It has been claimed that graduate jobseekers with ‘neuro-diverse’ disabilities are not receiving enough support from universities and the government to help them into work, as competition for graduate jobs remains tough.
Graduate Fog is also concerned that employers may be using the over-supply of graduates as a reason to ‘cherry pick’ candidates without these disabilities over those with the same qualifications who may be slightly disadvantaged because of their condition.
The alarm has been raised by a Fogger who contacted me to share his story.
“Tariq” claims that thousands of neuro-diverse graduates — with conditions including dyslexia, Asperger’s, ADD, Tourette’s, dyspraxia and mild austism — are slipping through cracks in the system.
He says that much of the existing support for young people with conditions like his (Asperger’s and dyspraxia) is designed for helping non-graduates – not graduates – to find work.
“The job centre will help disabled non-graduates but not disabled graduates,” he says. “Disabled non-graduates are allowed to go on WORKSTEP [a programme which supports disabled jobseekers]. But disabled graduates receive very little support.”
Tariq says he’d disgusted that his university was happy to accept thousands of pounds of his money, when they must have known all along that they are failing to deliver proper after-care to young people like him who will need extra help to make their qualification ‘pay’ once they graduate.
“It is a disgrace that universities are charging us huge fees – which they plan to increase – while providing so little support to graduates with disabilities,” he says.
Tariq says his job search has been severely hampered by his dyspraxia and Asperger’s syndrome, which were not diagnosed until after completing his studies.
Since then, he has struggled to find work other than casual maths tutoring and market research interviews, which he does from home, where he lives with his parents. He earns £200 to £500 per month.
This is despite having a BSc(Hons) in Mathematics & Computer Science from Birmingham university, a PGDip in a Mathmatical Finance discipline from City University and an additional professional qualification in Statistics.
Tariq admits he was unprepared for how tough life would be outside the uni ‘bubble’.
“I was unrealistic about my chances — definitely,” he says. “Originally, I wanted to work in accountancy or actuarial work — I assumed this would be easy because I was a graduate.”
He went into his postgraduate studies feeling wiser — but was disappointed again when the job market nose-dived straight after he qualified. “I hoped to find a job in IT as a computer programmer or web developer but the IT job market declined rapidly and competition was just too tough.”
He says he’s lost count of the number of job applications he’s submitted, which have included Tesco’s graduate training scheme, the government statistical service, business analyst at Churchill and web developer at a web design company. His conditions mean he’s not suitable for sales or manual work, but he has applied for call centre jobs. “I passed the spelling test but failed the interview,” he says.
All graduates find the application process daunting — but Tariq says he has found it particularly challenging, especially assessment centres.
“I have good qualifications and the psychometric tests generally cause me no problems. My only real difficulty caused by my Aspergers is not having excellent communication skills — so interviews can be tricky and I find assessment centres very stressful. It takes me a bit of extra time to process instructions.”
He knows plenty of other neuro-diverse graduates who are struggling to find — and keep — jobs.
“Most people I know with these conditions say they struggle with interviews and assessment centres,” he says. “A friend with dyspraxia and mild Asperger’s lost his job on a graduate training scheme after being told he was too slow. I’m not sure of the exact stats, but I’ve heard that only 25% of graduates with Asperger’s have full-time jobs and 10% are employed part-time. That would certainly fit with my group of friends.”
Tariq has called on universities modernise their approach to helping disabled graduates with their job search. “The careers advice I received was terrible, unclear and focussed almost exclusively on the big graduate training schemes. The staff clearly had very little knowledge or training about my disabilities.”
His experiences with his local job centre have been similarly disappointing — he describes it as “almost useless” and says the disability employment advisor said she couldn’t help him because he was a graduate. “She was unfriendly, knew very little about what my disabilities meant in real terms — and insisted that I did not need her support.”
Tariq says the Dyspraxia Foundation referred him back to the job centre and the National Autistic Society won’t allow him to use the services for graduates, as he left full-time education several years ago. They will only place him in low-paying admin jobs with no prospects, he says.
Tariq now aims to complete an MSc in Statistics, which he hopes will lead to a job at a university or abroad. In the meantime, he continues to scour newspapers and online job boards daily for suitable vacancies.
