Dealing with job interviews

[Anon63456]

In the past I have had a large number of job interviews (haven't kept count but probably somewhere between 60 and 100) and failed all but one. I have had plenty of different jobs over the years but almost always got them by passing some test or being referred to by someone.

One way I have tried to get round the interview issue is building up a large amount of academic qualifications to try to outdo the competition that way. With my studies ending I am applying for jobs again.

All the usual interview technique stuff I'm generally aware of - prepare answers to anticipated questions before hand, try make eye contact, try build rapport with interviewer, be presentable etc.

Knowing that and putting it into practice are two different matters though. If I can say something wrong in an interview, I almost certainly will - by accident. I struggle to come across as presentable and I tend to have a blank look on my face, look distant or unenthusiastic about the job/interview (I'm not unenthusiastic, I just dont show it well, I'm definitely not a good actor). I've had plenty of feedback about this before.

This stuff I'm all aware of and try to do what I can to deal with it, but after so many failed interviews I just accept my brain is never going to handle this situation as well as others, as much as I try.

A question I have is how to try get this point across to interviewers beforehand without it making the whole process awkward before it even starts?

I don't want to sound rude or arrogant to the interviewer, but how much eye contact I make, how well ironed my shirt is or the tone of my voice sounding blunt and plain has little to do with my ability to do technical work I'm applying for (which is much better reflected by qualifications I have). Unfortunately the social stuff/personal presentation in interviews has a huge bearing on getting the job, even if it has little impact on your ability to do the work well (depending on the job you're applying for obviously).

 

[RotanotNino]

Yeah job interviews just flat out suck. When I had to do them I took an approach like yours that involved being prepared to discuss certain principles and industry standard practices without veering off course. Even though I never did excel at job interviews I did learn to brush aside questions designed to elicit butt kissing responses like Why do you want to work for OUR company? with a combination of I need a job/I can do this job and I'm not a salesman. That attitude of letting them know that you are not a salesman is common among the tradesmen and engineers I worked around, though it likely did cost me here and there. I have no idea if it will work in your field. I hope you develop a workable strategy.

 

[Primrose]

I had lots of failed interviews too. Last time I went for one I decided I had absolutely nothing to lose, I dropped all thoughts about previous failures and went in to the interview as cheerful and positive as possible and did my best to speak confidently and calmly. Somehow, I got the job!

So all I can suggest is learn what you can from previous interviews and then let go . You know you are well qualified and experienced so be confident and positive!

 

[Thinx]

Really they should know that in your industry. It's frustrating if they don't. I think it applies in a lot more areas too, but there is this idea that everyone has to be chatty and smiley. Which actually doesn't always help get the work done, even in communication related work. I'm often poor at interviews, and rely on my CV and experience until they get to know me. All I can say is, have plenty examples that you know what they need done and how to do it. That's always persuasive.

 

[Darkkin]

My current job, I asked for an application and got an interview that day. I didn't have time for doubt to even be a thing...I'm still there.

 

[kingscross]

I'm terrible with interviews also. I haven't been able to get a single job in my field since graduation or even leave the town I went to college in. Ho hum.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

I Applied For job's Where my skill level would be hard to find qualified candidates and easy to check references. Very good at Resumes and application letters. let my track record show through. Not scared to blow own horn. Know my stuff do not need to exaggerate, can be checked with sales reps suppliers.

I'm terrible with interviews also. I haven't been able to get a single job in my field since graduation or even leave the town I went to college in. Ho hum.

I'm terrible with interviews also. I haven't been able to get a single job in my field since graduation or even leave the town I went to college in. Ho hum.

First job is the hardest, then you build on it. MY first job and last were almost identical.
Started as a lab tech on a coil coating line retired as a lab tech on a coil coating line. In the intervening years became top expert.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

In the past I have had a large number of job interviews (haven't kept count but probably somewhere between 60 and 100) and failed all but one. I have had plenty of different jobs over the years but almost always got them by passing some test or being referred to by someone.

