Background

An important factor influencing career choices is the profile of the employability skills they demand. It may not be a good idea to decide to be a jockey if you are over 6 feet tall and you do not like horses. For this reason, it is important to identify your existing strengths and preferences, any training needs you may have and any challenges that are best avoided. This can be a tricky task as it is difficult to know where to start.

A commonly used way to start the process is to think about what you, or the person you support, enjoy and are good at. By thinking along these two dimensions you can categorise existing skills and preferences into four categories:

• Key skills are those skills that you enjoy using and are good at. When making decisions about potential careers you should look for options that rely heavily on these skills. These are the skills that you should look for in job descriptions, highlight on your CV and talk about during interviews.
• Developmental skills are those skills that you enjoy using but many not be very good at yet. To develop these skills you should look for volunteer or paid opportunities and suitable training courses . The goal here is to transform these from developmental to key skills.
• Auxiliary skills are those skills that you can do reasonably well but that you do not enjoy using. While you might still put these on your CV and pursue jobs that needs them, try to avoid choosing jobs that emphasise their use as you will find that using them regularly is difficult to do in the long term.
• Challenges are those skills that you do not enjoy using and you are not very good at. Everyone has weaknesses. While some challenges must be addressed so that they become auxiliary skills (e.g., writing an email) others may be avoided almost entirely by making the right career choices.

By categorising your individual strengths and preferences, and what you may need to improve, you are one step closer to finding the right choice for you.

Why is this relevant?

You can find many resources listing ideal jobs for people on the Autism Spectrum based on autistic strengths such as attention to detail. However, research consistently shows that every person on the Autism Spectrum is different and while many may have exceptional attention to detail, others do not. Some autistic people, like Temple Grandin, are excellent visual thinkers, but some others, like Donna Williams, are excellent writers. So, when choosing between career choices, you cannot rely on generic beliefs about autism, as they may not apply to you. For instance, not every person on the Autism Spectrum likes computers. So in finding the right career for you, it is crucial that you work out what you, or the person you support, enjoy and are confident doing, regardless of your autism diagnosis.

Some people on the Autism Spectrum, due to past negative experiences, may lack confidence. This often results in them underestimating their employability skills. Surprisingly, it is not rare to find that a graduate on the Autism Spectrum, for example, rate their written communication skills quite low despite having successfully completed numerous written assignments during their university degree. Therefore, you may want to consider asking others, such as family, friends or teachers, to help you with this task. You may also want to look for evidence of any skills you have acquired in the past in school (e.g., oral presentations, numeracy) or through hobbies (e.g., initiative in organising a society event) and work experience (e.g., completing tasks on time).

Practical tips

You may want to complete the following exercise to help you identify your skills profile:

• Start by reflecting on how good you are, and how much you enjoy applying, the following skills:
  • Written communication skills, verbal communication skills, decision making skills, research skills, work ethic, flexibility and adaptability, imagination and creativity, social and interpersonal skills, information communication technology (ICT), initiative, drive for learning and development, numeracy, planning and organising, problem solving, specialist subject knowledge, teamwork, tolerance for stress and practical skills.
• Now draw a table that has four cells:
  • Key skills: Write down here the skills you enjoy applying AND you are good at.
  • Auxiliary skills: Write down here the skills you DO NOT enjoy applying so much BUT you are good at.
  • Developmental skills: Write down here the skills you enjoy applying BUT you are not so good at.
  • Challenges: Write down here the skills you DO NOT enjoy applying so much AND you are not so good at

You have now identified where your skills fall. You can use these as a guide to choose what sort of career or jobs you may enjoy, but also are likely to excel.

• For those jobs you may be considering, find out if your keys skills and auxiliary skills match those listed in job descriptions for those jobs. You can find job descriptions for most jobs online.
• If alternatively, the type of job you are considering requires skills which fall under your Developmental skills, consider developing an action plan to enhance them (i.e., what can you do to improve these skills — work experience, volunteering, etc.).
• Make sure you keep a document or folder with all these information as it will be useful for writing job applications.
• Remember to revisit this exercise at regular intervals to keep track of how your skills have developed.

Additional information and links

The National Autistic Society digital Workbook provides excellent advice on how to prepare for work, identifying strengths and challenges. You can download this workbook here. There is a useful activity to identify strengths and challenges in pages 27-28 and 46-48.

Acknowledgements

Adapted from Lantz, C., Croucher, K., & Duncan, A. (2012). Psychology student employability guide.

You may want to read after

• Which are your work values?
• Shaping career choices