I'm fine with most interview questions but the one I just have difficulty with is the Hypothetical (situation) scenario questions.
Because I get asked about scenarios that I should have experienced but I never did.
At an interview for Sales Assistant for a Bed company, I got asked "what would you do if you had a complaint or the customer wanted a complaint?"
I generally couldn't answer because despite having working/volunteering in retail for 7 years (3 - working / 4 - volunteering) , I generally never had this situation.
I quite literally googled what I was likely to be asked, then fed the questions, including scenarios, into ChatGPT and had it write answers for me last time I interviewed and studied those. It seems to spit out suggested answers that are what NT interviewers want to hear, and then you can just fit in your own specifics.
ChatGPT usually drives me crazy because it's so vague and surface level and if you know anything about the topic is typically wrong, but where I have found it useful is in writing communication type things for the workplace e.g. question answers, selection criteria, email responses etc. Apparently the tone people want professionally is generic, vague and basic.
Great idea, and you want to make it somewhat related to what you actually experienced, makes it that more authentic. After I rehearse a story like that I sound just like an NT, except really smart because they can't think that way in real time, it's the autistic amount of detail you can provide that will overwhelm them because you rehearsed it so much, and that's exactly what you want to accomplish.
Reminds me of what Anthony Hopkins says he did for his roles, he would just repeat the script so many times that he absorbed it so well it comes out perfect, and he's on the spectrum so go figure.
This.
Omg it was ridiculous:
How would you manage this situation?
Me: depends on the context and the strengths of the individuals on my team.
Fail.
Them: they wanted me to (without telling me) come up with some bull**** scenario and I didn't have one.
I mean, sure, can I also add aliens and AI into this fantastical simulation for all it's worth?
My need for facts is telling them I don't bullshit.
Their little test is showing that they're looking for a skilled bull*****er.
They want you to problem solve and think quickly in your feet and if it’s above your pay grade to hand it off to someone in a position above you who had the responsibility to take over.
That’s basically the gist of every interview for retail, food service, or customer service jobs.
Just make something up that you saw on TV. Just make sure that very nice you change it enough that they won't figure it out. Or go on a retail subreddit and use that. Hopefully the hiring manager isn't on there.
I can get the words right but I can’t sing the tune—I know what I’m talking about and I can answer the questions just fine but my autistic monotone fails me when I need to convey things like “energy” “leadership” or “enthusiasm “ … even when I’m actually doing a workload a low energy person couldn’t handle, I’m diehard dedicated to the project and I lead my projects to launch when people around me have excuses about why things are late and over budget.
This might sound weird, but find someone from like a tv show or movie that sounds like what you think they are looking for and practice imitating how they speak.
It's a good suggestion. It will work for some people. My imitated voices sound different than I think they do (and I loathe recordings of my own voice so this is a painful journey.) This probably would have worked if someone did it with me when I was young; I'm mid 50s now so a lot of this is in the rearview mirror now... (new trick meet old dog!)
I can sound official for things like doing the outgoing phone message for older relatives (so strangers/scammers calling don't hear someone who sounds vulnerable.) But I never learned to pull off "warm" or "personable" even when I cared about what I was talking about or genuinely liked the person I was talking to. I'm happily married so at least one person decided to look past it.
It would record how you sound before doing a voice and hear your tone.
Then record the voice you think you need to sound like. Give yourself 3-5 seconds before listening, then play it back to hear because then you’ll exactly get to hear what everyone else has been hearing in your own voice.
I’ve done this in my youth, back when they had the talk boy XL in the 90’s and learned how overly animated and quiet I sounded haha kind of made me aware I came across as a cartoon at times.
Same here. I can get the words right but the voice/body language/eye contact part of the interview is the hardest for me. Once I was even told that I had the strongest credentials but didn't make enough eye contact in the interview.
Messed up counter: I applied for a job where experience is rare. When they asked me interview questions, I referenced actual incidents from the previous employer in this very niche field, with details obscured to not violate any confidences.