One way I have tried to get round the interview issue is building up a large amount of academic qualifications to try to outdo the competition that way. With my studies ending I am applying for jobs again.

All the usual interview technique stuff I'm generally aware of - prepare answers to anticipated questions before hand, try make eye contact, try build rapport with interviewer, be presentable etc.

Knowing that and putting it into practice are two different matters though. If I can say something wrong in an interview, I almost certainly will - by accident. I struggle to come across as presentable and I tend to have a blank look on my face, look distant or unenthusiastic about the job/interview (I'm not unenthusiastic, I just dont show it well, I'm definitely not a good actor). I've had plenty of feedback about this before.

This stuff I'm all aware of and try to do what I can to deal with it, but after so many failed interviews I just accept my brain is never going to handle this situation as well as others, as much as I try.

A question I have is how to try get this point across to interviewers beforehand without it making the whole process awkward before it even starts?

I don't want to sound rude or arrogant to the interviewer, but how much eye contact I make, how well ironed my shirt is or the tone of my voice sounding blunt and plain has little to do with my ability to do technical work I'm applying for (which is much better reflected by qualifications I have). Unfortunately the social stuff/personal presentation in interviews has a huge bearing on getting the job, even if it has little impact on your ability to do the work well (depending on the job you're applying for obviously).

Some employers are starting to realize that us Aspies make exceptional employees. if you get one they can single handed change your company. That is how I approached one interview, see me in a year. Your process will be the best in the industry. Got the position as a service rep on in a automotive assembly plant. True to my word and to thier shock Did what I said I would. 16 plants mine had the best control, even beating the japanese, plants they supplied. Saw ad in trade magazine the industry wanted to try reverse onus on one of there processes. Wrote letter to supplier I wanted to be the point person for this experiment. There current employees, could vouch for me. I was Hired did what I said I would. changed the industry.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

I've had 100's of job intereviews, over the years the more experience I got the easier it got to get the position.

 

[Andrew206]

I've had many interviews. Most of the time I try to maintain eye contact with the interviewer(s) as much as I can. But sometimes I lose that eye contact. I think I've failed many job interviews as a result of my lack of eye contact. In some cases, the interviewer(s) have overlooked this and took a chance on me.

 

[paloftoon]

There are programs which now hire people on the spectrum and are aware of these kind of nuances. If you like programming and know at least a little bit, and if you're okay doing a video chat with me for a referral, feel free to reach out to me.

 

[Hypnalis]

Interviews are an NT game.
Its natural that they are generally NT-centric of course, but they rarely test your ability (in my experience, never).

Back to your question: I agree strongly with the posters that (directly or indirectly) suggest you're open about being on the spectrum.

It will depend on your profession of course. I'm in IT, and I get hired for my skill set. If you're also in a technical profession, a serious suggestion:
if it comes up in a a preliminary call, tell them (politely) you're an Aspie, and you're not applying for a sales or project management position. Say you'd be very happy to discuss and test your technical capabilities and experience, but if the interview is a "beauty contest" you're not interested.

This looks like you might lose that 1 in 100 chance of a job, but the intended effect is something else.

A lot of interviews, particularly the early filtering interviews (**) are handled by non-technical people.
All they are capable of doing is checking your social skills, so you're playing to lose. You want to get rid of those layers, and move directly to people who can in fact judge your capabilities. So cut them out early.

BTW I know this won't work for everything, but your post strongly suggests that you're not looking for low- or semi-skilled work. The further you move into "Aspie-friendly" technical professions, the more likely the people you'll actually work for are also technically competent, and less inclined to select based on e.g. your fashion sense. And the technical ones won't care much (if at all) about ASD traits.

 

[Aspea]

So cut them out early.

BTW I know this won't work for everything, but your post strongly suggests that you're not looking for low- or semi-skilled work. The further you move into "Aspie-friendly" technical professions, the more likely the people you'll actually work for are also technically competent, and less inclined to select based on e.g. your fashion sense. And the technical ones won't care much (if at all) about ASD traits.

