My son has a lot to offer an employer – except self-assurance
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/aug...ers-advice

My son, 29, left university three years ago and has never had a job. He is autistic – not severely so, but enough to appear "odd" in interviews.

He is very intelligent, with a first–class degree in politics, MA (distinction) in international relations and a PhD with a thesis on the war in Kosovo. However, he does not have the skills employers always ask for: being a good communicator or being able to work in a team. He has had interviews, but I imagine they would have been very stilted, as he doesn't have good eye contact or the verbal skills to sell himself. He is not self-assured.

There seem to be possible jobs in London, but we live in the rural Midlands, so transport is an issue. I don't think he'd be able to live in a big city.

I guess a job working from home on research or analysis with occasional visits to a workplace if necessary would be ideal. He has a lot to offer an employer: he is conscientious and committed to doing a job well, meticulous with details, has very high numerical ability and understands complex things quickly.

Have you any suggestions to help?

My first bit of advice you've probably already taken: contact the National Autistic Society (NAS). It's bound to have experience of people with similar conditions to your son's and should have many helpful suggestions to make.

It seems to me that you've already done an excellent analysis of your son's strengths and potential – and I agree he would have a lot to offer a certain kind of employer. But as far as I know (the NAS may know better) there's no established way of reaching them. You'll need to do your own detective work.

Think of management consultancies, thinktanks, research departments, even serious publications that pride themselves on the meticulous analysis of complex data. Your son's degrees in politics and international relations should make him particularly qualified to be of value to organisations specialising in those fields. Encourage him to spend time scouring the internet for possible candidate companies.

I then suggest that you and he agree not to apply in the conventional way, requesting an interview. Rather, your first approach should be along the same lines as your letter to me. Begin with the autism, record his exceptional academic achievements and explain why an interview would be painful for him and misleading for them. Instead, you should suggest a sort of free trial. If they send him a piece of research that needs analysis and summary, or two pieces of research that need to be compared and co-ordinated, he'd happily undertake it for nothing as evidence of his abilities. Once people have the hard proof of what he can do, and how valuable he could be, the fact that he's ill at ease in an interview becomes much less of a problem.

I believe there are many companies who'd be delighted to have a highly intelligent, skilled and reliable backroom analyst as part of their resource. And these days, it hardly matters where he's located. I wish you both well.

Decide whether he wants to do his work by telework (through his computer, he may need a few extra devices like fax, maybe a printer) or whether he can move to big city and live with a relative.

Or both.  When I was 90 miles (or a 2 hour train ride to Washington) from Arlington Virginia I initially worked 3 days a week in Arlington and teleworked two days a week until I could move to within 18 miles of Arlington (or a 30-40 minute subway ride). Now I am a 15 minute walk, 5-10 minute bike, or 5 minute drive away.

I hope he finds a stable and friendly environment. I seem to have. It has been 10 years and counting.
We've had people work at home (Virginia Beach for example, 200 miles away, or Minnesota, 2000 miles away).

The dreaded face to face interview. Most are sheer torture normally as the interviewer does everything in the arsenal to get under the skin of the candidate. Well, I used to as a previous employer. Aspies makes it even worse. There is some sort of job placement organisation if one is classed as disabled. I asked about it once and they just about choked when I said I had a chem degree and I might need some help in the intense interview area of a professional placement.  

The lad mentioned needs some professional coaching, aka play acting (yes many aspies are pretty good at that, just ask Tom Hanks, myself and daughter) to get through the interview stage and as well apply to jobs that are less team orientated. (even if they say so), or as I call it, a good bull s*h*it artist.

I emailed "Dear Jeremy" about my own problem of life after dismissal and, to cut a long story short, ended up being interviewed over the phone by one of his colleagues about a feature they're putting together about autistic employees. It's due to appear in the 17 October issue. My identity and that of my employer won't be revealed, of course.

Did you find it helpful, Aeolienne?

I'll put a note in my diary to get the Guardian on the 17th.

