My Aspergers Employment Journey

Aspergers and Employment is the theme for February. In this video I walk through my own work history to show the jobs that worked and those that didn't. Unfortunately having skills is not enough. "There are so many other factors that make having the skills to do a good job not enough to actually get a job." Background: 0:11 Casual Jobs: 1:12 Professional Career: 3:08 Burnout: 5:13 Today: New Approach: 6:17 Why are you not Employed? 7:17 Check out my latest project teaching emotional intelligence online: http://emotionsexplained.com.au ----------------------------------------------- // WELCOME TO ASPERGERS FROM THE INSIDE!! My name is Paul and I discovered I have Aspergers at age 30. If you're new you can check out a playlist of some of my most popular videos here: https://www.youtube.com/c/aspergersfr... Yes, I know, I don't look autistic. That's exactly why I started this blog, because if I didn't show you, you would never know. As the name suggests, this channel is devoted to giving you insight into the world of Aspergers. This blog started off being just my story, but I've learned SO MUCH about my own condition from meeting others on the Autism Spectrum that now I make sure to feature their stories as well. I've come a long way in my own personal journey. Now I'm sharing what I've found so you don't have to learn it the hard way too. ----------------------------------------------- // WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THIS BLOG I value your time which means there are NO YOUTUBE ADS on my videos. You can expect me to get the the point with concise useful information. I focus on what is most important and don't shy away from difficult topics. The best way to learn about Autism is to see it in real life ( i.e. via the stories of many, many people on the spectrum). In this channel I endeavour to show you what Autism and Aspergers look like in real people and to also give you some insight as to what's happening on the inside. I upload a new video every weekend with some bonus content thrown in mid-week too. There's always new stuff coming through so be sure to check back and see what you've missed. (Is this where I'm supposed to tell you to hit that subscribe button?) Topics Include: - What is Aspergers/Autism? - Aspie Tips, coping strategies, and advice on common issues - Learning Emotional Intelligence (this is my special interest!) - Autism in real life: stories from special guests Everything I do is and endeavour to go deeper and take you 'behind the scenes' to understand what may, at first glance, seem 'odd'. oh, and I love busting stereotypes and turning preconceptions upsidedown :) ----------------------------------------------- // ABOUT ME I discovered I have aspergers at the age of thrity. It has been my life's mission to understand these funny creatures we call humans. My special interest is a combination of emotional intelligence, psychology, neuroscience, thinking styles, behaviour, and motivation. (I.e. what makes people tick) My background is in engineering and I see the world in systems to be analysed. My passion is for taking the incredibly complex, deciphering the pattern, and explaining it very simply. My philosophy is that blogging is an adventure best shared. ----------------------------------------------- // MORE Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aspergersfro... Twitter: https://twitter.com/AspieFromInside Written Blog: https://aspergersfromtheinside.com/ More Videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/aspergersfr... Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aspergersfrom... ----------------------------------------------- // EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE TRAINING I also run autism friendly online emotional intelligence training. So if you like my direct, systematic style, and would like to improve your own emotional intelligence skills, check it out here: http://emotionsexplained.com.au ----------------------------------------------- // CONTACT Blogging is an adventure best shared which means I'd love to hear from you! Feel free to leave me a comment or send me and email at any time and I'll do my best to respond promptly. Email: aspergersfromtheinside@gmail.com Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this channel! I look forward to hearing from you! Peace, ~Paul

