I am preparing to look for work

Work fulfils many needs for us in today’s society. It can:

  • Provide financial security and independence
  • Help to give us a sense of identity
  • Offer us a network of like-minded colleagues with whom we can socialise
  • Provide us with an opportunity to use and develop our skills
  • Improve our physical and mental health and wellbeing
  • Provide structure and routine

The main piece of advice that I would give is try to get experience that is as wide as possible to gain awareness and see what field you would fit in to

Luke – Civil Service intern

All work, whether paid or voluntary, is a trade of some sort. You, as an employee or volunteer, have some skills, experience, knowledge and effort that you can offer an employer. In return, the work provider will offer you a combination of work to do, payment and/or an opportunity to increase your skills, experience and knowledge which may help you secure employment in the future.

Understanding yourself is an important step towards finding the right job for you. Some organisations can help you learn about your strengths and which jobs might suit you.

Autistic people work successfully in a wide range of careers. Some autistic people prefer to work in structured roles using maths, technology and scientific skills, others work extremely well in the creative industries as authors, actors and artists, and others just want jobs with simpler routines so that they can leave work at work and be relaxed in their free time. Understanding yourself will make it easier to look for work that makes you happy.

You may choose to take a job that isn’t ideal rather than remain unemployed

Some people would define a dream job as one that allows them to do something:

  • That is needed and makes them feel worth while
  • That they’re good at
  • That they enjoy
  • That they can be paid for.

Most of us will need to compromise on one, two or three of these items, but unless you are happy with at least one of them, then you’re unlikely to be able to maintain the role for long.

So, to help decide what sort of work want to do, you might want to ask yourself:

  • What do I love to do?
  • Do I have any hobbies that I enjoy that could become a career?
  • What subjects did I do well in at school?
  • What qualifications do I have?
  • Do I prefer to work alone or with other people?
  • Do I want to work in an office at a desk or in a more active role?
  • How do I like to communicate?
  • What sensory environment do I need? (for example, sounds might bother you more than having other people around, in which case you may need a quieter work place)

Your  answers will help you decide what you might want to do. It’s OK to have a few ideas, as you’ll be able to refine your thinking as you go through the jobsearch process.

An assessment can help you to find career ideas and types of job that are more likely to suit you, but they may be designed for the general population rather than adapted for jobseekers with autism.

Almost 33 million adults in the UK are in some sort of employment. More than 25.6 million of them of them work in what is called the private sector – and the remainder work in the public sector (which includes the NHS, Education, Local Authorities, Police, Armed Forces and the Civil Service) and the third sector (including charities, self-help and community groups).

The private sector is made up of almost 6 million different businesses, ranging from sole traders, where the whole business is owned and run by a single employee, to some of the biggest companies in the world such as Amazon . Of the 25.6 million people working in the private sector, around 5 million of them are self-employed. Essentially 5 million business employ 1 person only and the remaining million businesses employ just over 20 million employees between them. All private sector businesses are owned by someone  and exist to make money:

  • For their owners,
  • So that they can sustain and grow their operations and
  • So that they can pay their employees.

By contrast, the public sector exists primarily to deliver services for society. Public sector employers include the Civil Service, the Armed Forces, the NHS, Educators and Local Government.

The third sector, also called not-for-profit organisations, are driven by social goals, for example, to improve the environment or public wellbeing and are generally focused on a specific cause or issue.

There are hugely varied job opportunities in both the public, private and third sectors, and many role types exist in all of them

Deciding what type of industry you’d like to work within is one of the decisions you will need to make as you embark on your search for work, as well as what type of work you’d like to do. Very often, candidates will choose a number of sectors to look for work in. Other times, candidates choose specific companies they’d like to work for, and then look for similar companies in that sector. If you want to know which sectors employ the most people, and therefore where the most opportunities might be,

Another factor in deciding what type of employer you’d like to work for is the size of the organisation. It is difficult to make generalisations about the differences between big companies and small companies, however you can bear the following in mind:

  • Big organisations employ more people. This may provide more opportunity to specialise.
    In smaller organisations employees may have to undertake a broader range of duties. The extreme example of this is sole traders, where one individual probably has to undertake marketing, sales, do or make stuff, manage accounts and carry out all administration!
  • Big organisations could be considered less personal, as it’s impossible to know everyone who works there.
    Small organisations on the other hand might be family run. Whether these are good or bad things depends on you.
  • Big organisations tend to have more rules and bureaucracy. This is sometimes evident in the nature of the recruitment process, which might be longer and more formal.
    Smaller organisations may have a less formal recruitment and other processes.