But his difficulties finding work have led to gaps on his work history, which he suspects make his CV off-putting to employers — thereby adding to his problems. He admits he is “not confident” about the future.
“The combination of so many qualifications but very little experience seems to trigger concern from recruiters. I know big gaps on my CV look bad — but how am I supposed to fill them when nobody will give me a chance?”
*Do you have a disability that makes job hunting extra difficult?
Is there enough support and advice available to you – from your university and job centre? What have your experiences been with recruiters? What do you feel your chances are of landing a job that reflects your qualifications?
As a freelance journalist with dyspraxia, and a fellow ‘boomerang child’ (living with parents) I really feel for the author of this piece. My dyspraxia affects both the kinds of work I can do outside of my qualified field and the kinds of work I can do within that field. Most high-level jobs call for a certain amount of flexibility and adaptability – people with Specific Learning Difficulties by definition don’t have because their comfort zone and their weakness zone are so explicitly defined. The saddest thing about my particular sector is that if you are well-connected you can very easily get a job with or without a disability. Without naming names, I know of incidences where graduates with Specific Learning Differences have got around the barriers these conditions present by having rich, high-profile parents in politics or the media. In some cases, they’ve even managed to evade being formally labelled because of it. I didn’t have that option. After completing a postgrad journalism course in 2007, I went into what was billed as a subbing job but turned out to be high-level administration, which is very difficult for dyspraxics, and had to disclose. I was eventually dismissed on capability grounds, and have since been a conference speaker and freelance copywriter for an organisation which helps adults with Specific Learning Difficulties in the workplace. I am also doing a part-time Diploma in supporting learners with dyslexia. Unfortunately there are barriers even now as I am struggling to find enough work to pay for the course and am too old for most sources of financial support. Most funding bodies assume – understandably – that I am old enough and qualified enough to support myself by now. I wish that were the case. To the author: I really hope things work out for you, you have my utmost empathy.
Just to add – I’ve fortunately had a bit more sympathy from Disability Employment Advisors at my local Job Centre than the author of this piece. At my initial appointment, one said I was the most well-organised candidate he’d ever seen! Unfortunately they can’t create jobs which are not there – and they know next to nothing about competitive, word-of-mouth sectors such as media.
@Maxine
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences – they seem to confirm what Tariq says about how he feels people like him are slipping through the cracks of the current system. It seems as though you are directing your frustration squarely at the hiring culture of the media sector, is that fair to say? If so, do you not feel that your uni could have done more to prepare you for the difficulties of life after graduation? You say you graduated a little while ago, so perhaps you weren’t in quite so much debt as today’s crowd are… But if you’d graduated this year (in £23k of debt) how do you think you would have felt?
I am concerned that it is borderline unethical to take thousands of pounds of a disabled students’ money, leading them to believe they have as much chance as anybody of getting a job in their chosen field, when this is simply not the case. Although, as you say, careers people can’t magic jobs out of nowhere – nor can they tackle a national prejudice against disability, so perhaps I’m being a bit harsh on them?!
Obviously I’m not suggesting that universities stop disabled people from applying to places on courses like media – as that would clearly be horrific discrimination! – but then again, I can’t help feeling that unis do have some kind of a duty to explain how difficult it will be to make these qualifications ‘pay’ in the long term… Then again, I think they should do this with ALL graduates, not just those with disabilities!
You probably saw that I wrote about this a while ago: Are there too many media graduates?
“It seems as though you are directing your frustration squarely at the hiring culture of the media sector, is that fair to say?”
I didn’t want to come over as vindictive. I blame myself as much as anyone for not realising the implications dyspraxia would have for my career. My undergraduate degree university (Durham) were immensely supportive of me during difficult times so I wouldn’t blame them for a thing. Most of my time there was taken up with trying to get a degree, get into a good journalism school and beat depression, and I didn’t really think beyond that.
My postgraduate university, where I did the journalism course, might be more culpable but I don’t think any of them quite understood what my dyspraxia meant and, because the course content played to my strengths (written and verbal communication), I was largely only judged upon those. Having said that, it does wind me up a great deal that the recent alumni they seem to invite back to give talks are the handful who scored first jobs for very prestigious media organisations (one of whom’s father is the MD of one). It can’t be denied that on some level this gives students the impression that this is what’s a) expected of them and b) likely to achieved by them. I also wish we’d been told more about freelancing, which was sort of presented as something we’d do in the distant future once we’d been on staff for a long time – I’ve never had a staff job in print or online journalism and have only ever written on a freelance basis.