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Unknown Speaker 0:00

Okay, so on the topic of employment, I thought it would be good to share a bit about my job history just so that you've got like a sense of one person's journey in that sense. I've never really been interested in a job for the sake of a job. And so fortunately, I've been really lucky in the sense that I've been able to live at home with my parents throughout all of my high school and university, which meant that I did have some jobs, but I didn't absolutely need a job during those during those years. So I've never done the fast food thing, or the retail thing or, or any of those other kind of casual, casual jobs. And a couple of reasons for that is that one, I just don't, I just don't like a job for the sake of a job, I would much prefer to just not spend any money. So not have a job, not money, not spend money, then have a job for the sake of a job, have money for the sake of money, spend money, buy stuff that I don't need for the sake of buying stuff that I don't need. That's just, that's just not how I roll. If I want something that I get it if I don't want anything that I'm happy with what I've got. So the kind of jobs that I went for were seasonal, essentially, like I had a job at a Christmas tree farm, which was fun when I was when I was 16. I had seasonal jobs, marking exam papers, I had some jobs during University were like summer jobs, which were essentially industry placements for my engineering degree. They were they were pretty good. And I've also done a lot of other volunteer work. So for for charities, running stuff for kids, running camps, doing admin stuff for sports clubs, at universities, and I was actually a university tour guide for for quite a few years, which was kind of like an ad hoc job, they would say, we've got this high school group coming to your university this afternoon. How would you like to be their tour guide for, you know, a modest amount per hour? Like, okay, sure, why not. So I can't remember how I got into that. But that was, that was an interesting experience. It took a lot of practice to become confident speaking to 20 or so high school students. I also did some private tutoring for high school maths and physics, while I was studying my engineering degree at university. And again, the reason that worked is because it was once off, it was flexible, I could do what I wanted, I could teach the way I wanted. And it was really results based. So if the student was happy, if the student was learning, I was doing a good job, I didn't have to put on a mask, I didn't have to wear anything special, I didn't have to do anything special to please some kind of company, I could do things my way to get good results my way. And so those kinds of jobs served me really well. So despite the fact that I didn't really have a lot of employment history, compared to some people who basically had a part time job ever since I was 16, I managed to get my very first preference of engineering jobs after university. And the reason for that was that I had my eye on this job for maybe 18 months. And I knew exactly the one I wanted. And I did absolutely everything that I could possibly do to make sure that I was going to get that job, I was going to be top of the list when it came to selecting people for that job, even though it was quite competitive. Very interestingly, I also applied for a lot of other engineering jobs in my final year at university, just because I couldn't be sure that I would get this job. And I thought, you know, I should definitely apply for all of these other things that I'm equally qualified to do. But interestingly, I didn't get any of those jobs. So I'm not sure really what the difference is there. Maybe maybe it just goes to show you that I'm not naturally good at interviewing or applying or I don't look as good on paper as I kind of imagined that I do because I have really good university grades but not really much else.

Unknown Speaker 4:27

So when I was applying for the one that I really wanted, I was so motivated for that that I checked every single box that I could possibly do, what can I possibly do to make sure that I am the first pick when it comes to when it comes to candidates. So I guess it just goes to show that if the motivation is high enough that I am willing to put in the effort and do whatever it takes to to get that job. And as I mentioned in the the other video on how to get a job Practicing practicing practicing practice so that I nailed that interview. And, yeah, so hundreds of hours of practice can can get you a long way if you know what you want. So, so that was my main professional job, I worked for five years as an aircraft, structural engineer for Boeing doing design work on commercial airplanes. And although that was actually a really good job, in almost every respect, it was completely unsustainable. So after five years, I was completely spent. And I basically had to quit. Because I couldn't see myself, I was putting so much effort into just getting up and going to work and getting stuff done and coming home that I didn't have any other time for anything else in my life. And that meant that it was unsustainable, and I needed to quit. So I spent a couple of years off, not working at all. And ever since then, I've relied on connections and my reputation, and just sort of chance meetings and my interests to get me sort of ad hoc work after that. So in the last couple of years, I started this blog, I've done other work for autistic organisations, mentoring others on the spectrum, and doing some public speaking and running professional development workshops for teachers, you know, teaching them about Asperger's, and how to deal with certain things. Yeah, and now, I'm focusing on this blog, hopefully, that's something that I can keep going with in my life, I would really like to keep sharing some of my story with you, and hopefully helping you out with advice and things based on my own experience. And also, I have this new emotional intelligence training online, that is really exciting, because that's been my special interest my entire life. So I'm really excited at the fact that I might end up doing that, and actually having that as a paid part of my life, which would be really fun. So I'm really not sure how this story is coming across. I guess it could be anywhere from where you're amazing. You've done so many things you can do anything to what are you doing? Can't you just pick something? Why don't you have a job. It's a little bit hard to tell people that I haven't really had a real job in five years. But having a real job is really hard. So for better or worse, I am on this more difficult path, which is potentially also more rewarding, but is legitimately really difficult. And hopefully I can find a way to get some kind of sustainable employment in future. My when I think about it, I think surely I have so many skills that are desperately needed by so many people, surely I can find a job. But at the same time, that's there's just not enough. There are so many other factors that make having the skills to do a good job, not enough to actually get a job. But that's okay, one step at a time. Anyway, maybe I should end it there for today. Hopefully you found my story interesting. If not completely fine, let me know and I'll talk about something that's more useful to thanks for watching and I'll see you again another time. Bye. If you like this video, please give it a thumbs up and hit subscribe for weekly content just like this one. If you'd like to get even more involved, you can join the discussion on social media or support me by becoming a patron. Finally, I value your time and you'll notice all my videos ad free. So please help me to cover what you want to hear by leaving me a comment and telling me what you think. So thanks for watching and I'll see you another time. Okay, Love you. Bye bye.

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