How do you cut the interviewers who are testing your social skills out early? And what are some examples of aspie-friendly technical positions?

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

I had an Aspie friendly technical position, I did not know at the time that I was an Aspie nor did they, my previous experience quickly showed them I was different and special, boy did I show them they made the correct decision to hire me. 21 years latter the company changed their business model, they are now aware what a Aspie can do for them. any technical position that requires a different way of being approached, you could call Aspie friendly sort of like some jobs require a creative or artsy background.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

How do you cut the interviewers who are testing your social skills out early? And what are some examples of aspie-friendly technical positions?

For the first question previous experience. my social skills are close to non existent. Engineers pick up on this quickly, and have hired me within a few minutes blowing the other candidates out of the water. You would not believe how often they have told me no one else even came close after I got the position. Like likes like is my best guess, or Aspies hire fellow Aspies. My first job as a lab tech 40 some years ago was via a PHD in chemistry who at the time was the quality control manager.

 

[Hypnalis]

How do you cut the interviewers who are testing your social skills out early? And what are some examples of aspie-friendly technical positions?

First, context:
The OP says they've been to between 60 and 100 interviews, and "failed" all but one.
Clearly they'd be better off if they could go to say 5-10, and achieve one success.
But filtering out the ones that were a waste of time requires saying no to interviews. i.e. if you know that in reality you'll always accept any interview that's offered, there's no point trying to select "good" interviews, and my comments and suggestions are useless for you.

If you're prepared to do your own filtering, read my post again.

This is the main suggestion:

If it comes up in a a preliminary call, tell them (politely) you're an Aspie, and you're not applying for a sales or project management position. Say you'd be very happy to discuss and test your technical capabilities and experience, but if the interview is a "beauty contest" you're not interested in the interview.

This is over-simplified of course - you can't use exactly those words, and even if you use something like that, you need to know you're currently talking to whoever's running the first part of the selection/rejection process.

Still not a playbook, but a way to think about it:

Ask your initial contact (ideally a call - this won't work as well in emails) about the selection process. Make sure you learn if it's being handled by a recruiting company or the potential employer.

Ask what's covered in the first interview, and who will be conducting it. You want to find out if it's someone who understands the job you're interested in, or a professional recruiter who doesn't understand the technical area.

If it's a non-technical recruiter, it's a beauty contest.
If it's someone from the team you'll work for, you'd like to talk to them.
There are states in between those two.

Whichever it is, you need a plan to either set their expectations correctly (if you think it's worth your time), or alternatively to negotiate an interview you think won't waste your time.

I'll stop here for now: everyone should always do the kind of thing I'm talk about above - i.e. understand the players and the process. The next step is to place requirements on the players in the employment process. If you're not comfortable doing that, there isn't really a next step

Note that the entire game is much harder to play when you don't have an employment history.
I'm aware of the "catch-22", but there's no easy solution. It helps a lot to have skills that are in demand.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

First, context:
The OP says they've been to between 60 and 100 interviews, and "failed" all but one.
Clearly they'd be better off if they could go to say 5-10, and achieve one success.
But filtering out the ones that were a waste of time requires saying no to interviews. i.e. if you know that in reality you'll always accept any interview that's offered, there's no point trying to select "good" interviews, and my comments and suggestions are useless for you.

If you're prepared to do your own filtering, read my post again.

This is the main suggestion:

If it comes up in a a preliminary call, tell them (politely) you're an Aspie, and you're not applying for a sales or project management position. Say you'd be very happy to discuss and test your technical capabilities and experience, but if the interview is a "beauty contest" you're not interested in the interview.

This is over-simplified of course - you can't use exactly those words, and even if you use something like that, you need to know you're currently talking to whoever's running the first part of the selection/rejection process.

Still not a playbook, but a way to think about it:

Ask your initial contact (ideally a call - this won't work as well in emails) about the selection process. Make sure you learn if it's being handled by a recruiting company or the potential employer.