@Maxine
I never said anything about you coming across as ‘vindictive’! ; ) I totally agree that things are much easier for those who have connections – although in my experience of journalism (specifically women’s mags) that’s not enough to get someone a permanent, paid job – they’ll have had to do their time doing internships etc too… But of course those are easier to hear about – and fund – if you come from the ‘right’ background.
I just thought it was interesting that you feel the problem is the endemic nepotism that exists within the media industry, rather than with any mis-communication (either intended or unintended) between students and universities.
Your latest post expands on this, which I think is also interesting. You are right that there is an inherent problem here with careers presentations – of course students only going to hear from those who have gone on to make a success of themselves in their chosen field! But then that could be seen as mis-representative of what happens to a ‘typical’ journalism grad. You never hear from all those who struggled for years and then changed tack to do something else, before they lost their marbles completely!
I think I probably belong more in the latter camp, if I’m honest. Although on paper I’ve been a successful writer – regular bylines in Cosmo, Glamour etc – I decided to change my path and concentrate on Graduate Fog. There were many reasons for this (I LOVE running this site!), but one of them was definitely that I realised I couldn’t fight the way the market is going – and in sincerely believe that anybody pursuing print journalism is in for a very rough ride in the next few years… I think discussion of this is interesting and should be encouraged. If you’re hitting a brick wall with your ‘dream career’ and it’s making you miserable – is it still your ‘dream’? Deciding to do investigate other paths that play to your strengths is in no way a failure – it’s just a question of choosing to be happy and stop struggling against the tide…
I’ve just RT’d an interesting article about this actually – did you see it?
“4 reasons to give up your dream career”
@Tanya You’re right about internships. I wasn’t precise enough in defining the value of nepotism, ie that it doesn’t necessarily directly lead to a permanent job but it makes finding and funding internships easier. The other crucial thing being well-connected gets you is confidence. Someone with a family background in a profession is always going to feel more comfortable and have a greater sense of entitlement going into that profession than someone without. I think this is true even in less competitive sectors like education, which my family background is in. Thanks for the link; it’s an interesting piece and I think the points it makes are very valuable, especially the one about industry changes. I’m not sure what its implications are for my situation. I literally can’t think of anything in the world I could possibly do that doesn’t involve writing on some level. I may need SEN teaching as a steady income and I love connecting with youngsters but I will always want to write books and articles, it’s just a matter of what kind. At the moment with freelancing I’m trying to build a couple of niches for myself in education (especially higher ed) and in disability. I think your decision to concentrate on GF rather than women’s consumer titles is a great one (I’m not keen on most of them so anything else would always be my preferred path but that’s another matter). If you need any help with Graduate Fog I’m certainly happy to offer it in any way I can…I’ve got ten years of basic web design experience on top of a keen interest and background in the subjects concerned. Apologies for harping on and for the public self-promo – email me in reply if you’d rather! (I can DM you the addy on twitter).
A lot of people are diagnosed as adults. There are different degrees and combinations of conditions.
http://www.danda.org.uk/pages/focus–articles/conclusion-of-a-dissertation-on-graduates-with-nd-in-the-workplace.php
Charities, the Government and the N.H.S tend to focus on children.
Tariq – you’re absolutely right on both those counts. When my own career is in better shape I would very much like to write a book of advice (similar to Tanya’s ‘Dude, Where’s my Career?’) aimed at neurodiverse graduates.
There’s a similar crisis faced by graduates with mental health problems. When I was diagnosed as bipolar 18 months ago, I had no idea how adversely it would affect my employment situation. Despite the fact that it’s an ongoing condition which certainly affects my day-to-day life, no one is quite sure whether it should count as a disability and therefore be recognised under the disability discrimination act. Therefore, discrimination against people with mental illness seems socially acceptable, where similar attitudes towards other minority groups are illegal. For example, many employers openly state that they will not employ people with mental health issues, grouping everyone with anything from mild depression to severe schizophrenia into one big unemployable lump. There’s usually a helpful box to tick — usually under the section about being a criminal — should you wish to declare yourself part of this unemployable lump and immediately lose any chance you ever had of getting an interview. Imagine if this box said ‘Are you homosexual?’ There would be outrage! But because it says ‘have you ever suffered from any mental illness?’ it must be OK, because all such people are dangerous, or unreliable, or incompetent, or just plain lazy.
