The Job Search Process

[RetiredDinner]

I have no idea what either entails, but I do know that they are both highly competitive. Programmers are so common, that they do not command high wages anymore. Children start learning “programming” in kindergarten! I don’t even know what that is, LOL!

I know, that's why I'm trying to choose. My honest dream job would either be a programmer from home, perhaps a freelancer, or a systems administrator and program during my free hours (and a contract not signing off my work to the company if I ever do program something succesful).

 

[GrownupGirl]

The fact that there are virtually no jobs where I live. My brother, all my cousins that I grew up with, they all had to move at least halfway across the country to find work. I didn't have that privilege. I never even learned to drive a car, and I had to move out of my parent's and into a group home for chronically mentally ill people who couldn't live on their own when I was 21. Just trying to cope with that was enough of a job that had no payment, vacation or sick days. If I had been diagnosed with Asperger's before then maybe things would have been different... and a lot better. But it was 1995 and most people still knew zero about it.

 

[Aeolienne]

Now the rules for interviewing are different.

Different to what?

Prepare yourself for three different types of job interviews. Find out how.

Ah, the STAR method. If I had a pound for the number of times I've been informed of that acronym I'd be able to pay off my mortgage by now. Seriously, the problem I have with this is that even when I can think of a Situation-Task-Action from the past that fits the competency, I'm often hard put to say anything about a Result. Too many of the projects I've been involved in just fizzled out or I got moved on to something else without seeing it through to fruition, so I honestly don't know about the result or had no responsibility for it. I once raised this predicament with an interview skills workshop facilitator (who was employed by Mencap, of all things), and all he had to say in response was "You should know! Work it out for yourself!" Charming.

My other bugbear is speculative applications. Although I can handle most instances of metaphors and sarcasm (in case you hadn't already noticed) this is the one area of my life where an Aspergian literal mindset raises its ugly head. I find it very hard to identify a role for myself within a company in the absence of a specific job description to compare myself against. Essentially my speculative applications amount to: "I really admire what you do. Can you fit me in somewhere?" This problem seems especially pertinent right now as I visited Exeter (where I used to live) last week - staying in a hotel, as there's a tenant in my flat - and I was reflecting wistfully on how much easier things would be if I could land a job there because that would resolve my current financial woes in one fell swoop.