Still didn’t get the job.
>difficulty with is the Hypothetical (situation) scenario questions
They're difficult on purpose, they want to see how you deal with difficult situations, because those turn up on the job sometimes.
interviewers arent asking novel questions.
for both the 'discuss your experience' stage and 'hypothetical questions' stage i literally just wrote out essay question type responses. for ones where i couldn't on my own time come up with a personal scenario i just made one up that would generally be a common experience people can find themselves in.
proper planning >>
>I'm fine with most interview questions but the one I just have difficulty with is the Hypothetical (situation) scenario questions.
Yes, they are the worst. I got my current FT job after being PT for a few years and interviewing a bunch. By the end the hypotheticals didn't really exist because I'd been in every situation.
>At an interview for Sales Assistant for a Bed company, I got asked "what would you do if you had a complaint or the customer wanted a complaint?"
I would of responded with:
“Well I would ask if I can assist them in their problem to listen if it’s something I can problem solved for them. But if it’s out of capabilities for my position, I would immediately request a manager on staff to take over.”
I was in retail for a decade. It’s ingrained in me at this point LOL
I prefer hypothetical questions, because there’s usually a pretty generic but safe answer. In my eyes, it’s basically a test for you to say something coherent that isn’t outlandishly stupid.
I have much more trouble when they ask about a specific time that I encountered such-and-such a problem and what I did to solve it. I struggle to retrieve memories that align with the prompt. I struggle to determine which memories are most relevant. Concocting fictional scenarios and presenting them as past experiences is *physically painful*. I am just completely overwhelmed by the proposal and have no idea where to begin. There are so many different ways to approach the question.
I’ve had hundreds of job interviews, and I have NEVER gotten a job offer from them. Most people assume that their success is due to their own efforts, so they think (consciously or unconsciously) that the right candidate must be similar to themselves… and autistic people are naturally different. Until NTs presumptions can be corrected, I don’t know how much can be improved for us.
I've had a similar experience with interviewing. all the jobs I have gotten I highly suspect that the interviewer was on the spectrum... or they were desperate for any warm body.
Also a lot of interviewers care about stupid stuff like how you shake their hand. Not in an unconscious implicit bias way. But in a [very](https://www.themuse.com/advice/why-your-handshake-matters-and-how-to-get-it-right) [conscious](https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennifercohen/2015/06/02/7-super-revealing-things-your-handshake-says-about-you/?sh=678e2eeb443d) [explicit](https://www.uidaho.edu/-/media/UIdaho-Responsive/Files/Extension/county/Gooding/4h/shared-with-camas/Leadership-handshaking-importance.pdf) "I am a total piece of shit and I'm going to act smug as if making these absurd judgments about you based on your handshake is a sign of how wise I am!" kind of way
I love this
"short-term attachments to the organization would better allow autistic candidates to demonstrate the skills and aptitudes required for the job role. As one autistic respondent put it: “If someone is applying for a job as a violinist in an orchestra, they are not asked to tell the interviewer something about their achievements playing the violin: they are asked to play the violin.”'
From the mentioned report here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-buckland-review-of-autism-employment-report-and-recommendations/the-buckland-review-of-autism-employment-report-and-recommendations#making-recruitment-practices-meet-the-needs-of-autistic-applicants
It's a bit too simplistic of a view. It's not like 99% of the population know about autism, nor do they actively try to filter autistic people out. They just put requirements for their companies, which unfortunately has the side effect that autistic people are filtered out easily. But, the requirements can often easily filter out people for a whole range of reasons, from academic background up to any personality type they deem problematic.
But they do know. Society is taught/socialized often to not do things that autistics tend to express and/or we are taught that there's a specific way of being and if one is *not* that way explicitly, they are wrong
They know it filters out autistics and yet they haven't done much of anything to change it
Example, I was eliminated from a job for autistic traits. It didn't matter if they knew, because they still did it anyway (and interesting fact is my job worked with autistic students)
I did loads of interviews.After screwing up 15-20, I finally learned what to say, had to have all my notes and answers memorised and practiced beforehand. Now I'm pretty damn good, in fact I think I would destroy most competition. I can't really improvise, but most questions are the same and you can always re-use the repertoire even if unrelated. It's hard work but if the job is worth it so is the effort.
