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Poll: Personal Discretion at Job Interviews

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OK, im very curious about our jobseekers of past and present, to get their views on the question below:

 

Do you disclose (own personal choice) your aspergers or autistic condition to an interviewer(s)?

 

I was a jobseeker for 4 years before nailing my current job. I also work, ironically, in Human Resources, so I know we have our own policies within.

 

It would be interesting to read others' experiences when it comes to disclosing/not disclosing and discussing their autistic condition with a potential employer.

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Well I'm not a great source of information here, having not been through many job interviews.

 

But I've always mentioned my Asperger's ahead of, or in, interviews, with both positive and negative results. Obviously it depends entirely on the interviewer/employer involved. I've always wanted to be honest about it, and it might've just heaped more pressure onto me if I hadn't mentioned anything, and tried that much harder to appear "normal". At least it can be taken into consideration if I'm straight with them about it, even if they become reluctant to employ me as a result.

 

I remember one interview in 2001, less than a year after my diagnosis, ahead of an industrial placement for the third year of my uni degree, where I had support from an occupational therapist, who told him in advance that I had Asperger's, and told her afterwards that he'd never have guessed I had any such issues if he hadn't been told about them! :o So that was entirely positive, and I got a 3-month full-time job as a result. :)

 

And in 2006, I got a 6-month job at the very agency that was supporting me to find work! :lol: Obviously in that line of work, they were always gonna be understanding, so it was quite a comfortable interview, as well as successful. Nice people too - really down-to-earth. :)

 

But it hasn't always been positive. There was one guy who didn't even call me back or write to me to let me know the outcome of the interview. But I accept that that can be common with any interviewee, not just those with autism/Asperger's. And it can't have helped that I missed the initially scheduled interview, for whatever reason (can't remember now), and had to have it rescheduled. To be honest, I'd probably been discarded before I even walked through the door that day. :rolleyes:

 

So there ya go - a few of my personal experiences. I think you just have to go with whatever you feel most comfortable with. No matter what you do, some people will be more understanding and accepting than others. You've just gotta shrug it off and move on. And, to be honest, anyone that turns you down purely on the fact you've got Asperger's (even if they'd never say they were, due to disability discrimination laws) isn't someone you wanna be working for anyway, so by rejecting you, they might just be doing you a favour! :lol::whistle:

 

James

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Haven't been on here for a while but saw this thread. I had posted on this "Pre-interview Declarations" thread last December. For a while I'd been perhaps more upfront than I should have been. During 2009 an adviser at the Jobcentre had let me know about their "Work Trial" scheme where I could work for them 15 days free while still having Jobseeker status, and I tied admitting my AS with stating my eligiblility for this scheme, explaining how I would sell my skills better this way than with conventional interviewing where the first thing they see is my nervous body language and verbal communication and they expect me to "sell myself". Yet even being told they could have me at no cost didn't persuade anyone to take it up!

 

I enquired about a paid employment scheme through Shaw Trust called the "Intermediate Labour Market" available to people with a disability that have been on any benefit (both JSA and health-related) for a year, in which Shaw Trust are the employer and people can work for employers either in the public sector, charities or companies classed as "social enterprise". March this year I started with a small design and printing company who were in this social enterprise category as they ran a training centre aimed mostly at the "learning disability" category but also accepting those such as lone parents and general long term unemployed. The scheme generally ran for 6 months and I was fortunate to get a 7th finishing at the end of September.

 

After the employment finished, my contact at Shaw Trust is very good and pleased to continue to support my ongoing job search. She advised that my applications for most permanent jobs should perhaps not state my AS so upfront in that first application stage (usually a "covering letter" with a CV), but that if I was invited to an interview, then my contact would be able to contact the employer on my behalf, as one reasonable adjustment employers should make to pre-recruitment procedure is to allow the disabled person an advocate in an interview, which she would be willing to do. The exception is where you have an application form that asks if you have a disability anyway.

Edited by alanm

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Persoanlly it pays off to tell people.

 

The guys at the Leicester Tigers are nice to me there, they all understand me and get on well with me. the Stand manager also makes sure that I am always doing something as I particularly hate standing around doing nothing LOL. so I always get odd jobs

 

However many a time have I applied online to companies which spew out the automatic email system mumbo junk and half the time i get turned down, I'm still sure the American based companies in particular have this thing where if you click disabled they immediately decline you.

 

that's another thing too, half the time I won't get an interview because the job was a physically able bodied person to do the work and a lot of companies ask on forms, 'would you class yourself as disabled yes/no' and then most of the time don't ask what the disability is!

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Thanks alanm, that is useful information. My son is just starting to apply for jobs and we have the same issues. We also have a Shaw Trust meeting at the end of the month, so I now know what they could do.

 

I am finding it quite frustrating, as I usually go to meetings with him to support him, but it is not really the done thing to take your Mum along to an interview!

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My son is just starting to apply for jobs and we have the same issues. We also have a Shaw Trust meeting at the end of the month, so I now know what they could do. I am finding it quite frustrating, as I usually go to meetings with him to support him, but it is not really the done thing to take your Mum along to an interview!

Glad to have been of help and best of luck for the meeting.

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Do you disclose (own personal choice) your aspergers or autistic condition to an interviewer(s)?

 

No, I did not. All but one interview (including that one which got me my current job) took place before the dx. The last interview took place so close to my current job that I wanted to "let sleeping dogs lie".

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I disclosed my AS at the last job interview I had (in May 2010).

The good news is I got offered the job.

The bad news is that I got fired after less than five months.

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My Jobmaets advisor has suggested that I have two CVs, one mentioning AS and the other not, and see if there's any difference in the responses.

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Disclosing AS in a CV is a different kettle of fish. Personally I only disclose my AS at the application stage if explicitly asked (which by definition would be on an application form).

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My son is just starting to apply for jobs and we have the same issues. We also have a Shaw Trust meeting at the end of the month, so I now know what they could do.

 

I am finding it quite frustrating, as I usually go to meetings with him to support him, but it is not really the done thing to take your Mum along to an interview!

 

Yes, I'm having the same issues at the moment. My lad will be 18 in November and there's no way he'd pass an interview, that's if he even managed to get an interview in the first place. Even filling in a form to apply for a job would be beyond him as his writing is terrible and enormous, his application would look like it had been filled in by a five year old, and I can hardly fill it in for him! It's difficult, because he's at an age where it's not really appropriate for his mum to be taking him round and helping him with things like this anymore, but at the same time, he's not able enough to do it on his own, so we're really stuck! :(

 

~ Mel ~

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I am completely at peace with my state of being, autism included. So yes I will mention it in job interviews, and any other form of conversation.

 

In one version of my CV, i even took the stance of marketing my autism as a superpower :)

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In one version of my CV, i even took the stance of marketing my autism as a superpower :)

Did anyone take you up on that?

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