Brilliant! It was great of you to go ahead with the interview. I hope I can catch the article in the Guardian online.

How frustrating all that intelligence, dedication and hard work going to waste.

My idea is that this guy needs someone to support him and any potential employer to help promote his abilities and guide an employer to understand his difference. The guy disparately needs employment support.

I wonder if the man mentioned in the original posting had given much thought to his future career plans before embarking on his PhD? Not much point being wise after the event, I know. However I can't help wondering whether he was misled by the kind of advice touted by the likes of Tony Attwood and Temple Grandin which basically boils down to: "all Aspies are so brilliant at their special interest that if they follow it they're guaranteed a glittering career in academia where they won't need any social skills". Which overlooks the fact that there's only a finite number of jobs in academia, nor is university the cocooned stress-free environment it's made out to be. (Research Assessment Exercise, anyone?)

I agree, Aeolienne.  I emailed The Guardian suggesting that the guy in the article starts with any kind of admin/clerical job through an employment agency, simply to give him experience of working with others.  If he were to do the jobs well, the agency would reward him with other assignments.  Though well beneath his ability, it would greatly improve his confidence, and possibly interaction with other people.  Sooner or later opportunities in other departments would arise.   I don't think it's wrong to take a step back in your career in order to move or one two steps forward.  Confidence is a precious commodity.  Sometimes you just need people to believe in you, and giving someone something that isn't overly taxing is a good way of doing so.  

I was annoyed that the journalist didn't mention Prospects (a UK government run employment agency specific for people with ASDs).  Here's a link to the UK's National Autistic Society website/employment pages:  http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=528&a=4508

He mentioned the National Autistic Society. Same difference.

It seems Prospects is the closest thing I have heard of in the UK comparable to state-level Vocational Rehabilitation programmes (British spelling) in our United States (like Maryland where I got mine).

We do not have these programmes at the Federal level: it is the obligation of the states to rehabilitate people with disabilities, although the Feds may provide block grants of aid. The tenth amendment of our 1789 Constitution said that any rights not taken by the government in the first nine amendments were reserved to the states (gun control, abortion, slavery, vocational rehabilitation).

In actual practice the central Federal government has gained greatly in power since the Civil War of 1861-1865. Instead of state militias for example we had a standing national army even in peacetime, levied a conscription law for it, and the central government levied a direct income tax on citizens in 1913. Sometimes it is necessary. Racial equality would not have happened in the southern U.S. without the strong influence of a strong and just central government. We need the EEOC to protect the rights of people like us all across America. But I digress.

It sounds like Programmes actually provides career training (for example, in Maryland I had computer training, formal undergraduate curriculum).  Does your Programmes provide a second career if necessary?

Is the Guardian an online publication? Can I read your post online?

I bet someone will reproduce it here anyhow.

Reading between the lines, I don't think "Prospects" would be unhappy if you re-approached them some time down the line after they'd found you job number 1, in order to find something more challenging.  I think I read on the NAS website that people with autism/Aspies can cost £700,000 in support across their lifetime if they don't have a career. (I guess this figure also includes loss of income tax from wages, etc as well as the cost of benefits/support/housing if you don't work).  It's clearly in the government's interest to keep us happy and employed.

I'm not sure I totally agree with Aeolinne - I think "Prospects" should have been specifically mentioned - just because there are several offices up and down the country - typically the NAS is known for having it's main offices in London.  http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=224&a=3389

I've been in touch with The Guardian Newspaper, and now received 2 replies.  A more indepth article will be published on Saturday 17 October, specially mentioning "Prospects".  Their second email said they'd hired a journalist they'd used before who'd handled sensitive issues.  In an earlier email to them I said we were fairly sensitive people and had probably all suffered our fair share of rejections and discrimination, so please treat us with some sensitivity.  He said that the guy they follow in the article has, like me, chosen to become self-employed.

Also, I think it's important that it be spelled out to anyone with autism or an HFA that they will receive support from "Prospects" during the first year of their employment - important if you're new to work - doubly important if you're new to work/don't understand office politics/generally don't like social interaction, etc - good to have someone to talk to about work if you don't have many friends and need a bit of reassurance.

