Catherine Alexander, careers adviser here at the CS, shares 5 top tips on Asperger’s and careers
1. Ignore stereotypes and don’t believe the myths
If you look on the internet you’ll still find loads of autism/asperger’s stereotypes. People on the spectrum are all awesome at maths; don’t like people; can’t work in management or in teams; can only do IT jobs and really like working by themselves in a back room somewhere. Forget all of this!
People with Asperger’s Syndrome are just as varied in what they’re good at, how they like to work and the environment they want to work in as anyone else. Over the last 11 years as a Careers Adviser, I’ve known students with Asperger’s go into Law, Banking, Charities, Arts, Publishing, Academia, Teaching, Start-Ups, the Civil Service, Libraries, Horticulture, and so much more.
‘Teamwork’ is simply when you’ve worked on something with someone else
2. Work out what skills you have that you like using, as well as those that your Asperger’s gives you that other people might not have.
People with Asperger’s are often good at spotting patterns and trends. They can be great at bringing creative insights to a work problem simply because they see that problem from a slightly different perspective. A very logical and analytical way of approaching a task, close eye for detail, and honesty and integrity are all valued by employers. Obviously not all of these apply to all people with Asperger’s, or we’d be back to that stereotype!
Think about the actions of what you’ve done to help work out what your skills are. For example “degree” – this may well have involved research (qualitative and quantitative), analysis, decision making, written communication, problem solving, verbal communication (supervisions), working to deadlines under pressure.
Spend some time working out what you are good at, and what you can offer an employer. Ask people who know you well to help, if you find this hard.
Ask for interview questions to be clear and to the point, rather than open-ended and ambiguous
3. Don’t be afraid of the ‘T’ word
Teamwork is often something people with Asperger’s worry about – but try not to panic about it. Working in teams isn’t all about sitting in rooms with loads of people brainstorming madly. A team can be a team of two. ‘Teamwork’ is simply when you’ve worked on something with someone else.
4. Think about when you’ll talk about Asperger’s with employers, as well as reasonable adjustments you need to ask for
If you have Asperger’s and you don’t ask for the adjustments you need, you may well be rejected early on in the recruitment process. You are likely to be at a disadvantage as you may not be able to demonstrate your skills. Think about this well in advance and decide when is best for you to mention it and what you need to ask for. You might mention it at the application stage to highlight some of the skills and attributes that AS gives you that are useful in the role.
The biggest adjustment at both interview and in the workplace for anyone with Asperger’s is simply understanding. It doesn’t cost a penny. Once the interviewer knows that eye contact or shaking hands isn’t going to happen, they won’t expect it to. In the workplace you might sometimes not want to say hello in the morning, prefer not to gossip around the water cooler or simply won’t stop talking about something that really interests you… If they understand why, most colleagues will just accept that’s who you are and stop trying to encourage you to do these things!
Sometimes the way verbal/numerical/situational judgement tests are structured makes them harder, so you can ask to be assessed for the same skills in a different way.
Ask for interview questions to be clear and to the point, rather than open-ended and ambiguous (“Tell me about three skills/attributes you have that are relevant for this role?” instead of the rather vague “Tell me about yourself?”) – and let them know you will ask for clarification if the point of a question isn’t clear.
Many workplace’s reasonable adjustments for Asperger’s actually make life a lot clearer, simpler and easier for everyone! E.g.
- Clear, unambiguous instructions, given in writing, with a time-frame of what needs doing by when (people with Asperger’s often take things very literally and prefer written communication. Innuendo, hints, conflicting priorities and instructions by implication can be confusing, and therefore ignored)
- Clear LED lighting (no one likes a dim, flickering light)
5. Always ask for feedback if you aren’t successful
Everybody gets rejections. It is always disappointing, and it usually feels personal. Logically, if you have the skills to match the job description, why wouldn’t they give you the job?
If you aren’t successful you will be in the majority of nearly everyone who applied (except the one person who did get it).
Try not to assume that you were rejected because of your Asperger’s. Sometimes it’s just statistics – too many great applicants, and only one role. Or another applicant might have that little bit more relevant experience than you…
Persevere, work at it, and you will be successful
Always ask for feedback and use it as a constructive learning point. What could you do differently next time around? What skills or experiences might have been missing? How might you then get the work experience to fill those gaps?
If an employer says something broad and a little vague like “it was a strong field of candidates and there was someone else with more experience” then push, politely, for a bit more detail:“I’m still really interested in working for your organisation. What areas do you think I could work on for future applications?” Might it even be possible to get some work experience at that same firm?
Remember, there are people with Asperger’s working in all sorts of roles. They will all have experienced rejections getting to those jobs. Persevere, work at it, and you will be successful.