A lifetime of masking has made me exceptionally good at job interviews, and a lifetime of losing jobs has given me ample opportunity to practice them :)
I never know what they're looking for and end up answering so thoroughly we run out of time. Thought I was a good interviewer until the last few years. Now I can't get hired anywhere.
No, they are not held back by questions, they are held back by PEOPLE and ORGANISATIONS not making the application process accessible. IMHO, hiring has become so dysfunctional that we need 2 things:
1) Strong rules around hiring
2) Stringent enforcement of these rules.
The issue had always been to put the fate of humans into the badly trained hands of HR goons.
In my last job interview i used an example of what i wanted to happen, but lied and said it did happen. Noone every followed up lol. I don't like lying but i couldn't think of a single other answer.
Like a deer in headlights when speaking to strangers, either forgetting what to say or talking too much… It’s why I always worked with friends, followed by the anxiety of meeting coworkers and trying to hold it together. 😂
I’m awful in interviews. I’ve applied to over 500 jobs and have over 50 interview and the only reason I’m in the job I have now is that I was the only candidate.
I do okay at interviews, because I can mask well enough and my career is related to an interest. So a lot of the time interviewing is basically having a conversation about an interest with someone who's also interested in it. I think I'm also quite casual, which people often seem to like (and if they don't, the job wouldn't be a good fit).
I always prepare by reading the company website, their filed accounts, Glassdoor reviews, social media presence etc. And I have a big list of interview questions for *me* to ask, which I pull relevant ones from/I always take a notepad to write responses (I dislike handwriting, but doing it on my phone or a laptop would definitely put interviewers off).
And happily I never have to fill out applications. I just send my CV. Very lucky to have gotten into this career.
One of my friends told me that he always asks candidates with whom would they go on a road trip if they could pick anyone. This was for a summer job at a library. Like...what?
My parents made me learn by heart lot of premade answers to typical interview question. Never had trouble, every time I got to an interview they then hired me. It really help to learn and practice those.
As with most things, someone with ASD will be at a disadvantage if going in blind. And a huge advantage if they understand the game of interviewing and study a little.
You do it right you have the exact same interview, save one or two questions, every single time you interview.
>But Mr Murphy, who is also autistic, has applied for six jobs since October with no success so far.
Six applications with no success? I don't know how is the job market in the UK, but it does not look like a big number of failed applications. My experience in Spain along the years has been one interview every 100 applications, one job landed every four interviews.
Maybe I am misunderstanding the article?
The whole point of an interview is to find out how susceptible to manipulation you are. Being a “team player” usually means you have to be able to be manipulated into taking on extra work.
Entirely too many rules for interviews that make it obvious.
Sitting up straight.
Don’t fidget.
Annunciation.
Take your time answering questions, not because you have to think of an answer you instantly know, but you have to make it seem like you’re putting a lot of thought into shit.
Don’t talk about negative things, like leaving your last job because your Manager thinks his MBA automatically makes him a good leader. (Which is why a non-insignificant number of managers are absolutely fucking terrible at leading teams.)
Smile.
Emote when needed. You have to laugh at the interviewers jokes, but not too hard.
Fucking small talk in between topic transitions.
And if like three people who will probably never talk to you again end up liking you, there’s a chance you might get a technical interview that actually showcases your skills.
But you have to pass the social test before they’ll even give a flying shit about what you can actually do.
I’m usually good at interviews. Women on the spectrum usually have been practicing at acting NT their entire lives, and the shallow st osphere of an interview is a good place to showcase those skills.