Now, I fully appreciate that there are some jobs for which I wouldn’t be best suited. Serving in the armed forces, for example. But I am fully capable of holding down a desk job. As it is, I have lost count of the number of applications I’ve sent off — the vast majority for below graduate level jobs — and I’ve yet to have an interview. Even my local office temp agency turned me down, despite having a good degree, work experience etc.
So, where was that bit I was just reading about lying on job applications..?
I also suffer from mental illness and generally declare it on any monitoring form as a disability. However, in my experience those aren’t viewed by interviewers, only by HR; I was under the impression than this was a legislative requirement to avoid discrimination but may be wrong. They are usually intended simply to check applicant demographics – on the one occasion I was involved in recruitment I never saw them. I have also, incidentally, been asked about my sexuality on a similar form and declared that too. I got the job!
Congratulations, Lauren! If only all employers were so honest and open-minded. I’d imagine practices vary, depending on which sector you are applying to. I know there is a difference between equality monitoring and general application questions, and I maintain that on several occasions the mental health issue has been in the general application section, along with a statement that any illness will disqualify you from the selection process.
Of course I have been asked about my gender, sexuality, religion etc etc on the equality forms and have no problem answering as I have nothing to hide. However, how confidential they really are depends on how competent the relevant HR department are. On the one occasion I did work experience in that field the ‘please detach me super-confidential equality form’ was actually left – purposefully or not – as the first page of the application, so the first thing you saw was the applicant’s age, gender, race, religion and disability status. I know on at least one occasion this influenced the final decision. I suppose its down to how much you trust the integrity of the firm as to how much you say.
Tariq and Maxine, I was so disappointed to hear about what you have been experiencing. I do think the current economic climate has allowed employers almost everywhere to invent reasons not to play fair, to cherry pick based upon ridiculous and irrelevant requirements, and to cover up discriminatory practices. There is a lot of talk from government offices about getting people off benefits and into jobs that will support them, but not much support for the people who are actively trying to do that!
I dealt with this back in April!
It is the fault of educational psychologists in many instances who are part of the do gooding industry.
They slaver something about people with physical and especially neurological disabilities (in many instances before application) being “university material” when they know nothing about the world of real recruitment.(The road to hell is paved with good intentions?)
(They also often speak in forked overjargoned tounges instead of no nonsense terms and its no suprise psychology can be considered a bit of a joke by the medical profession with the possible exception of neuro-psychology.)
They say that such people can only look forward to menial employment or permanent unemployment without qualifications but if the IQ testing says otherwise “above average ability” and “university material” what in terms of how the world works is that supposed to really mean?
Do they mean: “Oh the odds of getting a REAL career EVEN with a very good degree drop from impossible to just the highly improbable”?
In which case as far as getting a job with especially a graduate employer is concerned saying somebody like that is “university material” is a bit like saying a paraplegic is sprint runner material.(Dangerous idiots.)
Its also the fault of a loony overexpansion of higher education as well as incompetent/indifferent university career services and the university departments themselves not having more responsibility that their graduates can be placed somewhere worthwhile to get them started.
It should be asked of those in the do gooding industry:
Would it get him or her into something like the higher civil service, a graduate traineeship or management consultancy; anything that WOULD pay significantly more than the minimum wage and add a premium to future possible earnings?
(And not just a job for spivs really like sales and recruitment dressed up as a graduate job that doesen’t use a disabled graduates skills from university properly.)
If the answer to that was either no or they don’t know then surely the curt reply should have been:
“Excuse me I thought you knew what you were talking about!
If graduate recruitment at any time does not give openings for people based on what they are as opposed to what they are not then those who even suggest as an option should be villified for their crimes against common sense.
They make fools of people who should NOT be made fools of and reveal themselves in time as having been the REAL FOOLS!
I think life is better than having a degree as opposed to being a non – graduate.
