Question about socially awkward people getting jobs

[wk197]

Are social skills more important than work skills/degrees? because it kind of feels like that more and more. I'm autistic and I find it difficult to wrap my head around getting better at social skills but I think I have improved a bit.

Do autistic/socially awkward people just ruin the immersion/atmopshere of the work place even if we are particularly good at doing what were doing? why aren't people just satisfied with seeing a job well done?

I have a job by the way.

[Knock]

Depends where you work and what type you do, but in today's interconnected age, social skills are very important, I would say more important than degrees. 

If you are doing your best, getting along with your colleagues, getting what you need done, and the boss is happy with it, I wouldn't worry about thinking about others thoughts about you.  

[Forestluv]

The importance of social skills varies among jobs. For a social worker, it's very important - that's what they do all day. Yet a chemist could spend most of their day in the laboratory and minimize their social interactions (although they would still need a basic skill level).

As well, in social work settings people prefer to work with people they like and get along with. The degree can get you an interview or even a job, yet success and satisfaction partially depends on social fit. At my job, we are currently interviewing three candidates. Each candidate is qualified and had an interview this week. At this stage, I'd say who we hire is about 50% personality and social fit. Noone wants to work with someone who is a jackass. One of the candidates came across as very ingenuine and overly self motivated. I think they could be productive independently, yet the job also involves working in groups at times and I don't see them as a team player. 

I've worked with several people on the autism spectrum and I try to adapt my perception, rather than expecting them to accommodate me. For example, the autistics I've worked with do not resonate with surface-level fake pleasantries like "Hi Jim. What a nice tie you have on today. Isn't the weather nice today?". These are just surface-level pleasantries that are common in transient social interactions - for example around the coffee maker. Similar to a restaurant server. Servers are good at giving surface level pleasantries to those they serve on. It is a type of social skill that some people have, yet I've never met someone on the autism spectrum with this skill - they seem to be the opposite.

As well, the people with autism I've met generally aren't in tune with certain aspects of communication. For example, tone of voice, facial expressions and sarcasm. They are generally more oriented toward "just saying how it is" through words. For example, if I told my autistic co-worker that I had an ok weekend, yet used a tone of voice and facial expression with distress, she wouldn't pick up on that and say "It doesn't sound like the weekend was ok. Did something bad happen you would like to talk about". Rather, she would say "My weekend was ok too. See ya later". She just doesn't pick up on these subtle games people play when the words say one thing but the meaning is different. I would literally need to tell her "My weekend kinda sucked. Can I tell you about it for a minute?".

I would consider what social atmosphere you would work best in. Personally, I'm introverted and social gatherings suck the energy out of me. So I chose a career that did not involve a lot of social interactions. For example, I would suck as a party host. 

 

[Moreira]

The best jobs I had are by connections, a friend of my mother, a friend from school... Good jobs are also given first to familiars or friends of people who is already in the company. You can be autisitic and retarded but if you have connections this is more important than degrees, skills and everything.