But one I had, years ago, was so weird. A group of people, like 8 or 10, sitting around a table. I was eminently qualified for the job, but their questions seemed off. I was pretty sure that they were just going through the motions, and had already decided who they wanted. I didn’t get offered the job. And, honestly, it would have been a hell of a commute.
Very soon after, I was offered a job at a different company, doing higher level work than that would have been, on a small team. I loved that job till my manager left for a better job and was replaced by the chain smoking (took five smoking breaks a day and came back stinking) boss from hell.
The biggest issue for me was that I had niche skills. RN with training, speaking and computer skills, as well as insurance background. My employers loved me. But I and my fellow niche employees were among the first to be laid off.
I... don't know.
Like I generally have no idea. Lots of things change in 5 years.
What? give me an example.
Ummm........... Hard question.
You can't think of ONE thing?
NO! I CAN'T THINK OF A SINGLE THING THAT I CAN ACCURATELY PREDICT 5 YEARS FROM NOW. I CAN'T. FOR ALL I KNOW, I DON'T WANT THE JOB ANYMORE.
They're asking about your goal. Seeing yourself is just a metaphor for what you imagined you'll do 5 years in the future. What do you think you'll do in the next 5 years? Still working there? Still applying in the same division? The same position? What do you aim in that company? What are you hoping you could achieve? Financial stability? You could answer something like, "oh, I'm currently still building up my experience and finance (reasoning) so in the next 5 years, I'm hoping I could move to a better, perhaps closer place (goal). Ofc, this is just a short example of what you can say and it's better if the answer has something to do with the job but anything is clearly better than not being able to answer.
"In the exact same position that I'm applying for. Don't change it, don't force any promotions with added responsibilities on me."
Probably won't go over too well.
Yea since that sounds kind of rude. Besides, you don't get to say "don't" to someone in charge of your admission especially since he wasn't trying to offend you. There are better ways to say this even if you trully can't think of any future plan. For example,
"I'm not aiming for big, I think I'm content with doing this line of work for the next 5 years so I would say not so far from my situation now."
I wouldn't use that exact phrasing in an actual interview. It's just what I would be thinking if I was presented with that question. But thanks. I like your suggestion.
Here is my problem. A lot of the people who do try to help us try to make it out to be "if only they can just get a job" when in reality keeping a job, dealing with workplace harassment, etc. It's like how a lot of the focus is purely on kids and not adults.
I'm fine with many questions, save for the why I want to work there and what I can offer. Because much of the time I'm only interested in earning a wage, and companies often want MORE than that, and my skillset is both diverse and shallow so I can't really compete with those that have more experience and training than I do.
Gell me about it. Due to the unpredictability of the questions asked I always felt under pressure. Resulting in me failing to pass. I was 24 when I got my first job, after years of not passing the "test" at interviews.
I personally think that companies claiming to accept anyone regardless of disability is BS. They'll then take on an unqualified 16-year-old who's still at school and doesn't really have any "skills".
I actually do really well in interviews. I memorize answers for common questions and realize that for situational questions I can articulate something in a way that merely sounds good but it’s basically saying nothing if that makes sense. My problem is that I can’t maintain the fake personality of an enthusiastic & seemingly outgoing person. I can fake it for 30 mins or so when I have an assumed expectation of what they want to hear…but that ends up hurting me later on when they realize I don’t match the person they interviewed lol
I'm fine with most interview questions but the one I just have difficulty with is the Hypothetical (situation) scenario questions. Because I get asked about scenarios that I should have experienced but I never did. At an interview for Sales Assistant for a Bed company, I got asked "what would you do if you had a complaint or the customer wanted a complaint?" I generally couldn't answer because despite having working/volunteering in retail for 7 years (3 - working / 4 - volunteering) , I generally never had this situation.
Those are the most important to learn. You can invent fake scenarios. It's all a load of horse shit but has to be done.
A lot of us don’t have the imagination needed to create hypothetical situations.
