Outside The Asylum

There is good news and bad news in the job market. The bad news- with between 30 and 60 million Americans unemployed or underemployed, it's harder than ever to find a job, especially for autistics whose social skills are mere coping skills. But here's the good news- for the professional specialist, search engines like Dice, Monster, and Craigslist have become excellent places to find jobs to apply to. Initial application is now almost entirely electronic- no paper, no "putting yourself out there" in person. One huge new behavior from HR departments is the electronic pre-screening, by either e-mail or website. Be prepared to actually spend MORE hours on a job search- I saw questionnaires ranging from 30 to 400 questions, covering technical skills, personality profiling, even a little bit of classic IQ testing. Naturally, the more questions they ask you, the more likely even High Functioning Autism will be uncovered- so it's wise to self-disclose if you shou...