What options are there for non – graduates ?
Retail, call centre, administration – those options are not suitable for dyspraxics, the few secured choices, without a degree there would be hardly any options
The options for such people should be actual ones with a degree as oppossed to theorectical ones and it is insulting if actual possibilities are so inverse proportion to the almost superhuman effort inlvolved in getting a degree in many instances for such poeople.
(As well as the cost.If the degree is given back can a refund be given for the cost of it?)
The market for non rubbish positions is effectively closed in my experience so the blame should be put at the door of those who deal with such people as I said in the do gooding industry for even suggesting it!
“I see so and so who has the same qualification as myself climbing the career ladder without apparent effort. I expect from having worked hard that the same thing is remotely possible for myself!End of!”
Or should be if idiots like educational psychologists really know what they are talking about.
(One that I saw would probably say a vegetable in my kitchen was “university material”.)
I thought it was supposed to be about empowerment instead of disempowerment of people with disabilities of any kind as if the opportunities are so crap without a degree then equally if it makes no real difference having a degree why even encourage such people to bother with GCSE’s?
Why even require them to go to School?
I am a 35 year old Business Studies Graduate with Asperger Syndrome and Diabeties. I can frankly count the number of years I have worked on the fingers of one hand.
I receive little support from anyone and I am getting desperate. If you go with a Supported Employment Scheme frankly its why don’t you take a job that no one in the right mind would do with unsocial hours and low pay.
Every Year including this I have done hours and hours of voluntary work that hasn’t ever covered my travel costs in fact has been total cost to me for months on end and I am still getting no where, Frankly its getting to the point were I am starting to feel like I way as well be dead.
I live in North West England so the situation is even worse than for most in a town thats Working Class entwined and were there are few Graduate Jobs or Jobs of any type in any case since the last Coal Mine Closed in 1992.
The last time I was interviewed I was told that I was second in the list and that I had missed the job by Three Marks and thatw as for a Council Job, now thanks to the Conservatives there is no chance of that and Private Employers never respond to my letters. I am getting really tired and really fed up with it all especially this attack by the UK Conservative Party on me who seem to assume I can wish up a job from nowhere just with the click of a finger, I really do hate Politicians interfearing and telling me what to do when they make the Employers the way they are and effectively support discrimination by them.
Then there is another point to bare in mind, how many jobs do the Disability Organisations that support us, eg People like the National Autistic Society and Diabeties UK, Scope and Cancer Research etc catually take on into Senior Positions, yet they expect othesr to do so, so unless they change and Employers point of view who is not in that field is obviously going to be “Well Why Should We”. They need to start by having a book that excludes None Disbaility Applicants for certain posts in order to re-address the balance.
I really do feel fed up, sick and tired of this whole Country and I hate it.
“Then there is another point to bare in mind, how many jobs do the Disability Organisations that support us, eg People like the National Autistic Society and Diabeties UK, Scope and Cancer Research etc catually take on into Senior Positions, yet they expect others to do so.”
That’s part of what I mean by the “do gooding industry”.
People who claim to have any powers of knowledge/ competence like educational psychologists saying so and so has this problem but the are cabable of a university education except when it comes to the non crap job its revealed what dangerous idiots they really are.
(They said you were up to a degree and the options would be crap to none existent without so if it dosen’t give a return on investment their the fools.And they should be punished for it.)
Real graduate employers would just laugh at them.
Plus hangers on as you’ve said that seem to get jobs in these various do gooding disability organisations when they quite obviously haven’t a clue who or what they are dealing with.
Do they have medical/psychological qualifications? Do they have anyone in their family or (especially senior) colleagues on the same payroll that have these issues?
Are many of them otherwise not really like life long tee totallers running Alchoholics Annonymous? What do they REALLY KNOW about it?
(Somehow I don’t think they would be very pleased how they would be treated if they had a bad brain injury turning their lives upside down instead of it being somebody elses’s problem they can switch off from when at home and watch Coronation Street.)
Do they have a track record of getting people who have had these things since birth or something similar after an accident into good (well paying) sustainable jobs whatever their intelligence/qualifications?
Even bona fide professions?
