Starving for a job

Hunger drives us to do strange things. I wonder how much of human endeavors could be traced back to being hungry. Societies undertake major migrations in search of food; humans will attempt to eat things previously not considered edible when they are hungry. Each of these are risks with either great or tragic outcomes; as an example consider what sort of trial and error went into realizing that rhubarb leaves were the toxic part of the plant.

Consider then how each of us may get when it comes time to evaluate if a particular job is good for us. Given the chronic under- and unemployment of ASD folk it is not surprising that many of us want any job as long as it shows promise of being better than where we are at. And it is hard to argue against that when we and/or our families lack something... especially food.

However how are you to protect against eating the toxic leaves and joining a place that will ruin you? Given the horrendous working conditions at some places it is possible that a bad work environment will harm you, your relationships or even drive you to attempt to harm yourself. If nothing else you could find yourself out of work soon enough.

Turning the traditional logic on its head-- it's easier to look for a job when you have a job-- it is easier to conceptualize your ideal job when you are not looking for one. So take a moment when you have a job to write out the criteria you would want in an ideal job and then stash it with copies of your resume on your machine. Later when you have to find a job you will have the clarity of the good times there to ground you when you go back out to find work. You may still not be able to find your ideal job but at least you will know how the current job in question deviates from your ideal and consciously know the deficiency rather than be surprised later.

Customized Employment: US Department of Labor site

One of the ways that the US Dept. of Labor suggests accommodating those with disabilities is via Customized Employment. They have an excellent document dedicated to it that is full of tips for employees and employers as well as the benefits of Customized Employment.

You can find it here: http://www.dol.gov/odep/pubs/custom/edge.htm

Creating a job proposal with impact: marketing your work instead of you

I have talked before about creating Job Proposals; a document you send to someone saying "I can do this for you". In light of a recent article I wanted to revisit this as the article offers advice on how to keep the proposal short; a key attribute if you want to get it read.

The article makes a point of sharing examples of success that will help show what you can do. If you have read many of my posts you know what is coming next: take it one step further by sending links to examples of your results. Using a personal website, blog, Flickr or Youtube you can post videos, documents, programs or pictures of what you have done either on your own or for other people. Remember, results put results on the table.

Or if you really want to impresses them do a piece of work that fits in with their business and offer it along with your proposal. Imagine if you wanted to redo someone's website and you sent a link along to their new website (partially done) that they could look at? Even if they do not buy it you have done a piece that you can show to others when you approach them. In this way you are not selling yourself, you are selling your work and in solid, tangible, believable ways.

Hiring for Hope: a non-profit dedicated to job placement

I recently ran across an organization called Hiring for Hope that dedicates itself to assisting people in their career search. Their funding comes from Donations and Fees charged to companies when they place someone. In an odd twist they also help couples who have recently lost a child. I think this is because two non-profit groups merged to form one.

Anyway, they offer an interesting outlet for the job search and may provide sensitivity that other recruiting firms lack.

Link: http://www.hiringforhope.org/index.html

Stand out resumes

The Business Insider has an article with several insanely creative resumes that helped people stand out from all the other applicants: http://www.businessinsider.com/insanely-creative-resumes-2011-6

Writing a bio for a blog, social media or website

If you're like me (and many other ASD folk) talking about ourselves in glowing terms is difficult. We wind up sounding cheesy, or blunt or confused. It is so difficult for me that I am not even going to try to tell you how to write a bio. Instead I will point you at the Undercover Recruiter:

8 Steps to write a bio

Using Facebook ads to land a job?

One day, one job expands on something I mentioned in an earlier blog post. Namely using targeted Facebook ads to look for a job. It is an interesting approach that I think has a cyclical impact... it will work for a time and then lose its impact only to regain traction later on.

Creating Facebook ads

One day, one job's article on using Facebook ads

Getting hired in the summer

Depending on where you live summer can begin in May or June and extend through August or September. No matter when it occurs though trend is the same: hiring slows down during the summer. Vacations are more frequent so it is harder to gather the hiring managers together and the interviewers in one place.

This can be an excellent time to network with people though. Because of the vacations people can be less busy with meetings (though possibly busier with work) and relaxed from a recent vacation or anticipating upcoming time off. A well placed e-mail or phone call has a better success of getting someones attention.

So pick out a company, find someone who works there and reach out to them. You might not get the job in July but come September you can be first in mind for open positions. Also, you can break the ice with "So, do you have any time off planned?" It will put the contact at ease to reminisce about their time off or get excited talking about the future trip to Disneyland.

Another Forum for ASD job advice

Spectrumites has various forums or posting including one on employment. While it seems to be more recent than Wrong Planet and therefore smaller it does provide another avenue to connect with people that you may prefer.

http://www.spectrumites.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=30

Customized Employment: Selling your business and your employment at the same time

My wife knows of a place on the California Coast that has possibly the best artichoke dipping sauce imaginable. People order it from around the nation because they stopped there once on a trip and always go back. I know I want to order some just thinking about it.

What if you created a way to drive people to the website to order the sauce? You would boost their sales without them investing a dime. Do you think they would pay you for that? A good business person would certainly consider it and maybe even hire you on since you found one way to increase sales.

