Asperger’s Experiences & Personal Growth: Stephen’s Evolution

How I Learned to Break Down Job Description Ambiguities

• Stephen McHugh • Episode 41

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Navigating the job market can be challenging for all of us.  But, for those with autism, the journey can be full of additional hurdles. Join me, Stephen McHugh, as I recount my personal experiences with job listings that appeared ideal at first glance but later revealed hidden pitfalls. Have you ever wondered why terms like "good communication skills" can be anxiety-provoking for autistic individuals? This episode delves into these nuances, highlighting the importance of clarity in job descriptions and the potential impact of ambiguous language on diverse candidates. 

Listen to my story of an interview where an unexpected question about deadlines threw me off course, underscoring the necessity for clearer job specifications. My aim here is to encourage employers to adopt more inclusive language, enabling candidates to better gauge their fit for a role and confidently present their strengths. By sharing these insights, I hope to foster understanding and drive change towards more equitable hiring practices. Whether you're a job seeker or an employer, this episode offers some invaluable perspectives on enhancing communication and inclusivity in the workplace.

Send me your comments and questions


Thanks for listening. You can find me on my website stephensevolution.com, or on twitter here. You can sign up to receive news of new episodes when they're released here.


Artwork produced by Elena Designe
Music composed by Nela Ruiz

Stephen McHugh:

Hi there and welcome back to another episode of the Stephen's Evolution podcast. I'm Stephen McHugh, your host, and in this podcast I create episodes based on my lived experiences as an autistic individual. This is the second episode in a series of five focused on autism and the workplace. It is during these five episodes where I will talk about examples of the unique challenges and insights that have come from my personal journey. In the first of these five episodes about the workplace, I talked about how I learned to avoid job roles that may have been unsuitable for me, so if you already haven't listened to that, why not check it out on stephensevolution. buzzsproutcom?

Stephen McHugh:

This episode is going to be about decoding what I found were vague job terms and job specifications to me. These often would leave me wondering what particular employers were actually looking for. I aim to break down what terms like these can often mean, and I plan to discuss how I learned to interpret them in ways that made more sense to me. First of all, what exactly are job specifications? In my words, what their objective is, To clarify a particular job role's expectations. However, what I would find is they could be, at times, confusing. In my time, I've had language development delays and over time, I've seen improvements in this and continue to do so. What I felt were vague terms. One example was good communication skills. They left me feeling uncertain as to what certain employers really wanted. In addition, what I felt was there could be hidden requirements or other skills and qualities that may not quite have aligned with my strengths. Such requirements could include social interactions, which was a weaker skill of mine. Long lists of qualifications and skill requirements felt at times overwhelming. Things like this made it more difficult for me to determine what was the most important. By recognising challenges, we can work towards creating clearer and more inclusive job specifications that can better support diverse candidates.

Stephen McHugh:

When I was job hunting for the first time, I had come across a position that I thought seemed ideal for me, as it listed skills like computer skills that were some of my strengths, like spreadsheets and word processing, as in Microsoft Excel and Word at the time. However, later on, as someone went through it in more detail, I found out that it needed good communication skills. After reading this, I remember feeling anxiety taking over excitement, the excitement having come from seeing a potentially ideal position for me. I've always considered myself to be better at writing, as I have more time to gather my thoughts, and get them across in clear and more cohesive ways, and make them more understandable to any readers. However, when it came to verbal communication, this more often than not felt daunting. What I worried about was having to think quickly when speaking face to face with someone. What if I didn't contribute my response as quickly as others might be expecting? Such vague expectations to me made me doubt my abilities here.

Stephen McHugh:

I applied for this particular role and got an interview. However, one question that came up in the interview was how I could cope with meeting deadlines. That was another thing that wasn't listed in the job specification. When I was asked that by the interviewer, I felt rather overwhelmed and anxious, and said that I may panic a bit at a situation where I'd be faced with being told to quickly complete a certain task by a certain time. Later on in my answer I referred to a group task in a GNVQ Advanced Information Technology course that I did previously, and how I worked in a team, and how we, together as a team during the IT course, managed to get a certain task done within a set time. Here it may have been my initial response, that may have put the employer off here. Anxiety, that may have made it more difficult for me to express my answer better in the moment at the time of the interview. Ultimately, I didn't get invited to a second interview.

Stephen McHugh:

While I learned to understand that meeting deadlines is important, I wished that the job specification had been more specific about what strong communication meant in practice. Did it mean being able to communicate with outside clients, or with another department within the same building? In addition, there could have been something about being able to work to deadlines. A clearer description here could have helped me to feel more confident in showcasing my strengths, and making a decision on whether or not I would be more suitable for the role, rather than focusing on areas where I may have felt less secure. This example highlighted an experience here for me where a job specification created a barrier for me. If the description in the job specification was more straightforward, it would have allowed me to better understand how I may have been able to contribute in that particular work environment. This approach can also help employers better support neurodiverse individuals and help them thrive in the workplace.

Stephen McHugh:

And now I'm going to try and decode some common used terms that I found in job specifications, and talk about how they were confusing for me.

Stephen McHugh:

Good communication skills. For me, this can often refer to our ability to express ideas clearly in both verbal or written forms. However, I found it to be vague. I found myself more able to express myself better in written communication, but I would struggle more with verbal exchanges. This was the kind of term that created anxiety when it would come to meeting unspoken expectations.