I have no problem in principle with Ian Duncan Smith’s ideas where people on benefits without disabilties (hidden or otherwise) are concerned who are known acquantancies of HM prisons,druggies and pisshead loonies.(The sort that adorn the Jeremy Kyle show.)
For as long as those with proven issues like people here don’t get tarred with the same brush!
These are the one’s more targeted welfare spending should be focused on.
Just a little post script.
There is one possible exception to the previous comment about disability organisations and that is Remploy as they have an actual Disabled Graduate Employability Programme which I completed before I went away on holiday.
There’s no guarentee of a job at the end of it of course but it did impress me as being seemingly designed by people capable of joined up thinking who know WHAT disabled graduates want and expect like ALL other graduates.
(I have stuff from it in a ringbinder booklet that I am using as continuing food for thought.)
I think they are doing the university career services and job centres job for them!
All disabled graduates should look this up as a matter of PRIORITY at their local Remploy NOW!
The web address is:
http://www.remploy.co.uk/employmentservices/school-leavers-graduates/employability-programme.ashx
You could do worse and who knows maybe this time next year our dreams could be turned into reality!
@Giles
Sorry to hear you’re having such a tough time. I know it isn’t easy and it sounds like you have been given a very rough deal.
But this line of your comment really bothered me:
If you’re feeling that bad about things, have you seen your GP?
Tanya x
After completing my first degree in English Remploy keenly offered to send me on a literacy course. There is no help for disabled graduates, except maybe a few programmes in London.
I’d love to start a charity or social enterprise to do so, but what would it look like? What help could it provide?
I completed my honours degree back in 2007 in Computing Networks at Sheffield Hallam. I suffer with tuberous sclerosis and my disability is epilepsy though it is 99% under control and I only had absences whilst asleep. Upon going back to my home town of Worksop, the future seemed bright with a degree in tow, but that was until I started to send off my CV to prospective employers.
Graduation came and went a year on, and I found lots of my former friends had moved into well paid jobs and this made me look to my own career interests only to stress to myself is it just me!
Two years previous I’d had problems, and no help from the University in securing a work placement and eventually I had to take a voluntary placement managing a school’s computer network and also I built their relation database.
I’d been working in computing before I went away to University and went and looking back I wish I’d never gone to University in the first place.
Ever job I have been accepted for since my degree, I have been either over qualified or I have done the job voluntary, mostly the later.
My University may have probably have been there for me in the pursuit of a worthwhile job, but all I heard from them was stuff regarding how good their Alumni was and did I consider doing a Masters.
I look into county of Nottinghamshire and more specific, Worksop my home town and mention that I am epileptic, the body language is enough to give me the cold shoulder and it shouldn’t be like that. I have been to my local job centre working voluntary and got over seventy people jobs in eight weeks but could I get a reply from the said job centre after two interviews and applications?
I’ll leave you with this, they don’t practice what they preach!
Every year for ten years now I have had the same rigmarole, the Student Loans Company get in touch and I have had to prove that I am still the same guy who is just a little perturbed and is.
a) being fobbed off day in day out;
b) still disabled;
c) unhappy filling in 20 page forms to prove I’m actually of use to no one even though I am;
d) and miffed (NO MEDICAL TEST FOR THIS I JUST AM!)
Student loans company is heading for failure. More than a million loans are dished out each year and less than 50% of us are earning more than £21k. The government saw this happening and froze the threshold for five years but it will make no difference long term. The university bubble will burst as the working class get progressively poorer over the next ten years.
What’s more, the government will lose money after tripling student loans. Student debt it worthless and should be retrospectively reimbursed once the system fails.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-26688018
Hi everyone
I just wanted to let you know that we’ve just heard that energy firm E.ON have extended the deadline for their IT and Business Change’ graduate scheme to 31 January – so there’s still time to apply if you haven’t already!
Thought this would be a good place to post as one of their (dyslexic) graduate trainees told us they were really great at helping him with the application process. Which hopefully means they’re good with grads who have other types of disabilities and challenges too!
Here are the details: The truth about… the E.ON IT and Business Change graduate scheme
Good luck!
Tanya
Hi all – just to let you know that the deadline for the E.ON IT and Business Change graduate scheme has just been extended to 20th February 2017, so if you haven’t applied yet, you still have time!
Tanya