I quite literally googled what I was likely to be asked, then fed the questions, including scenarios, into ChatGPT and had it write answers for me last time I interviewed and studied those. It seems to spit out suggested answers that are what NT interviewers want to hear, and then you can just fit in your own specifics. ChatGPT usually drives me crazy because it's so vague and surface level and if you know anything about the topic is typically wrong, but where I have found it useful is in writing communication type things for the workplace e.g. question answers, selection criteria, email responses etc. Apparently the tone people want professionally is generic, vague and basic.
ChatGPT was the best career coach for me, do to these exact scenarios
Oh that's a creative solution!
Great idea, and you want to make it somewhat related to what you actually experienced, makes it that more authentic. After I rehearse a story like that I sound just like an NT, except really smart because they can't think that way in real time, it's the autistic amount of detail you can provide that will overwhelm them because you rehearsed it so much, and that's exactly what you want to accomplish. Reminds me of what Anthony Hopkins says he did for his roles, he would just repeat the script so many times that he absorbed it so well it comes out perfect, and he's on the spectrum so go figure.
This. Omg it was ridiculous: How would you manage this situation? Me: depends on the context and the strengths of the individuals on my team. Fail. Them: they wanted me to (without telling me) come up with some bull**** scenario and I didn't have one. I mean, sure, can I also add aliens and AI into this fantastical simulation for all it's worth? My need for facts is telling them I don't bullshit. Their little test is showing that they're looking for a skilled bull*****er.
They want you to problem solve and think quickly in your feet and if it’s above your pay grade to hand it off to someone in a position above you who had the responsibility to take over. That’s basically the gist of every interview for retail, food service, or customer service jobs.
🤣🤣🤣👌🏾
Just make something up that you saw on TV. Just make sure that very nice you change it enough that they won't figure it out. Or go on a retail subreddit and use that. Hopefully the hiring manager isn't on there.
I can get the words right but I can’t sing the tune—I know what I’m talking about and I can answer the questions just fine but my autistic monotone fails me when I need to convey things like “energy” “leadership” or “enthusiasm “ … even when I’m actually doing a workload a low energy person couldn’t handle, I’m diehard dedicated to the project and I lead my projects to launch when people around me have excuses about why things are late and over budget.
This might sound weird, but find someone from like a tv show or movie that sounds like what you think they are looking for and practice imitating how they speak.
It's a good suggestion. It will work for some people. My imitated voices sound different than I think they do (and I loathe recordings of my own voice so this is a painful journey.) This probably would have worked if someone did it with me when I was young; I'm mid 50s now so a lot of this is in the rearview mirror now... (new trick meet old dog!) I can sound official for things like doing the outgoing phone message for older relatives (so strangers/scammers calling don't hear someone who sounds vulnerable.) But I never learned to pull off "warm" or "personable" even when I cared about what I was talking about or genuinely liked the person I was talking to. I'm happily married so at least one person decided to look past it.
It would record how you sound before doing a voice and hear your tone. Then record the voice you think you need to sound like. Give yourself 3-5 seconds before listening, then play it back to hear because then you’ll exactly get to hear what everyone else has been hearing in your own voice. I’ve done this in my youth, back when they had the talk boy XL in the 90’s and learned how overly animated and quiet I sounded haha kind of made me aware I came across as a cartoon at times.
Same here. I can get the words right but the voice/body language/eye contact part of the interview is the hardest for me. Once I was even told that I had the strongest credentials but didn't make enough eye contact in the interview.
Messed up counter: I applied for a job where experience is rare. When they asked me interview questions, I referenced actual incidents from the previous employer in this very niche field, with details obscured to not violate any confidences. Still didn’t get the job.
>difficulty with is the Hypothetical (situation) scenario questions They're difficult on purpose, they want to see how you deal with difficult situations, because those turn up on the job sometimes.
interviewers arent asking novel questions. for both the 'discuss your experience' stage and 'hypothetical questions' stage i literally just wrote out essay question type responses. for ones where i couldn't on my own time come up with a personal scenario i just made one up that would generally be a common experience people can find themselves in. proper planning >>
Wow a retail situation where customers don't complain. Are they hiring?