Ask what's covered in the first interview, and who will be conducting it. You want to find out if it's someone who understands the job you're interested in, or a professional recruiter who doesn't understand the technical area.

If it's a non-technical recruiter, it's a beauty contest.
If it's someone from the team you'll work for, you'd like to talk to them.
There are states in between those two.

Whichever it is, you need a plan to either set their expectations correctly (if you think it's worth your time), or alternatively to negotiate an interview you think won't waste your time.

I'll stop here for now: everyone should always do the kind of thing I'm talk about above - i.e. understand the players and the process. The next step is to place requirements on the players in the employment process. If you're not comfortable doing that, there isn't really a next step

Note that the entire game is much harder to play when you don't have an employment history.
I'm aware of the "catch-22", but there's no easy solution. It helps a lot to have skills that are in demand.

Excellent advice do not waste your time, I am working with the OP he/she seems to know what skill that is in demand that he/she wants and how to get it. it looks like a rudimentary plan is in place. Your right I went on hundreds of interviews over the years now knowing I'm an Aspie a lot were a waste of time. I knew I had amazing skills, but how to prove it without sounding like bragging which is an NT trait, not part of our traits, so giving them a heads up would help.

 

[Hypnalis]

I read an article written by a recruiter on Buzzfeed this morning.
Not a very useful article BTW, but I'm glad I read it.

Here's a quote from the recruiter:
Erica told BuzzFeed,
"I currently support a variety of roles at all levels in Application Engineering, Data Analysts, Software Engineering, Product Management, Program Management, and UX Design."

It's relevant here because it's a typical example of "NT truth" as applied to recruiting.

There's probably nobody on the entire planet capable of conducting a meaningful technical interview with specialists in every one of those named areas of IT. Recruiters might pretend they can help the employer they're recruiting for, but someone who believes they can do all of this probably isn't capable of making a meaningful employment recommendation on any of them.

Take a look at this cool graph from @Neonatal RRT that matches the real world (you'll need to scroll down a bit):
https://www.autismforums.com/threads/i-have-some-questions-about-asperger.41064/
Recruiters are permanently stuck close to the "I know everything" stage. Experienced NT's can see and handle this, but facing such people is difficult for an ND, because absolutely everything they say and do is based on half-truths.

You need to learn how to recognize (not too difficult) and handle Gatekeepers.
"Erica" above is an example of how dangerous it is to take a gatekeeper seriously, and tell them the truth - because she's actually the judge in a non-technical beauty contest set up for and by NTs. And the objective of the beauty contest is to remove anyone who doesn't fit the recruiters NT-centric standards of "beauty".
It's not entirely wrong to see the process as removing everyone who anyone who doesn't match a simplistic set of criteria that a delusional non-technical NT can understand and test for.

You can lie to them (works ok, but it's not natural for most "typically neuroAtypical" people) ...
or you can "play" them, which is the path I've been touching on.

 

[nukefusion]

I'm very lucky in that my field of employment is very technical and it's my special area of interest. So all that is required in an interview the majority of the time is that I am knowledgable, capable and passionate about my craft. That's easy to pull off for half an hour because I'll talk your ears off if you want to talk tech. The real challenges come later when I've got the job and there's an expectation to interact with others on a non-technical level. If I had to go to a job interview where social skills were the predetermining factor I dare say I'd be in trouble. Unfortunately I'm afraid I don't have any real advice other than, if possible, to pursue a career where your strengths are the most important factor in securing the job.

 

[Aspea]

Hypnalis, that was a lot of really helpful info. I never thought about the difference between a technical vs non-technical recruiter and how you have to tailor your approach depending on who is doing the recruiting.

I guess I always made the assumption that whoever the recruiter was, they would understand the technical requirements. To me, the recruiter would seem unqualified if the position they are recruiting for is technical, but they do not understand the technical requirements of the job.

A recruiter that does not understand the requirements and is conducting a beauty contest strikes me as, at the very least, an inefficiency, and at the most, a broken process.