Stephen McHugh:

Team player. This term can be used to indicate how we may work in a team with other members in a particular team. For me, would a certain situation require one to constantly engage in group discussions, or just to see how one would work well with other team members? Being in a group discussion, I thought could be challenging, like knowing when to speak up or understanding when an idea may be relevant to a particular discussion in question. Therefore, I think it's important to have it clarified what teamwork may look like in a particular role. Would it mean participating in group discussions or teamwork and collaborating with other team members about how to do a certain task? Or is it more about supporting team members with individual tasks?

Stephen McHugh:

Adaptable or flexible could refer to seeing how one may adjust to any changing circumstances quickly. As with many autistic individuals, including myself, we can thrive on routine and structure. Any changes in a routine can be overwhelming. Understanding certain situations that may require adaptability can help set clearer expectations. In one role, there were numerous projects on any one go and we'd be set for how long we were to be on one certain task and knowing when to hand over certain projects to other team members.

Stephen McHugh:

Detail-orientated. This term could indicate a focus on accuracy and thoroughness. However, I could interpret this in different ways. For example, like needing to check work and documents for certain errors, while others might assume it could mean managing numerous small tasks simultaneously In certain roles. Where I worked in data processing, such roles could mention that one should be able to spot certain details in certain documents and be able to match them with their correct records. The clarification of what details are in certain jobs can be crucial in helping to eliminate confusion. By breaking down these terms and other terms like these, I believe it can be possible to create and promote a clearer understanding of job expectations and foster work environments, where everyone can showcase their strengths and feel more confident in the application and interview processes.

Stephen McHugh:

Back to the days when I started my first job searches for my first job, what What I would often find is, in a list of any job specifications, were what felt like vague terms to me. These included phrases like good communication or good interpersonal skills and team player. Such terms would leave me thinking about whether or not to apply for roles that required these skills. I would feel uncertain about how I would fit into such roles that I thought about applying for. However, over the years that followed, I gained more experience, experience and understanding understand what they really meant in the context in which they were being presented. I would learn by talking to other people. When I mentioned that I liked to participate in certain sporting activities, one phrase which they then told me was that I was a team player. Very quickly, I understood that being a team player can be like working together in order to try and accomplish a certain goal.

Stephen McHugh:

In my time, I've demonstrated that I am capable of being a good team player in like educational and workplace settings. In the educational setting was by getting a control system to work as it should, as in a mini lift to stop at certain floors to which it was called to.

Stephen McHugh:

In the case of good communication skills, I was told that you needed communication skills for any job. Being in the workplace, as I observed, it kind of began to make more sense, certainly in terms of collaborating with other members on your team about how to do certain tasks. And there were times in one certain role where I took messages over the phone, and passed them on to relevant people, along with dealing with inquiries for certain records.

Stephen McHugh:

For the terms flexibility and adaptability, I found that I learned more through a job application at a company I once worked for, despite the fact that I didn't get the job in question. What it would involve was switching between tasks frequently, something which, when I think about, could have led to burnout for me. In addition, the constant changing of tasks may have been unsettling for me, and I realised it wouldn't have been a good fit for me anyway, since I prefer roles with more in terms of routine. By gathering all this information, I was able to develop a clearer understanding of what prospective employers might be looking for. In the case of taking phone messages and dealing with inquiries for certain records, this gave me an idea of how to show that you may have adequate interpersonal skills. Looking back, I believe it is through these strategies that I learned how to view job specifications not as barriers, but also in terms of trying to understand more about the workplace. I hope that by sharing some experiences from my journey can encourage you to embrace the challenge and find more clarity in job specifications..

Stephen McHugh:

And now, as I wrap up this episode, a recap. Navigating job specifications I have found can be challenging, especially from my part, being an autistic individual, especially when it comes to vague terms that can cause confusion and uncertainty. However, by breaking down the language, asking questions and reflecting on your own strengths, what you can do is this can all help you to make more informed choices about the jobs you may choose to apply for. Remember, it's not just about finding and applying for any job. It's all about finding the right one where you're more likely to thrive. Here are tips I want to give you.

Stephen McHugh:

When reading a job specification, try to take your time to analyse any phrases that may cause confusion, and also take time to research their meanings, in context. It's also a good idea to look for companies that value inclusivity and diverse communication styles. One key word I would often look out for was equal opportunities. And also talk to any people around you, including family, relatives and even friends. They might be able to offer you insights about what companies may be good to work for. They might have heard experiences from people they know.

Stephen McHugh:

Before I go, I want to take the time to thank you all for listening. If you found this episode useful, you can subscribe by following a link towards the footer of the homepage of my website, https://www. stephensevolution. com stephensevolutioncom, so you can sign up to receive news on newly released episodes and other podcast-related news. Next time, I plan to dive deeper into what good communication skills can really mean in the workplace, workplace and how to try and navigate that expectation.

Stephen McHugh:

And finally, I'd like to hear from you Share your thoughts and experiences with job specs JobSpecs, applying for jobs or any workplace challenges you faced. You can do this by submitting them via my podcast host, buzzsprout, in the episode description. Your stories could be ideas for future episodes and it will be great to hear different perspectives. I'm always on the lookout for any comments. Thanks again for tuning in and I'll catch you in the next episode in two weeks.