EXCERPT FROM EMAIL:
You're right in assuming the article is already written; we have spoken to people on the ASD as well as to employers and I very much hope you'll feel we have treated the subject with the appropriate sensitivity (in fact I commissioned the writer especially for her track record in dealing with sensitive matters).

The feature looks specifically at someone who followed the course you did and went self-employed, so hopefully you'll find it of interest!

Thanks again for the resources you've pointed out – it's a very important and much under-discussed topic, I think.

Best regards,

Graham

On the matter of Prospects, I've just received a job spec from them for a position at a well-known chartered accountancy firm. Just how Aspie-friendly is this?


Service Line: Centre for Business Knowledge, Knowledge Platforms and Processes team.
Location: London.

Purpose (Overall Aim of role)

The KWeb is the firm's intranet and knowledge-sharing environment and provides a single, flexible and consistent platform for delivering knowledge and communications to Ernst & Young employees globally.
Community-enablement is a key area of focus through projects for sector, service-line and other communities to deliver tailored products and solutions to meet business and knowledge needs.
The primary role of the KWeb Project Co-ordinator is to manage day-to-day project activities, maintain project documentation and to act as the main KWeb representative for specific projects.  The Project Co-ordinator will work closely with the KWeb Project Manager who will provide guidance and direction on strategic aspects.
The number of projects and their complexity will vary according to business priorities.  This is an excellent opportunity for someone looking to gain varied project management experience across a broad range of KWeb products, both standard and bespoke.
This position reports directly to the KWeb Senior Manager and other KWeb Project Managers as required.  Occasional travel may be required for this role.

Accountabilities

 Work simultaneously on multiple projects (typically 3-5)
 Work with project stakeholders, including project sponsors and project team members to identify and gather business requirements
 Facilitate project status meetings and design sessions as required
 Prepare and update project documentation including, but not limited to:
 Project and work plans
 Business model and requirements documents
 Test cases
 Meeting agendas and minutes
 Issues logs
 Project status reports
 Process charts and checklists
 Collaborate with technical development team during requirements review and analysis, system development and testing
 Management and co-ordination of testing processes (system, integration, user acceptance etc)
 Support the Usability Project Manager in planning and execution of usability testing as required
 Active contribution to relevant areas of the Global KWeb Programme.

Personal Qualities

Communication:
 Excellent written and verbal communication skills
 Demonstrable active listening skills
Analytical:
 Proven analytical and problem-solving skills
 Able to absorb and analyse business requirements and make recommendations about technical solutions whilst working within architectural guidelines
Relationship Management:
 Excellent teaming skills - local, global and virtual
 Cultural awareness - able to overcome geographical or cultural barriers to work with communities from all over the world
 Excellent customer service skills
 Able to inspire confidence and trust in both our products and our people
 Relationships - able to develop and grow excellent relationships with business sponsors and project teams
 Flexibility - able to work effectively in an environment where deadlines and priorities change frequently

Experience, Qualifications and Technical Skills

Education & Experience:
 Bachelor's degree in Information Systems, Knowledge or related discipline desirable
 Prior experience in a project management role highly desirable
Technical Skills / Abilities
 Strong knowledge of Lotus Notes Domino and web technologies
 MS Office proficiency (Excel and PowerPoint in particular)
 Excellent MS Project skills
 Sound understanding of major principles of usability and web design
 Familiarity with all phases of the system development life-cycle
Project Management:
 Demonstrable project management skills and experience
 Proven ability to work simultaneously on several projects and manage priorities accordingly
 Excellent organisational skills and attention to detail
 Able to learn quickly and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment
Knowledge:
 Demonstrable understanding of basic principles of knowledge management
 Understanding of main functions of a knowledge management infrastructure including search, navigation, retrieval and content  storage
 Able to understand and articulate the specific knowledge and information needs of sectors, service lines and other communities.

Are they having a laugh?!