29 pm Post subject: |
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| I have been fired a few times but more often then not I see trouble coming and quit before they get chance! I would have been fired if I stayed at the credit card company as a couple of months down the line they made 700 redundant from one site. I am afraid it seems to be an increasing trend at the moment in this country, I don't know about where you are. |
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sinsboldly
Free Range Aspie
Joined: Nov 22, 2006
Age: 57
Posts: 7517
Location: Oregon, USA
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| Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 12:19 pm Post subject: |
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the longest I have ever held the same job was almost three years. As I get older
I always try for a job where I can be lost in the pack, another cubicle in the maze, where if I have to take a day off I can be easily interchangeable for another doing my same job. I keep the statistics of adherence (no tardies, no un announced sick days, no slacking off at work) and my customer and computer skills at the top percentile. This holds me in good stead when I inadvertently exhibit my AS symptoms, (i.e. meltdowns, inappropriate actions, etc.) as I have proven my worth as a cog in their machine.
It doesn't always work, I suppose, but I just recently learned about my AS, and was working at the time. Learning about AS has helped me keep my head down and my guard up at work. I have told my empathetic supervisor and as I am a prized employee (for the reasons mentioned above) I have eight years until retirement and if I can hold out and just 'do time' I might actually have some thing to live on when they put me out to pasture.
At least I am doing my best to be able to have that happen.
good luck, all of you searchers! Just remember : you were looking for a job when you found your last one, so there is that next job out there!
Merle
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Greentea
Bull in China Shop par Excellence!
Joined: Jun 15, 2007
Posts: 2133
Location: Middle East
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| Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 12:31 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you, Merle. I too try to find jobs at big companies, to be as little in focus as possible. It didn't help this time, though. We are 1,000 employees, and even though I didn't think I'd behaved strangely much, I'm being fired.
I feel so different from absolutely everyone else in real life that if it weren't for you guys on WP, I'd already have gone crazy. I see the other girls, it's so easy for them to behave the normal way, I so envy them. They don't know how lucky they are. There's this girl in our dept., she's so bad at her work, but they're firing me, not her. She knows how to behave like a good sheep, so she gets to stay.
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"It is the wounded oyster that mends its shell with pearl" - Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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Greentea
Bull in China Shop par Excellence!
Joined: Jun 15, 2007
Posts: 2133
Location: Middle East
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barcncpt44
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Joined: Apr 18, 2007
Age: 22
Posts: 74
Location: Anniston, Alabama
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| Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 2:26 pm Post subject: |
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I have always had trouble finding a job, hardly anyone calls me back, and even lower chance i will get job, i got layed off in late janurary and been looking ever since.
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krex
Phoenix
Joined: Jun 21, 2006
Age: 44
Posts: 4973
Location: Village of the Damned
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| Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 2:52 pm Post subject: |
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I am holding my breath working a job that I hate but forcing myself to stay because I don't want to be homeless again or a burdan to my BF or family. I just don't know what other job to even apply for...everything I have done so far put my anxiety levels on over drive and I'm procrastinating going into try, because of past experiences with rejection, interview and driving anxiety. The evil you know is better then the evil you don't know ? I keep thinking I must have some strengths and there must be a job I could do well that doesn't stress me out but I just don't know what they are or how to get them.
Every time I have my days off from my job I say....this time, I wll get out and try and find a job but I look in the paper and everything sounds stressful, early morning hours, low pay, part-time, I would have to wear "real clothes", deal with violent people. It sounds absurd but I feel like I have PTSD from past jobs in social services but it's the only thing on my resume...I don't know what else to do. I did like manuel labor but my body feels like it is giving out...(I work as a janitor now and my joints always hurt). I worry about getting carpel tunnel like all of my sisters.
My brain hurts.
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nekowafer
Deinonychus
Joined: Jun 20, 2008
Age: 23
Posts: 351
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| Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 3:11 pm Post subject: |
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I just got fired from a retail job I'd held for 2 and a half years.. my manager hated me because of how I acted. She thought I was rude to our staff but really they just misunderstood my facial expressions. She thought I was stupid because my reactions were often not what she thought correct - and I tried to talk to her about possibly having AS but she just said that it's all in my head, and I can fix it.
Unfortunately I was in a high stress situation, for me, and things just got worse and worse.. I was assistant manager of a small mall store and there was really no way I could call out, ever, even if I desperately needed a break. I would sometimes come in and cry in the backroom before I could go out and work.
Then I got scammed and it was awful. I lost store money and that's why I was fired. I've been job hunting since this happened and already got a call back, but it's counter help at a pizza place and I think I'll have to answer phones.. I thought it would just be register work, which I can do, but apparently not. I'm considering turning it down because it terrifies me  I'd be working closely with a few people and I'm just not sure I can do it. |
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Greentea
Bull in China Shop par Excellence!
Joined: Jun 15, 2007
Posts: 2133
Location: Middle East
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| Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 3:28 pm Post subject: |
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Sounds like it was good riddance...
Are you guys holding out some for a more compatible job this time around? That's what I think I'll do this time. Maybe that'll give me more chances of holding down the job for longer...
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"It is the wounded oyster that mends its shell with pearl" - Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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krex
Phoenix
Joined: Jun 21, 2006
Age: 44
Posts: 4973
Location: Village of the Damned
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| Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 3:34 pm Post subject: |
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Nekowafer...Sorry to hear about your situation. Your manager is right....AS is all in your head but it is neurological and not psychological so a "fix" is not in our immediate future and the experts should really work on a fix for "NT" neurology first, since their are more of them causing social ills.
I would recommend against the counter job...you will not only be trying to run the cash register, take orders over the phone but also talk with the pizza makers AND the delivery people.....lots of auditory processing and multi-tasking. Have you considered applying for the delivery job instead, if you don't mind driving....? I also find working over nights helps alot as far as cutting down on social interaction and being able to work independently. 3rd shift tends to be more tollerant of "differences" because they are so desperate to fill the shifts and most of my co-workers have been "weirder" then me.
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nekowafer
Deinonychus
Joined: Jun 20, 2008
Age: 23
Posts: 351
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| Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 3:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Yeah, I think I'm gonna turn down the pizza place job and wait for something more compatible with me. I have enough money to pay rent and bills for at least the next month so I have that long to find something. I just can't deal with crap like that anymore, I need a job where my few skills are really appreciated. I'm a great organizer and I pay such close attention to detail, I just hope there's a job out there for me. |
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