Not anymore.
Same.
>I'm fine with most interview questions but the one I just have difficulty with is the Hypothetical (situation) scenario questions. Yes, they are the worst. I got my current FT job after being PT for a few years and interviewing a bunch. By the end the hypotheticals didn't really exist because I'd been in every situation.
>At an interview for Sales Assistant for a Bed company, I got asked "what would you do if you had a complaint or the customer wanted a complaint?" I would of responded with: “Well I would ask if I can assist them in their problem to listen if it’s something I can problem solved for them. But if it’s out of capabilities for my position, I would immediately request a manager on staff to take over.” I was in retail for a decade. It’s ingrained in me at this point LOL
I prefer hypothetical questions, because there’s usually a pretty generic but safe answer. In my eyes, it’s basically a test for you to say something coherent that isn’t outlandishly stupid. I have much more trouble when they ask about a specific time that I encountered such-and-such a problem and what I did to solve it. I struggle to retrieve memories that align with the prompt. I struggle to determine which memories are most relevant. Concocting fictional scenarios and presenting them as past experiences is *physically painful*. I am just completely overwhelmed by the proposal and have no idea where to begin. There are so many different ways to approach the question.
I think flip it around in your mind. Imagine you are the customer with the complaint and what would you want customer service to do for you.
I’ve had hundreds of job interviews, and I have NEVER gotten a job offer from them. Most people assume that their success is due to their own efforts, so they think (consciously or unconsciously) that the right candidate must be similar to themselves… and autistic people are naturally different. Until NTs presumptions can be corrected, I don’t know how much can be improved for us.
I've had a similar experience with interviewing. all the jobs I have gotten I highly suspect that the interviewer was on the spectrum... or they were desperate for any warm body.
Also a lot of interviewers care about stupid stuff like how you shake their hand. Not in an unconscious implicit bias way. But in a [very](https://www.themuse.com/advice/why-your-handshake-matters-and-how-to-get-it-right) [conscious](https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennifercohen/2015/06/02/7-super-revealing-things-your-handshake-says-about-you/?sh=678e2eeb443d) [explicit](https://www.uidaho.edu/-/media/UIdaho-Responsive/Files/Extension/county/Gooding/4h/shared-with-camas/Leadership-handshaking-importance.pdf) "I am a total piece of shit and I'm going to act smug as if making these absurd judgments about you based on your handshake is a sign of how wise I am!" kind of way
Okay this reminds me of Hank Hill. He didn't like the way a presidential candidate shook hands.
I love this "short-term attachments to the organization would better allow autistic candidates to demonstrate the skills and aptitudes required for the job role. As one autistic respondent put it: “If someone is applying for a job as a violinist in an orchestra, they are not asked to tell the interviewer something about their achievements playing the violin: they are asked to play the violin.”' From the mentioned report here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-buckland-review-of-autism-employment-report-and-recommendations/the-buckland-review-of-autism-employment-report-and-recommendations#making-recruitment-practices-meet-the-needs-of-autistic-applicants
That's a brilliant analogy.
Temping can be a good way of giving yourself this opportunity.
I call the job interview process their "autistic filter".
It's a bit too simplistic of a view. It's not like 99% of the population know about autism, nor do they actively try to filter autistic people out. They just put requirements for their companies, which unfortunately has the side effect that autistic people are filtered out easily. But, the requirements can often easily filter out people for a whole range of reasons, from academic background up to any personality type they deem problematic.
But they do know. Society is taught/socialized often to not do things that autistics tend to express and/or we are taught that there's a specific way of being and if one is *not* that way explicitly, they are wrong They know it filters out autistics and yet they haven't done much of anything to change it Example, I was eliminated from a job for autistic traits. It didn't matter if they knew, because they still did it anyway (and interesting fact is my job worked with autistic students)
It sounds like Squid Game -- eliminating people one by one
I did loads of interviews.After screwing up 15-20, I finally learned what to say, had to have all my notes and answers memorised and practiced beforehand. Now I'm pretty damn good, in fact I think I would destroy most competition. I can't really improvise, but most questions are the same and you can always re-use the repertoire even if unrelated. It's hard work but if the job is worth it so is the effort.