The thing is you have to approach it the right way. You can certainly walk in with a cool website that might catch their attention. Or you could go in with facts showing how many people your site was responsible for; maybe you could capture some testimonials from people that went through you. And be sure to have a next step.

Here is the process in step form:

1. Find a target company
2. Determine the metric you will use to measure your success
3. Find out who the key influencer in the target company is
4. Create your method for increasing sales (traffic; moving merchandise; etc)
5. Run it for a month or two (or even a full quarter or two) measuring your success
6. While that it going on think of how you can increase your success
7. At the end of your trial contact the influencer; show them your method and success; tell them you have a way to improve on that success and then offer to sell it and you to them

Maybe they say no. Life and business is not without some risk. Even still you would have the makings for a heck of a resume/career portfolio item. If they say yes then you get some money, possibly equity in the business and perchance a job. You could even pursue something like this while also pursuing a regular job since job hunting usually takes only half of a day (or less). If you are unemployed what real harm?

Finding the market segment for your labor

The traditional model for a unit of labor (i.e. you the employee) is that you are a set of marketable skills collected into one place and then sold directly to a consumer (i.e. the company). You advertised your supply via the resume and they advertised their demand via the want ad.

However there is another model that has bounced around for a long time. That is the one where you market and sell your output to people who wanted it. Maybe it went directly to the consumer or maybe there was someone who passed your output on to the consumer for a fee (e.g. an art gallery that sells paintings on consignment).

Lets view that model in light of more traditional skills. Consider your skills as a service that can be used by another company to enhance their goods or services rather than something they directly consume. In fact, to provide a concrete example. As a software tester a company might pay you $50,000 per year to work on their software... or they might pay Aspiritech $100,000 for the same task. There is some overhead in having an employee but more often than not it is the perception of the business that employee costs are a different bucket and one that can be squeezed down. Vendors on the other hand, well that is what the market will bear.

So when looking for a job find out what the vendors in the market segment charge for a similar service and then market yourself as a vendor if the money is better.

Using Facebook for your job search

The Undercover Recruiter has some suggestions on using Facebook that, to be honest, are pretty standard (network, status updates etc.). However one caught my eye... creating an advertisement for your search. I am not sure how I feel about it but it is certainly a novel approach:

The Undercover Recruiter: 5 ways to use Facebook for your Job Search

Using Twitter in your job search

Twitter is an amazing tool when you think about it... a heck of a lot of information gets passed around in 140 characters or less. And one of the various things is that Job Searches can be enhanced by Twitter.

As with all Social Media curate your presence to make sure it is professional and links to a resume/web page about you. If you are openly searching mention the jobs you are searching for; use the keywords tag (#<keyword>) if it is something people look for.

But there is more. You can stalk the people at companies you want to work at. Say you really want to take part in the LOLCats company? then follow the CEO Ben Huh or CTO Scott Porad or simply look for people on Twitter that work there and see if they Tweet about job openings. If nothing else you will get an idea of what is important to the company and/or to them and that will give you an advantage in Cover Letters, Resumes and Interviews.

Also, there are whole profiles devoted to job searching. Follow @Microjobs and see what he tweets out. And if you are feeling particularly brave tweet "I want a job at @<company>" and see if anyone responds.

Use Twitter to gain intelligence for the interviews too. Often the fires of the day will appear on the Twitter account of workers there. You can use that information when interviewing like "Remember last week when your Gold Position fell in value and your hedge did not kick in?" Something like that demonstrates you care about them and know about them.

Finally there are the Twitter Search engines devoted to finding jobs. TwitJobSearch is one such example. Google twitter job search and see what comes up.

Phone interview tip: stand up

Phone interviews are difficult for many on the Spectrum as it introduces a flat sounding medium between us and the interviewer (although in some cases that might be a help). There are dozens of tips floating around out there about how to make a phone interview go well; some are easier than others.

One quick thing I have heard, tried, passed on and received great feedback on is to stand during the phone interview. It stretches out the diaphragm and strengthens the voice. I started doing that for business calls too and it has been helpful.

One thing though, don't pace. Once I became out of breath from nervously walking and had to answer questions about that.

Social Media: LinkedIn Tips

For those of you with a LinkedIn account here is a list of 10 tips that help increase the success and impact of your LinkedIn Account when doing a job search.

http://blog.linkedin.com/2009/04/02/ten-tips-to-enhance-your-job-search-on-linkedin/

Another Department of Labor resource for your job search

Yet another Department of Labor resource for your career search: http://www.careeronestop.org/

Offers various pages on job searching, resumes, interviewing, researching your career and people/places that can help.

Dude, I'm An Aspie: Dreams or Happiness

Dude, I'm An Aspie.: Dreams or Happiness: "My job search is over. Earlier this week I accepted an offer, and I start July 1. "

Congratulations Dude!

Using social media in your job search

I will probably devote a few posts to social media in your job search so I think it makes sense to first list out the places I think you should start or curate your social presence.

You should have, at the least, an account with:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Facebook
• And a personal website

And make sure there is nothing embarrassing or unprofessional on any of these. Something outing you as to being on the ASD Spectrum is up to you but make sure the pictures of you pretending to be RollerGirl from Boogie Nights are removed.