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I’ve made a few blog posts about a vocational program that I thought would help me get a job. Although I left after 2 months due to the stress the coach was putting on me,
these are things the coach did not teach us at least when I was there. I feel these are the things you need to know before applying for jobs. They jumped right into the interview. I feel these things should have been a top priority before even mentioning interviews. It’s possible everyone else in the group knew these things since they’ve previously worked. I wouldn’t know since I’ve never had a job. I’ve applied and never got a call back for an interview.
1. Researching The company
I feel it’s important to research the company before you apply. You want to steer clear of scams. Since scammers will take advantage of desperate job seekers. You want to make sure
the company has a good reputation. If they suggest you pay to apply, that is a scam right there. Employers will never ask for money to give you a job. In general, it’s important to know the company before you apply. Also, the coach never taught hints the company is dodgy looking at their website. Even if those people already knew because they previously worked, the coach still should have taught these things since scammers are getting smarter.
2. Spotting misleading job ads/companies not telling the truth about their requirements
This is also important as well. I remember I reported to the coach I applied for a porter position at Culver’s, whatever she clicked on said I’d be removing snow, what I clicked on had no mention of snow. Basically a maintenance job. What I clicked on had no mention of maintenance tasks. So what we looked at did not match.
Or I could have simply misunderstood what the task was implying. Sometimes the job description lists one thing, you actually start the job and you’re doing stuff you didn’t apply for.
Perhaps if the coach didn’t assume not applying meant I was not committed to the program, I could have taken more time to double-check to see if the job description was the same in other places.
Some employers may list their open spots on job apps like Indeed, Monster, etc. So the coach could have gone on Indeed and saw the snow removal while I went on the official website and didn’t see anything about snow. Or maybe there was a link listing more info on the position that I overlooked. See why it’s important to teach how to verify what you’re seeing is correct? This is just an example of why I feel we did not see the same thing. If someone can’t tell the truth about the job and everything you will be doing, why should you work for someone like that?
Also employers put things like ‘must be able to life 30LBS’ for the sole purpose of driving away disabled people.
3. How to research a company’s turnover rate
Turnover rate is the % of people that resign during a certain period. If so many people are quitting, that should tell you something about the company. Amazon’s turnover
rate is high as a kite.
If you are trying to teach about jobs, these are the things I feel are important before you even apply for the job. The company could be notorious for firing people for no reason.
Working for someone that can fire you whenever they feel like it is way risker.
In my opinion, a ‘normal’ job is riskier than Youtube/Twitch, etc. Both come with risks, however, I feel ‘normal’ jobs are risker. You’re putting your faith in someone who can fire you when they feel like it.
Unless you are lucky and can quickly switch jobs, you’re one misfortune away from homelessness. At least if you are diversifying your income and ad revenue drops on YouTube, you still have other sources to fall back on. Also, people who worked ‘normal’ jobs were at greater risk of getting COVID from people who refuse to mask up.
I read somewhere an employee was KILLED for telling a patron to wear a mask. I see stories of employees being physically assaulted for enforcing the store’s rules. if you wanna brawl, do it what the owner THEY make the rules NOT the employee. My mom wanted me to work in retail so. I will not be assaulted/have my life cut short for enforcing the mask law.
4. Red Flags During The Interview
This is also important. For instance, if they cancel the interview/running late and don’t care to let you know. Questions they should not be asking you in the interview.
For instance, asking you if you plan on having kids, could be used against you should you request maternity/paternity leave. Although the coach went over the questions they will ask you, I don’t recall her going over what they should not be asking you. Especially if you’re disabled, we need to know the red flag questions
Better yet, signs to decline the job. Signs that the company is shady/poor quality are especially important.
Then again, the folks in the group had work experience so they most likely knew these things. I had no experience. I feel I was not placed in the right group. Why put someone, who has never had a job with a group of people who previously have? Still, this info can be a refresher depending on how long they’ve been out of work due to their disability.
I feel these programs need to do a survey to see what you need help on and use that survey as an idea instead of just throwing everyone in the same group.
I feel I should have been placed in a group with people with no work experience. If they had such a thing.
Final Thoughts
Different folks have different struggles, it seems like this club assumed everyone’s struggle is the same.
For me at least, programs like this are useless. This program did nothing to help me. The coach never communicated and said ’email me x amount of times a week about XYZ’ Why should I join a club where the coach can’t bother to properly communicate how often they want you to contact them?
‘Try to fill out 5 applications a week’ now you can’t improperly communicate what you expect from someone and act so confused when they don’t do it. Note that my short-term memory is bad. The coach should have made note of that and emailed me reminders/ a short summary of each meeting. I believe I mentioned my poor memory since the ableist counselor who refused to believe I’m autistic said I could request to write my tasks down. That won’t work because if the person goes too fast, I will miss what else you’re saying while I am writing.
Closing Statement
This coach wanted to get on me for not applying for enough jobs and not emailing her enough when she never made it clear how many times she expected an email or how many applications to fill out. I mean she said to apply for jobs. Never had a precise number of applications but was so confused when I wasn’t applying for enough jobs.
Autistic people require direct instructions (e.g. buy me 5 bottles of water by Ice Mountain) so the coach was never specific with the applications and emails. That’s not my fault you can’t properly communicate what you expect from someone.
Don’t act surprised when you’re not getting what you expect when you don’t care to be direct with what you need. It’s like this coach expected me to guess.
Sorry about that. I don’t think these programs are what they claim to be.
What I should have done. When I asked my mom about these people and she didn’t know anything about them, I should have asked for the number and called myself and asked if they helped
autistic adults find jobs they could handle with the proper environment. If it seemed like they didn’t, I should have canceled my appointment and I would have avoided all of that stress.
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