Susan's Blog

Monday, August 29, 2016

Everyone, ASD or Not, Should Have a Resume

I was asked to update Nat’s resume now that he is at a new day program. I believe that all young adults should put together a resume, thinking outside of the box about possible skills they have. It’s all in how you look at it. Think of stim as a skill, hobby. Think of conversation tracks. Obsessions. Any of these are clues into a person’s interests and motivations. And so, parents, teachers, and caregivers — you should think this way, and help his/her facilitate responses. I put Nat’s resume together on my own, because it is tough/nearly impossible to get Nat to think this abstractly. And as you will see, his jobs have been very concrete. That is the kind of thinker he is. Your son or daughter may be different. Think about what they do and what that looks like, and maybe match it to some kind of job task. Nat has to put everything away, and clean things up as soon as possible. To me, this means he should perhaps have a job putting things away, cleaning up. And so he has.  See below:

Nathaniel Isaac Batchelder

Objective:  To work at a job with at least one well-defined task, preferably having to do with organizing and storing, with some variety and physical movement involved.

Education: May Center, Randolph, Massachusetts. Graduated 2011 with distinction.

Experience

2012-2016: Parking Lot Attendant,Shaw’s. Duties included collecting shopping carts, baskets, recycling. Awarded Employee of the Year 2014 by Service Provider.

November 2011–2012: Stockperson, CVS Drugstore. Duties involve stocking all coolers with drinks, keeping area clean of spills.

2009 – 2011: Coupon Messenger and Package Assembler, Papa Gino’s Pizza. Responsible for disseminating advertisement flyers throughout local neighborhood. Also in charge of assembling large volumes of pizza and entree boxes and stacking them up when finished. Worked with very few breaks.

2007-2011: Delivery, Office, and Cafeteria Assistant, May Center. Multiple responsibilities include carrying messages from school to corporate employees; entering data into PCs; taking snack orders for classrooms, assembling orders, and delivering to the classrooms; setting up and wiping down counters and tables before and after lunch.  Took joy in completion of all tasks.

2006-2016: Delivery Assistant, Meals on Wheels. Responsible for carrying meal trays into homes of elderly and disabled. Friendly and professional demeanor maintained at all times.

Other Relevant Experience: Sorting, washing, and folding laundry; vacuuming; emptying and loading dishwasher; raking leaves; entry-level lawnmowing; baking (breaking eggs, using mixer, setting temperature, greasing pan, measuring, putting ingredients away, using oven mitts to remove hot things). Any lifting, carrying, gathering. Willing and able to bring anyone anything.

Other Interests and Skills: Walking fast, biking, horseback riding, rock-climbing, basketball, swimming. Keeping track of schedules, ascertaining arrival and departure of those in the home, keeping track of the location of items, putting everything away, letting people know what is wrong or needed with a modicum of language. Creating singlehandedly an original language to keep thoughts private from others. Remaining calm under pressure.

References Available Upon Request, from practically anyone I have ever met.

 

1 comment

I love this. It’s Nat to a “t,” especially letting people know what is wrong or needed. And hard-working and dependable.

— added by shelly Senator on Monday, August 29, 2016 at 6:04 pm