See the next section if you are thinking of working for yourself – self-employment.

You may have decided you want to work for yourself, rather than find a vacancy with an established employer. Self-employment is not an easy option and it may take quite a while to gain a reputation and earn enough money to pay your bills, but it might be right for some.

Self employment is uncertain, but it’s also exciting

Dean – autistic freelance speaker

How you find opportunities for your own business will vary widely depending on the type of business you are looking to create and grow.

For example, if you want to be a public speaker, you might need to build a website to promote what you do, including references and case studies of talks you’ve given, whereas if you’re a dogsitter, it might be more helpful to print some leaflets and deliver them around the local neighbourhood and/or ask if you can put some in reception at the local vet or newsagent. The key is to understand where your customers are likely to be and how they might want to hear about what you do and how you can help them.

If you have an idea for a business and would like some support, you may be able to claim New Enterprise Allowance to help set up your business if you are over 18 and:

You will need to apply through your Job Coach at Job Centre Plus. If your application is accepted, you will get a mentor who will help you set up your business and develop a business plan. If your business plan is approved you may get a small allowance for six months and the opportunity to apply for a start-up loan to get the business going.

Being self-employed, you need to find all the answers out yourself and you’re working it out as you go along

Dean – autistic freelance speaker

A useful guide to starting your own business is available from HM Revenue & Customs which explains how to set up your business, and about the tax that you will need to pay.

Dealing with the tax office is a skill in itself – I found that stressful

Dean – autistic freelance speaker

Even if you have not worked before, you have skills, knowledge and experience that are useful. Sometimes, an assessment can help understand your strengths.

You might not realise how useful your skills can be to an employer or what your strengths are.

Different skills will lead you to different types of employment or jobs. If you are really good with numbers and maths for example, you might be happy working with money in a shop or bank, as an accountant, or as a mathematician.

Your interests may well lead you towards working in a specific sector

If you are passionate about animals, for example, you might want to be a dog walker, work in a pet shop, or train as a vet. You might not want to work directly with animals but might like to work with a charity such as the RSPCA where your passion shows how committed you will be to your employer.

The National Careers Service has information about jobs in different industries.

Transferable skills

During your life to date, you will have developed skills, knowledge and experience; for example doing your special interest, undertaking voluntary work, playing sport, through education or going to clubs. Some of these skills will be really helpful at work. They are called transferable skills because you can transfer them from one situation to another. For example, the attention to detail that helps you research and collect stamps can help you to make sure that you collect data from every department in a company, and to know what is missing. Transferable skills are useful in employment. They include:

  • Communication skills
  • Numeracy
  • English
  • Digital and online skills
  • Planning and organisation
  • Team-work
  • Collaboration
  • Customer focus

These types of skills and experiences are what you offer an employer in return for payment or an opportunity to develop even more skills.

Using an assessment to help understand your skills

The following assessments are free to use. You may want to ask someone who knows you well to talk about the results with you.

Be aware that assessments are not usually autism-specific

National Careers Service

The National Careers Service have assessments on their website which can help you understand yourself:

  • Skills and Careers – This online test can help you understand what sort of work you might like. It takes at least 10 minutes, possibly longer. You will be presented with a number of statements – for example “I like taking responsibility for other people” and you have to decide whether you Strongly Agree, Agree, It Depends, Disagree or Strongly Disagree.

At the end of the assessment, it will recommend some job sectors that might suit you. It may ask you to answer 2 or 3 further questions about each sector. It then provides you with information regarding career and job types that could be suitable for you.

  • Skills Health Check – These assessments are slightly more in-depth and take between 15 and 25 minutes each. There are 2 groups
    • Personal Skills, which assess Skills, Interests, Personal Style and Motivation and
    • Activity Skills, which assess how you:
      • Work with numbers
      • Work with written information
      • Check information
      • Solve mechanical problems
      • Work with shapes
      • Solve abstract problems

You don’t have to do it all in one go. Sign in, and you can go back to finish the assessments when you want. Once you have completed the assessments, it will produce a report for you to download and use to help you decide what might work well for you.

University of Portsmouth

The University of Portsmouth offers profiling assessment tools for autistic people with mild or no learning disabilities. These assessments are funded by the University of Portsmouth and provided free of charge.

