<p>I’ve posted before on the LD sub-board but I am also posting here to get more parental input.</p>
<p>I am a 25 year old female who graduated from a top LAC (Wellesley) two years ago and still don’t have a job. I have cerebral palsy connected to premature birth and a very significant learning disability secondary to that. Physically, I walk on my own two feet, without any aids, however, I limp and have a characteristic gait. I also tire quickly from walking and standing. Although I’ve always had difficulties in school, I’ve always gotten very good grades due to excruciating effort and very serious attitude towards school. As a result, I wasn’t formally identified as LD until college when I got tested of my own initiative as college had become unbearable. Wellesley was way above my head academically, I struggled immensely, barely graduated, and did not learn anything there. Looking back, I should have chosen a less rigorous college, but try telling that to a prestige-obsessed me as a teenager. My major was Linguistics which was totally wrong for me due to the reading load and the very abstract nature of the subject. I did not change it because I started my major classes late and wouldn’t have graduated had I decided to change it.</p>
<p>Now I am trying to apply to jobs (mostly administrative jobs) but these jobs are above my head. As a result, on interviews, employers sense that I can’t handle these jobs or would need a very long training/adjustment period and don’t hire me. In addition, my lack of confidence in my abilities on interviews exacerbates the situation. I am being helped by my state’s Voc. Rehab. but so far without success. (I am thinking of switching to a supported employment program which my DVE recommended from the start, but I balked at the stigma). In addition to administrative jobs, I am now trying to apply to libraries and bookstores, but again, without success.</p>
<p>To give you an idea of my cognitive abilities, on the SAT, I got a 1350 (680V 670M) and on the neuropsych. on WAIS III tested with a Verbal IQ 135, Performance IQ 73 and a full scale IQ of around 105 (although FSIQ wasn’t reported due to huge scatter).</p>
<p>I suggest looking for jobs that leverage your strengths (tech writing? editing? research?) rather than jobs that emphasize your weaknesses. A sales job is probably not for you, and an administrative job would also be difficult. From reading your previous posts, I see that you have a profile similar to people with Aspergers, so I suggest researching jobs recommended for Aspies. Think about what you do well, and then try to figure out how to get paid for it.</p>
<p>During these tough economic times, you have to turn over every rock and a supported employment program which could give you job skills, experience and confidence should not be dismissed out of hand. </p>
<p>PS: You didn’t learn anything at Wellesley??</p>
<p>What about tele sales? I’d focus on the high verbal IQ and see if you can get career counseling to point you in the direction of careers where the related skill set is the focus.</p>
<p>Although it sounds like an overstatement, I did not learn anything at Wellesley. The classes were so hard that I did not master anything, just coped to graduate. Also, the majority of my classes were humanities which meant reading dense journal article on abstract topics and writing papers rather than taking tests where I had to learn a certain body of material.</p>
<p>I did take science and math my freshman year and because of the quality of my competition, my grades in it weren’t great.</p>
<p>I agree career counseling as well as a supported employment program- experience is always good.</p>
<p>While you would likely not be successful in jobs that just looked at your coursework in college without taking other considerations into account- your degree is still valuable as many jobs require a degree for application, even if the degree is not required to do the work.</p>
<p>Your determination will contribute to your success, but you will need to adjust your thinking to smaller goals- one step at a time.</p>
<p>Holiday shopping season is upon us. Perhaps you could consider temporary employment at a local department store like Target or Walmart for the holiday shopping season. They can use the help and you could use the employment experience. Take what you learn from that experience and use it when you begin to work your way up the employment ladder.</p>
<p>What you learned was how to read dense, hard-to-understand material, to understand it and to write coherently about it. Those skills, along with research skills, are the crux of what a liberal arts education is trying to teach you. </p>
<p>Those are great skills. Don’t sell them short just because you are having a hard time finding that first job.</p>
<p>Shucks. I think that since the economy is in the toilet, you should just jump on the Vocational Rehabilitation offer. I truly think that because if you are fortunate to live where an organization like that as well as its subgroups (for lack of a better way of putting it) are fully funded, then you have a nice foundation for a good beginning with employment. </p>
<p>See, I have fair employment while at University and I even tutor on the side. But, I can empathize with making the transition from being at University towards entering the working world. It will be hard, but you have some fine schooling and a good will. Just work things out nicely and good things will follow. Go with the supported employment and work your way up. </p>
<p>Here are two job ideas from off the top of my noggin…</p>
<h1>1 Personally, I think that you could work at a newspaper really easily. You could work in the obit department, as sad as that sounds, because there are state laws about everything having to be verified and in writing for obits and you have mad wicked capabilities in the areas of reading and writing. You would kick butt in a job like that or in other areas of the newspaper world as well.</h1>
<h1>2 I also think that you would do really well working under a research librarian at a University. There are always folks in those places who have your type of schooling and skills, but I do not know the technical name for it offhand.</h1>
<p>Those are just two options that you could explore on the side while working with that employment place and stuff. </p>