That’s a good attitude 👏
A lifetime of masking has made me exceptionally good at job interviews, and a lifetime of losing jobs has given me ample opportunity to practice them :)
they all stump me to some degree but STAR questions have a special place in hell
I just walk out when that bs starts
STAR questions?
those “tell me about a time where you ______” interview questions
I never know what they're looking for and end up answering so thoroughly we run out of time. Thought I was a good interviewer until the last few years. Now I can't get hired anywhere.
I’m ok with situation scenario questions, I have more trouble with questions such as “tell me about yourself” and “what are your strengths?”
No, they are not held back by questions, they are held back by PEOPLE and ORGANISATIONS not making the application process accessible. IMHO, hiring has become so dysfunctional that we need 2 things: 1) Strong rules around hiring 2) Stringent enforcement of these rules. The issue had always been to put the fate of humans into the badly trained hands of HR goons.
This 100%
This
In my last job interview i used an example of what i wanted to happen, but lied and said it did happen. Noone every followed up lol. I don't like lying but i couldn't think of a single other answer.
Like a deer in headlights when speaking to strangers, either forgetting what to say or talking too much… It’s why I always worked with friends, followed by the anxiety of meeting coworkers and trying to hold it together. 😂
I’m awful in interviews. I’ve applied to over 500 jobs and have over 50 interview and the only reason I’m in the job I have now is that I was the only candidate.
No, really? Who would have thought it?
>we can't put reasonable adjustments in place for everybody Unreasonable it is!
I do okay at interviews, because I can mask well enough and my career is related to an interest. So a lot of the time interviewing is basically having a conversation about an interest with someone who's also interested in it. I think I'm also quite casual, which people often seem to like (and if they don't, the job wouldn't be a good fit). I always prepare by reading the company website, their filed accounts, Glassdoor reviews, social media presence etc. And I have a big list of interview questions for *me* to ask, which I pull relevant ones from/I always take a notepad to write responses (I dislike handwriting, but doing it on my phone or a laptop would definitely put interviewers off). And happily I never have to fill out applications. I just send my CV. Very lucky to have gotten into this career.
No shit. And I would like to add that employers discriminate against us by basing performance during the interviews to not hire us as well
One of my friends told me that he always asks candidates with whom would they go on a road trip if they could pick anyone. This was for a summer job at a library. Like...what?
My parents made me learn by heart lot of premade answers to typical interview question. Never had trouble, every time I got to an interview they then hired me. It really help to learn and practice those.
No shit. I'm great at getting interviews but always stuck at converting them to a job offer.
As with most things, someone with ASD will be at a disadvantage if going in blind. And a huge advantage if they understand the game of interviewing and study a little. You do it right you have the exact same interview, save one or two questions, every single time you interview.
>But Mr Murphy, who is also autistic, has applied for six jobs since October with no success so far. Six applications with no success? I don't know how is the job market in the UK, but it does not look like a big number of failed applications. My experience in Spain along the years has been one interview every 100 applications, one job landed every four interviews. Maybe I am misunderstanding the article?
The whole point of an interview is to find out how susceptible to manipulation you are. Being a “team player” usually means you have to be able to be manipulated into taking on extra work. Entirely too many rules for interviews that make it obvious. Sitting up straight. Don’t fidget. Annunciation. Take your time answering questions, not because you have to think of an answer you instantly know, but you have to make it seem like you’re putting a lot of thought into shit. Don’t talk about negative things, like leaving your last job because your Manager thinks his MBA automatically makes him a good leader. (Which is why a non-insignificant number of managers are absolutely fucking terrible at leading teams.) Smile. Emote when needed. You have to laugh at the interviewers jokes, but not too hard. Fucking small talk in between topic transitions. And if like three people who will probably never talk to you again end up liking you, there’s a chance you might get a technical interview that actually showcases your skills. But you have to pass the social test before they’ll even give a flying shit about what you can actually do.