It includes 4 types of assessment:

  1. An Employability Profile – to help you find a suitable career or job.
  2. Cognitive Profile – produces a tailored report on your strengths and weaknesses in social and communication skills; flexibility and planning; and sensory sensitivities. It includes a tailored support plan including recommended workplace adjustments.
  3. Full Employment Profile – designed for people taking part in job programmes and looking for work placements. The profile includes both an employability and cognitive profile
  4. Student Profile – designed to discover the student’s cognitive profile and provide tailored recommendations on how to communicate your needs to others at university.

Alternatively, you may have a diagnostic report which contains a profile of your cognitive skills. If really detailed, they can form the basis of areas you need to consider in finding your reasonable adjustments, but they can be hard to interpret and so are best done with the support of a job coach.

Jobcentre employment assessment

Jobcentres also have Work Coaches who will help develop an ‘employment assessment’ to find out what kind of work will suit you best.

There are a number of different things you can do understand how your skills and motivations might be most relevant to the labour market. You can do some of the following things to increase your chances of securing employment.

The main piece of advice that I would give to other people with autism is try to get experience that is as wide as possible to gain awareness and see what field you would fit in to

Luke – Civil Service Intern

Find a mentor: This is someone you trust who you can ask for advice regarding how you best demonstrate your skills and abilities to people who might employ you. A mentor is someone who knows you well and wants to help you grow your career. The best mentors aren’t necessarily friends or family (although they may become friends over time) as they need to be able to advise you without some of the emotions that some of those you’re closest to might have. Examples could be a former colleague, someone who supported you at school or college, or perhaps a friend of the family

Be yourself: You want to find work that allows you to be relaxed and comfortable. You also don’t want to have to pretend to be something you’re not, as having to do this for long is bad for both your mental and sometimes your physical health.

Be happy to talk about your hobbies: Your experiences and what you enjoy outside of work may have given you skills which you can use at work. Be proud of your interests and hobbies. If people are amused by your passion, that is a good thing – and remember to be yourself!

Research different types of jobs: Go online and read and watch videos about different types of jobs. Talk to other people who do that job already. This can help you to understand what you want to do and just as importantly what you don’t want to do. The National Careers Service has information about a wide variety of careers and jobs.

Research different companies and industries: As well as deciding the type of work you want to do, you also need to decide what type of company or sector you want to do it for. Size of organisation and the sector a company operates in can create very different jobs. For example, you could decide you want to work in accounts because you love spreadsheets and the fact that maths is very logical. There are lots of different types of accounting roles, but even if you decided you wanted to work in billing (the department that generates invoices and collects cash from the businesses customers) working in billing for a small charity, is very different to working in cash collections for an engineering company even though the job title might be the same.

Relate your life experiences to work: Throughout your life you will have developed skills and lived through experiences that can help you in the workplace. You might have raised money for charity, you might have organised a society at school or college, you might have put on a show as part of your drama group.

All your experiences are chances to show how you have used your initiative, worked as part of a team, spoken in public and other great competencies that employers are looking for

Prepare a Curriculum Vitae (also called a CV or resumé): A CV contains a description of the experience and skills you have to offer an employer. It usually has information about your education, qualifications and previous jobs. It could also contain information about your personal interests, especially if this is relevant and uses skills appropriate to the job you are interested in. It should highlight the things you are best at.
Make it easy to read and simple to find important information such as your qualifications and experience. You might also include links to your social media profiles and include your email address and other contact details.

Talk to people in work: Express an interest in what other people do for work and what their companies do, particularly if you know people who either do what you’d like to do, or who work for the types of companies you’d like to. But even if you just talk to people about what they like about their job, it will help you increase your understanding of what work is like, so that you can be better prepared for interviews and eventually starting work.

Create a profile on LinkedIn and keep it up to date: LinkedIn is a social media platform, a bit like Facebook, that people use to manage their careers and to engage with the people they know through work. A lot of recruiters use LinkedIn to find people to fill their roles and they will look at your profile – especially if its good and highlights what you can do – and may contact you.

Keep all posts polite and tactful on social media: Think about what you put onto social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: Everyone can read what you write, and no employer wants to be embarrassed by something you say online.

Practise the skills you need for the job: Relevant experience is always good. If you are great at IT, make sure you have skills with current software and processes and that you have included them in your CV and LinkedIn profile if you have one. You can think about work experience or being a volunteer to develop your skills.

