Rant #2,336: You Can Make It If You Try

Today, March 21, is the first full day of spring.

It is also the first full day of the rest of his life for my son.

My 23-year-old son has had many ups and downs in his life, and today is the beginning of the newest stage of his life.

Today, we are going to start the process of helping him to find a job.

My son worked for three and a half years for a popular retailer, but that job ended in December.

They paid him through early January, but since that time, he has been out of work.

The problem is that my son is developmentally disabled. He is on a new medicine--personally, I wish he did not have to take any medicine, but right now, he has to. One day, I think with the proper instruction, behavior modification will be in play with his life, but not yet at this point in time.

He has a high school degree--a certificate stating that he met all the requirements for graduation under New York State's idiotic core competency guidelines--but he has not gone to college, and he might never do so.

Nor does he drive, an area that would open up a lot of doors if he could, but right now, he cannot pass the written test. I have no doubt physically that he can do what is needed to maneuver a vehicle, but he cannot take the test without first passing the written test.

He is completely able bodied, thank goodness, and can do just about anything physically and mentally, as long as he is shown how to do the task, and with repetition, he can master that task.

Yes, he is in all the agencies and government programs that he needs to be in, but their process is oh so slow, and we decided we wanted to jump start the process.

So here is what I have done and what I am going to do today, probably right after I finish writing this Rant.

I have called a few places--my son cannot do this on his own--and have gotten some interest, but not for right now.

To go outside the box with his job hunt, I am going to go right around the corner from home, where there are two small shopping centers, and I am going to put an envelope with his cover letter and resume in the door stops of each business. Yes, at 5 a.m. in the morning, so when they come in to start work, the first thing they see is this envelope.

(And yes, beyond his last job, my son has been working off and on since he was 15 years of age, so he does have a pretty substantial resume.)

Look, I realize most of these envelopes are going to be thrown in the garbage, but if at least one retailer contacts us, I will consider it to be worth it.

Look, I know some of you are shaking your head about what I am going to do, but you have to do unorthodox things to get a job today. I know from my own experience that going onto a job board and looking for work is a complete and utter waste of time, and it is even worse for someone who is himself completely out of the box to begin with.

So you have to do some crazy things to get a job today, and if this can be considered crazy, then maybe I am the head lunatic, but at least I am trying something different.

I remember before he got his last job, we did the usual stuff: fill out applications, go online, go directly to a retailer to look for work, go to a new business and leave his resume.

It amounted to a pile of nothing, except for a lot of anxiety brought on by people who spoke with him in these companies that simply were either nasty because of his situation or simply did not "get" it at all.

I assume we are going to have to go through that again, but maybe we can lessen things by doing things this way.

I feel that it is worth a shot.

And if nothing comes of it, so be it.

We will then go through the usual channels, hope that one of the agencies we contacted can come through for my son, and just do what we have to do to find him a job.

I think today is worth a shot, so let me go and see what happens.