<p>You hang in there and keep the faith. You are a full on graduate of one of the finest schools in the country, honey, and do not forget that. I know that most folks who will interview you won’t!!</p>
<p>If you got to choose a job, what would you like to do? Work with/not with people, be creative, work with figures, manage others, work alone, work with/not with children?</p>
<p>OP, I want to tell you something… I know you don’t believe me but Wellesley was NOT over your head! You had SATs in the high 600s and a Verbal IQ in the Superior or Very Superior range. You graduated and Wellesley is a very hard school. I have a very bright coworker who graduated from there and says it took everything she had to get through. Don’t sell yourself short. The job market is awful. It doesn’t sound like you have much work experience and, given the opportunity, many employers will discriminate against a handicapped applicant. </p>
<p>One job area you may want to explore is paralegal. It seems to me that it may be a good fit based on your knowledge of analytical reading, your research ability and your need for a job without tremendous physical requirements. Perhaps you will eventually decide to go into law.</p>
<p>If you do pursue paralegal jobs, you might want to focus on law firms that have a practice involved with the special needs community. As a parent of a child with special needs, I know that related estate work, trust work and guardianship are crucial. I always note when the professional service firms we deal with employ individuals with challenges like yours. Your presence at a law firm would inspire many parents to think about maximizing their child’s potential.</p>
<p>My cousin who worked as a paralegal for 2.5 years after college(and still works as one now on a part-time basis) before starting law school also believes I can do this job. However, all my Voc. Rehab. counselors believe that this is absolutely a wrong job for me. I was told paralegals work 80 hour weeks, the job is extremely challenging, you are under pressure all the time, and that I would hate it. I also get an impression that it’s a competitive field to enter as all the paralegal job ads require recent college graduates to have at least a 3.5 GPA and I certainly don’t qualify.</p>
<p>As far as employers discriminating on the basis of my disability, I don’t believe it is the case. Some employers don’t even notice my abnormal gait and many of those who notice don’t make a connection between my gait and the brain (cerebral palsy). I think they get an impression of someone timid, of mediocre ability, who needs a quite, less stressful job and would have a long learning curve and require lots of time to train. I would do anything to rid of my LD, but it’s totally beyond my control. I’ve accomplished lots given the cards I’ve been dealt, but it’s impossible to undo the brain damage. I just need to figure out how to have a happy, fulfilling life.</p>
<p>P.S. I realize that it’s pointless to continue this thread indefinitely, but I am at a loss now and have few people besides the Voc. Rehab. I work with to get helpful advice.</p>
<p>Paralegal work is often stressful and requres admin skills - - two things OP doesn’t want. Librarian might be a great job for OP, but that will require an advanced degree - - so not a job available to OP now (OP also said she has applied, w/o much success, to jobs in libraries and bookstores). </p>
<p>Research sounds good - - but even limiting your search to small orgs and those ithat serve the special needs community, the competition will be keen for entry level research jobs (jobs for those w/ BAs only). </p>
<p>OP, why do you find admin jobs difficult? Also, for what library/bookstore positions have you applied and do you have any idea why you were not hired for these jobs? (If the libraries are hiring those with MLS to work as “assistants,” there’s not much you can do.)</p>
<p>Are you volunteering with any organization? I would suggest picking an organization that appeals to you and picking up the phone and offering office assistance or some type of work that will help you build work skills and confidence when you interview. Most organizations need office workers. Most organizations are very grateful for pro bono volunteers and most organizations do have some amazing people in positions that might be able to help mentor you. Unless it interests you greatly, I would not even suggest that the organization needs to be involved in cerebral palsy or some other “disabilities.” Maybe even find something that aligns closer with whatever you “thought” you might do when you graduated a couple years ago. You don’t say if you are currently working, or thinking about getting some paraprofessional schooling or how much time you have during the day or how you are “supporting yourself”, but if you’ve got normal (8-5) working hours time, this might help launch you into something. Plus it is a fantastic way to network to find a job.</p>
<p>OP has talked about her disabilities in other threads. She will not do well in a job that requires the ability to multitask, strong organization skills, and/or performance under time pressure. She would do wonderfully well on a job that requires focussed work on one project, especially a project involving writing, since, as we can see, she has strong writing skills. That’s why I thought of some kind of contract writing.</p>
<p>I haven’t read the other posts (presumably on the LD board), but perhaps OP should focus on the office setting more than job title. </p>
<p>For example, I work in a small division where there are few time pressures. My colleagues and I spend most of the day researching and writing. There are few phone interruptions and little interaction with the public; all of our client-contact is by mail. The work of one of the other divisions is completely different: constant pressure/deadlines, and constant face-to-face interaction with clients and other agencies. </p>
<p>Most of my colleagues are totally overwhelmed by the other divisions chaotic practice. Most the folks in the other division would go stir-crazy in my office and would never get anything done becasue there are few external deadlines. Our job titles, however, are identical.</p>