Always be learning: So that your skills continue to develop and so you can show your future employer that you’re keen to learn.

The world of work changes fast and one of the most important things employers look for in job applicants is a willingness to learn and develop themselves

Work does not have to mean having a paid job. Some alternatives are paid, some are unpaid. All of them can offer the chance to improve your skills.

Some work is paid, some is unpaid. Some opportunities will pay expenses even if they do not make any other formal payment. Unpaid work can be a stepping-stone towards paid employment in the future.

  • Traditional Permanent Contract: (Paid) The vast majority of the UK working population still work in traditional employment contracts with one employer. The contract will say how many hours you must work, this can be full time or part time.
  • Voluntary Work: (Unpaid) – Where you give your time and effort without payment.
  • Work Experience and Work Shadowing: (Unpaid) – An opportunity to learn about a job or area of work. Typically undertaken by pupils prior to leaving school.
  • Work Placements and Internships: – (Unpaid or paid) – A fixed term of work experience offered by an organisation lasting for a limited period of time. Typically undertaken by students during their course or students who have recently graduated and who are looking to build work experience.
  • Traineeships: (Unpaid) – A short term course with work-experience that prepares young people (18-24) for work or an apprenticeship.
  • Apprenticeships: (Paid) A combined programme of work and college-based learning, across a wide array of different work and subjects. These are paid placements and result in a formal qualification at the end of a set period of time if completed successfully.
  • Temporary Agency Work: (Paid) Agency employment can offer varied short term employment assignments, where you are paid by the agency to undertake temporary work for one of their employer customers.
  • Self Employment: (Paid) Where you set up your own business to make and sell things or to deliver services to other people or businesses.

Often the first people you will go to for help are your family, carers or friends. They are the people who know you best and can help you find employment that will play to your strengths. If you are still in education or have left recently, you can also get help from your school, college or university careers service (some universities support graduates up to 3 years after graduation).

You can approach a combination of the following people and organisations for advice, guidance and support as you go through your job search.

Family and Close Friends: This is likely to be the first place to go for help and the place you’ll come back to most often. They are likely to know you and how your autism impacts you better than anyone else.

Wider Circle of Friends: You can often get really good, slightly more dispassionate advice from people who aren’t so close to you. Old family friends who’ve known you or you parents for many years, or friends of friends who work in relevant roles, companies or sectors can be invaluable, particularly if you’re able to talk with them openly and honestly about your challenges and your aspirations.

Mentors: If you know someone (perhaps from within your wider circle of friends) who has some relevant skills and experience and is keen and willing to make themselves available to help you regularly (perhaps for 30 mins once per week) you can work through the job search process together.

School, College or University Careers Service: If you are still in education, or have recently left you may be eligible for advice and have access to a range of books and online resources that can help

Government Careers Advice: provides information, advice and guidance to help you make decisions on learning, training and work. There are specialist advisors who you can speak to by phone, or by webchat if you prefer not to use the phone.

Depending on where you live in the United Kingdom there are different organisations that will help you:

The Jobcentre: You can apply for Intensive Personalised Employment Support through local Jobcentre Plus if you:

  • have a disability that affects the work you can do
  • are a UK resident
  • are unemployed and
  • are aged between school leaving age and retirement age.

Another option for disabled people is the Work and Health Programme, which you access through your local Jobcentre.

There may be other organisations based in your local area which can support you in training and finding a job

Check the local offer on your local council website for your area or ask in your Jobcentre.

Employment Agencies: Many people find both temporary and permanent work from an employment agency and many employers ask employment agencies to manage their recruitment for them. If you register for temporary work, the agency will then “assign” you to one or more employers to carry out short term work. For permanent employment, they will act as an intermediary between you and the eventual employer. Some employment agencies will help you get work if they believe that you have skills and experiences that the organisations they work with might value. They only tend to get paid when they place someone into work, so if they don’t think they’ll be able to place you into work, they may not be that helpful or supportive.

How you look for work will vary on what you want to do, where you want to work and the type of organisation you want to work for.

