Employment: My Journey Being Employed As An Autistic Adult

Getting a good job can be a challenge and for many people on the autism spectrum, the road to stable employment is not easy. As a college graduate with autism, this has certainty been my experience. Statistically, at least 85% of college graduates with autism are unemployed and at least 79% of young adults with autism only work part-time.

After graduating college, I’ve been able to work multiple full-time positions. But being on the autism spectrum makes it much harder for me to find and thrive in a workplace that is typically suited for neurotypicals. Here is my employment journey as an autistic adult.

Finding & Maintaining Employment

My struggle with finding employment began immediately after I graduated college. Prior to graduation, my only job experience was working a part-time work-study position at my college for a few years. My goal after college was to find a permanent full-time position, but that was easier said than done. 

It took me almost a year after graduating college to receive my first job offer. My first job post college was a temp position that lasted less than two months because I was terminated for not being able to work fast enough.

Over the next couple of years, I was only successful at getting low-wage temp jobs that were short-lived. After being terminated from my first full-time position, I worked at four more temp jobs. However, I was terminated from two of those jobs because I could not keep up with the pace of the work.

There was clearly a pattern with my job terminations. As I eventually learned, I do not perform well in jobs that required me to multitask in a fast-paced environment.

Being Underemployed

It took me two years after graduating college to get my first direct-hire job. However, I was working at a job that barely paid above minimum wage. It wasn’t enough for me to get a permanent job anymore. I had to raise my standards and start seeking higher paying quality jobs. Eventually, I left my first direct-hire job for another one.

My second permanent position was a little better than my first. However, despite making a little more money, it wasn’t a livable wage. Furthermore, the job became more and more mentally draining, and it was negatively affecting my mental health, especially during the pandemic.

My dissatisfaction ultimately led me to search for another job. However, before I could get another job, I was laid off from my current position because of the pandemic.

Continuing the Journey

Eventually, I was able to find another job during the pandemic and, so far, it’s the best position I’ve had compared to my previous jobs. However, I do continue to experience similar employment challenges I’ve encountered in the past.

Being on the autism spectrum means I have to be incredibly selective with the jobs I choose to apply. Because of my compromised social communication skills and other physical and mental limitations, I’m at a much higher risk of only getting jobs that are not of high quality.

However, I will say I’ve made progress since graduating college. I started off working only at temp jobs to working multiple direct-hire jobs within recent years. I believe my success is partly due to me improving my interviewing skill and gaining multiple real job experience.

Although I’ve struggled to find quality jobs over the years, I am determined to find solutions that will ease my employment troubles in the future.  Hopefully, with hard work and some luck, I will find a way.