Why Marketable Skills Are So Important

One of the biggest laments of the 2000s – notwithstanding the start of the Great Recession — was that there weren’t enough jobs created.  The answer to ‘why not?’ is a complicated one, but it can mostly boil down to our failure to invest in our own human capital.  For example, we have improperly educated and guided the non-academically-inclined, pushing them away from potentially lucrative trades, while we have failed to emphasize technical skills, all for the sake of pushing all students towards a four-year liberal arts college degree for jobs that no longer have use for that sort of education.

That said, some folks who graduate with non-technical degrees, including the liberal arts, often get jobs, some even decent ones.  What’s their secret?  It comes down to knowing the right people, for one.  As the saying goes, it’s now what you know but whom you know.  In lots of cases, young adults who graduate with something like a liberal arts degree who still don’t know what to do, but know they want to make money, and soon realize that they can make money by helping move product.  So, they take a sales job.  Sometimes it works out well for them; sometimes it doesn’t, and they find some other line of work.

Landing such a sales job and making it work is based on being good with people, being able to read them, and using those soft skills to make sales.  For those of us on the autism spectrum, that is completely out of the question.  We need to look elsewhere.

Those of us on the spectrum are at a systemic disadvantage.  Because we don’t pick up on nonverbal cues, it’s impossible for us to gauge what the interviewers want when we are vying for non-technical, non-skills-based jobs.  That disadvantage thus turns into a losing proposition, relegating us to lowly grunt jobs, leaving us frustrated knowing we can do much, much more.

The way to avoid that frustration is to focus on acquiring marketable skills.  That includes trades like mechanics, welding, or plumbing, but also jobs that usually require a college degree, like engineering, computer science, or finance/accounting.  These skills will not only lead you to viable, well-paying careers, but will put you on an even footing when it comes to the job interview process.  The reason for this is that interviews for these sorts of skills/technical jobs are all about demonstrating what you can do based on the skills you develop.  That’s something you can crush.  I know.  I’ve interviewed for both types of jobs, and when I interviewed for the engineering-related ones, it was a totally different deal, to say nothing of a much better one.

The other advantage those of us “on the spectrum” have is that our minds are naturally geared towards the analytical and the technical.  They joke that Asperger’s Syndrome is “the engineer’s disease”, as those in that line of work usually don’t speak with much expression or flourish and don’t smile as often as those outside of that department.  It’s all part our technical, logical orientation.  That said, it helps to remind ourselves to smile, both during the interview, and once we start and retain the job.

Those of us on the spectrum have a huge potential to make meaningful contributions to companies.  We’re intelligent, and have a logical/technical mindset that makes us potentially very effective employees.  We do great, thorough work, and we’re dedicated employees at that.  We also have a deep well of knowledge with which to enrich our co-workers.  But the only practical way this great potential can be realized is by getting the right schooling/training in the right subjects that employers value in the first place.  Experience counts considerably, too, so once you’re in school for either engineering, computer science, or finance/accounting, get an internship as soon as you can.  The more experience you gain, the more marketable you become.

Following this path puts you in the position to maximize your own human capital, which is both deep and rich, but just needs the right investment and refinement for it help you reach your productive potential.  But if we all follow this path, we shall all learn and grow together in ways undreamed of.  Let’s go!