The jobsearch process is complicated because it varies depending upon you, the role you want to perform, and the company who has a vacancy

Broadly, the jobsearch process can be summarised as follows but will vary depending on the role, organisation and industry:

  • Understanding yourself: Recognise your own skills, experience and motivations
  • Think about what you want to do: Decide what type of work you’d like to do and for what type of organisation
  • Jobsearch: Find organisations with suitable openings or opportunities for people with your skills and experience
  • Job application: Express your interest in the role and secure employer interest in your skills and experience
  • Interview or selection: Meet the employer and through a combination of interview and or assessment activities prove your suitability for the role
  • Offer and induction: Agree an employment contract and plan to start work

You are unlikely to be the only person interested an a particular job

The jobsearch process is complicated by the fact that there may be more than one suitable candidate looking for the role. Employers run recruitment and selection processes to achieve 2 objectives:

  • To find candidates who have the MINIMUM skills required to perform the role satisfactorily
  • To select the BEST candidate from those who have the MINIMUM skills.

Typically, where employers have more than one suitable applicant, they will run a recruitment and selection process to help them objectively decide which candidate to hire. The theory of most recruitment processes is that the employer starts with a number of interested applicants, and as they undertake recruitment and selection activities, they end up with only those to whom they want to offer a role.

Depending upon the company, the role and the number of applicants, processes can vary and it is impossible to assign either rules or an order to the process

Some or all of the following principles tend to underpin how people get jobs and how employers find employees.

  • It’s a two-way process: You have skills, knowledge and experience to offer an employer and they have work/payment and experience to offer you. The same logic applies to the process of finding work. You are looking for an employer who wants your skills and they are looking for an employee who has your skills. This principle is important to understand, as we often forget that the employer needs something too. If they don’t find someone to fill that vacancy, something suffers in their business, usually customers who have to wait longer or colleagues who have to work harder!
  •  In order to secure a job that you have applied for, 2 things need to happen:
    1. You need to satisfy the employer that you can undertake the role and perform it to their satisfaction
    2. You need to illustrate that you can do so better than anyone else who has applied. Therefore, all jobsearch activity needs to illustrate that you understand what they need, but also that you have something unique to offer.
  •  You are likely to have to apply for more than one job to successfully secure one. The companies you apply to are likely to move at different paces. Therefore, you will probably be at different points of the jobsearch process with different employers at the same time.
  • Filling roles with the right candidate is arguably as difficult for employers as it is for jobseekers. In the same way that you have difficult decisions to make, based on one or two conversations, so do they. They don’t want to hire the wrong person. This principle also goes some way to explain why sometimes employers don’t always provide feedback if you’re unsuccessful. They put most of their efforts into finding the right candidates, and disappointing as it might sound, they may not have the resources to help those candidates they choose not to hire.

Some knowledge is acquired through work experience and some through education. Education might be academic, or it may be more work-specific – either in the form of vocational skills training or employability and work readiness courses. Depending on your circumstances, there may be funding available to support you while you learn. The more knowledge we acquire, the more employable we become.

Courses  for finding work and developing the sort of skills which employers are looking for are offered by many organisations.

The following organisations  also offer employability and vocational skills training which may improve your chances of securing employment:

  • City and Guilds have a number of skills for work qualifications including specific skills needed for the:
    • Construction industry
    • Health, adult care and childcare sectors
    • Retail industry
    • Hospitality and catering industry
  • Employability courses offered through Adult Education and funded by the Skills Funding Agency are best found through the National Careers Service where you can do a course search, speak to an advisor or use the webchat service to find a course that meets your needs. They give an opportunity to develop basic qualifications in areas such as:
    • Food safety in catering
    • Health and safety in the workplace
    • Emergency First Aid at Work

Higher education

Higher education is any form of education that leads to a higher level qualification including: Higher National Diploma (HND), degree apprenticeship, foundation degree or university degree. It can open up career paths, and it can also give you an opportunity to study something you’re interested in if you don’t currently know what you do. For some roles, you need a specific degree, for others, the fact that you’re educated to degree standard may be all you need, as that in itself is an illustration of your intellect and application. Higher education generally requires you to have some previous qualifications, for example Scottish Highers, or A levels.

Further education

Further Education is any study after secondary education that isn’t part of an undergraduate or graduate degree. It includes technical and applied courses for 16 to 19-year-old people. Some courses may be funded by the government in order to help you build basic skills. It depends on your age, whether you are employed or unemployed and what level of qualification you already have. Many courses in reading, writing and basic maths are free, and you may not have to pay for tuition if you’re under 24 and studying for your first qualification equivalent to GCSE or A level. These are usually provided by Further Education Colleges.

If you are 16 or 17 you are guaranteed a place on an Further Education course the following September

Depending on your circumstances, there may be funding available to support you while you learn.