Jobs for the socially awkward...

Do they exist in the current economic climate? I'm not good with interviews or talking to people I don't know. What sort of employers would overlook this as it is not in the job description?

Cleaning jobs spring to mind but I'm not too keen on the idea of scrubbing public toilets. :s-smilie:

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Reply 1

stargirl001

Out of hours retail work? Most supermarkets have early morning or late night shifts for putting out stock and you won't have to interact with customers

Reply 2

Tateco

Moving trolleys around the car park

Reply 3

Mr Smurf

Retail. If you can fake confidence in the interview.

Reply 4

username540512

It's actually kinda sad to see how introversion is so poorly matched with todays society.

Reply 5

vls

Original post by stargirl001

Out of hours retail work? Most supermarkets have early morning or late night shifts for putting out stock and you won't have to interact with customers

That's not a bad idea :tongue:

Original post by Tateco

Moving trolleys around the car park

Is that a specific job for 1 person? :unsure:

Reply 6

matt@leedsuni

I had a job at M&S once that involved staking shelves but in the stock room so you never had to talk to anyone or saw anyone. Like someone else said though, you would still need to fake confidence in the interview. By the way, jobs like this are very boring. You get much better stories to tell if your work involves customers.

Reply 7

vls

Original post by Mr Smurf

Retail. If you can fake confidence in the interview.

I'm not the most convincing person when putting on an act :frown:

Reply 8

rifle.eyes

Work in Wilkinson's! One time I went in and the person who was serving me tried to ask me if I'd like to buy some stamps but she was so miserable and depressed she trailed off halfway way through the sentence and didn't even finish asking haha!

Seriously though, social skills are overrated in part-time job, have you been into any shops these days? Just make sure to pretend to be friendly enough in the interview and then just do your best if you get a job.

You can always work in a stockroom. Asda usually take people on to load and unpack stuff in their warehouses. Also working the late shift in 24hr supermarkets is good. There's hardly anyone in and you're just stocking shelves.

Reply 9

Tateco

Original post by vls

That's not a bad idea :tongue:

Is that a specific job for 1 person? :unsure:

There's a couple of people doing it full time where I work.

Reply 10

GenialGermanGent

Original post by vls

I'm not the most convincing person when putting on an act :frown:

Jeez, are you good at ANYTHING? How do you plan on getting a real job after
school/uni? Work on yourself...

Reply 11

Tac Crab

I work Wilikinsons out of hours when the shops shut, Its empty and all and there are no customers to annoy you but its not like you can get away without talking to people, there will still be a team of anywhere between 6 and 12 so you have to communicate with them im afraid :P

Reply 12

Llamageddon

Original post by TitanicTeutonicPhil

Jeez, are you good at ANYTHING? How do you plan on getting a real job after
school/uni? Work on yourself...

Whilst this sentiment does suggest a certain lack of understanding of personality types I do have to agree with it.

You need to separate your personal and professional mannerisms. I work in a lab and spend 80% of my time alone but in the 20% of the time I'm working with others I bloody need to interact with them. If a sponsor comes in that door I need to engage with them and give the red carpet treatment. In a social situation if somebody makes small talk with me my eyes will wander around the room and I'll miss 70% of what they say out of boredom. Professionally if I did that I'd be picking up my p45 at the end of a 6 month review.

I don't like talking to most people. But I do it. People just need to throw themselves in the deep-end and do things they don't like.

Reply 13

cognito_08

I've met shy people who have said they really enjoyed working back-of-house at retail places because it gave them the space to get on with their jobs with little customer interaction.

Reply 14

Negaduck

You don't have to be good at social interaction to do most jobs. I mean when you are behind a till, for example, you don't need any sort of charisma to pretend you are interested and make incredibly boring small talk until you have the persons money and they go away.

Reply 15

Miryo

There will be jobs you can get but my advice is to put yourself out there for jobs that involve a lot of socialising etc, having it to a decent level will help you out a lot in the future.

Reply 16

Alotties

I work on the tills in a clothes shop.
All I do is ask if they would like a bag, and if they would like to keep the hangers, then I pack their stuff away and I tell them how much it costs, then give them the change and say thank you.
I just don't look people in the eyes and pretend I'm talking to my till :rolleyes:

I'm also very socially awkward and quite introverted which the people I work with have learned so they just leave me to it mostly :tongue:

Reply 17

Dorito

why don't you try and increase your confidence and apply for jobs that you might feel uncomfortable in at first, as to overcome your shyness?

...or you could just run away from the problem all your life and try and find jobs where you don't have to talk to anyone.

Reply 18

Elissabeth

Be a Lifeguard- depending on where you work- there is often little interaction with people.

Or perhaps a job mainly working with animals- stable groom or working in a kennels, dog walker?

Postman?

Leaflet deliverer?

Reply 19

suncake

I think it would be a good idea to try to build up your confidence, not avoid having to do so by getting a job where you seclude yourself.

I felt the same as you - socially awkward, generally hate 90% of all humans etc... But I got a job at Primark (lol) and found that it actually really helps to expose yourself to new people, who you would never usually talk to. Forcing yourself into awkward situations is sometimes the best way to learn to overcome them. I never imagined that I could confidently talk to customers, but it comes more naturally with time. Plus I'm sure you would also build relations with your co-workers over time, which is never a bad thing.