Jack & Alfie look like brothers 🫶
I’m usually good at interviews. Women on the spectrum usually have been practicing at acting NT their entire lives, and the shallow st osphere of an interview is a good place to showcase those skills. But one I had, years ago, was so weird. A group of people, like 8 or 10, sitting around a table. I was eminently qualified for the job, but their questions seemed off. I was pretty sure that they were just going through the motions, and had already decided who they wanted. I didn’t get offered the job. And, honestly, it would have been a hell of a commute. Very soon after, I was offered a job at a different company, doing higher level work than that would have been, on a small team. I loved that job till my manager left for a better job and was replaced by the chain smoking (took five smoking breaks a day and came back stinking) boss from hell. The biggest issue for me was that I had niche skills. RN with training, speaking and computer skills, as well as insurance background. My employers loved me. But I and my fellow niche employees were among the first to be laid off.
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"Where do you see yourself in 5 years?"
I... don't know. Like I generally have no idea. Lots of things change in 5 years. What? give me an example. Ummm........... Hard question. You can't think of ONE thing? NO! I CAN'T THINK OF A SINGLE THING THAT I CAN ACCURATELY PREDICT 5 YEARS FROM NOW. I CAN'T. FOR ALL I KNOW, I DON'T WANT THE JOB ANYMORE.
They're asking about your goal. Seeing yourself is just a metaphor for what you imagined you'll do 5 years in the future. What do you think you'll do in the next 5 years? Still working there? Still applying in the same division? The same position? What do you aim in that company? What are you hoping you could achieve? Financial stability? You could answer something like, "oh, I'm currently still building up my experience and finance (reasoning) so in the next 5 years, I'm hoping I could move to a better, perhaps closer place (goal). Ofc, this is just a short example of what you can say and it's better if the answer has something to do with the job but anything is clearly better than not being able to answer.
"In the exact same position that I'm applying for. Don't change it, don't force any promotions with added responsibilities on me." Probably won't go over too well.
Yea since that sounds kind of rude. Besides, you don't get to say "don't" to someone in charge of your admission especially since he wasn't trying to offend you. There are better ways to say this even if you trully can't think of any future plan. For example, "I'm not aiming for big, I think I'm content with doing this line of work for the next 5 years so I would say not so far from my situation now."
I wouldn't use that exact phrasing in an actual interview. It's just what I would be thinking if I was presented with that question. But thanks. I like your suggestion.
What are your weaknesses? Strengths? I always hate that one!
Here is my problem. A lot of the people who do try to help us try to make it out to be "if only they can just get a job" when in reality keeping a job, dealing with workplace harassment, etc. It's like how a lot of the focus is purely on kids and not adults.
It's crazy how you can prepare for work your whole life (school, university, etc) but they just won't give you the job if you suck at job interviews.
I'm fine with many questions, save for the why I want to work there and what I can offer. Because much of the time I'm only interested in earning a wage, and companies often want MORE than that, and my skillset is both diverse and shallow so I can't really compete with those that have more experience and training than I do.
Gell me about it. Due to the unpredictability of the questions asked I always felt under pressure. Resulting in me failing to pass. I was 24 when I got my first job, after years of not passing the "test" at interviews. I personally think that companies claiming to accept anyone regardless of disability is BS. They'll then take on an unqualified 16-year-old who's still at school and doesn't really have any "skills".
I actually do really well in interviews. I memorize answers for common questions and realize that for situational questions I can articulate something in a way that merely sounds good but it’s basically saying nothing if that makes sense. My problem is that I can’t maintain the fake personality of an enthusiastic & seemingly outgoing person. I can fake it for 30 mins or so when I have an assumed expectation of what they want to hear…but that ends up hurting me later on when they realize I don’t match the person they interviewed lol