I'm a university graduate. A good university. A pretty good graduate, too– punctual, reliable, and competent. And can I get a graduate job? Not a hope. It's been two years now. I've gotten to the point where I can basically guarantee an interview if I spend a decent amount of time on my cover letter, but that's where it all falls apart.
I don't make eye contact enough. I make it too much. I make the right amount of eye contact but in the wrong pattern. The eye contact is perfect but the focus on that makes my voice monotonous… and all of this takes the focus off what I'm saying, so I sound like an idiot. Combine this with taking slightly longer than the typical candidate to respond to questions and you've got a minimum wage chipping away at your soul for eight hours a day.
How are we meant to survive? I've looked into so many charities that claim to help autistic people find skilled work, too, but 99% of these seem like they're after us for Corporate Diversity Promo. I was offered a summer internship, too– 2 months on minimum wage with barely any job offers in a typical year. In their words, “it isn't unheard of”.
How in the hell does any autistic person manage to find a half decent, appropriately challenging job without falling into these endless traps?! Every single day of not hearing back after interviews is reinforcing my feeling that it's essentially hopeless
/doomer rant