Council Post: Untapped Talent: How To Attract Neurodiverse Candidates

Justin Pierce graduated from college in 2014 with a degree in applied statistics. Despite this education, however, he was living in his parents’ basement working low-level jobs, including as a restaurant kitchen aide. After 328 job applications, 135 rejection letters and 14 interviews, he finally landed his first professional position as part of EY’s technology team in their Chicago office.

Pierce is on the autism spectrum, making the traditional in-person interview process — which measures communication skills and personality fit — difficult for him. Eye contact, for example, often makes someone with autism uncomfortable. If a candidate doesn’t make eye contact in an interview, however, we may believe they are untrustworthy.

It’s time that companies rethink their hiring practices to tap into the largely untapped pool of neurodiverse talent. (Neurodiversity is a broad term used to describe how neurological differences, such as autism, dyslexia and ADHD, are a natural variation in the human population.) Fewer than 1 in 6 autistic adults are employed full-time.

With approximately 1% of the global population on the autism spectrum alone, for example, companies who ignore this talent pool are missing out.

There are benefits to hiring people with cognitive differences. There is strength in building teams where everyone doesn’t think the same, and some neurodiverse people may excel in areas such as pattern recognition and attention to detail as compared with neurotypical people.

That’s why many companies — including SAP, EY, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Willis Towers Watson, Dell and Ford — are revising their HR programs to attract and retain neurodiverse talent.

Working Examples

SAP started its Autism at Work program in 2013 and now employs more than 175 people on the autism spectrum.

In 2016, EY piloted a similar program in Philadelphia, hiring four people with autism as account support professionals. The program established EY’s Neurodiversity Center of Excellence, which today employs about 60 people across the U.S. and is looking to expand internationally.

According to Harvard Business Review, the benefits of neurodiversity programs include “productivity gains, quality improvement, boosts in innovative capabilities” (because neurodiverse employees often do not see things the same way neurotypical employees do) and “broad increases in employee engagement.”

Attracting And Retaining Neurodiverse Talent

This talent group clearly adds value to companies. Why, then, has this population been ignored? Why are 85% of autistic college graduates unemployed, despite companies around the world having a tough time finding skilled talent?

Make your hiring pools more inclusive. The first reason is that hiring managers are probably not looking for this type of talent. Neurodiverse people are not always in the same professional networks as hiring managers, who often hire from their familiar circles.

Organizations interested in accessing this talent pool can begin by building relationships with schools and nonprofits that work with this population, including the University of Cornell, Stanford, Duke, Autism Speaks and Best Buddies.

Rewrite your job descriptions. In addition, many autistic people won’t even apply for a job — even if they are highly qualified — because of the way the job description is written. Autistic people tend to be literal. Therefore, as compared with a neurotypical candidate, an autistic candidate reading a job description that is looking for a “strategy ninja,” for example, wouldn’t apply. They tend to self-select themselves out of the job if they don’t match the description exactly.

Train hiring managers to rethink the interview process. Another factor preventing this untapped talent pool from being hired is that many hiring managers don’t know how to interview someone on the autism spectrum, who might not perform well in a traditional sit-down interview. That doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t add a lot of value to the workplace. Rather than interview these candidates, organizations can consider a series of assessments or participation in a group project to gauge skills and potential fit.

Ensure your workplace works for everyone. Be direct in your communication and make adjustments to help all employees do their best work. For example, some neurodiverse employees, who take statements literally, might call out a manager who says they will “be back in two minutes,” but actually takes 10. Changes in routine, potential delays and even visitors should be announced ahead of time. Noise and bright light often bother neurodiverse people, and they may prefer working in a separate space or wearing noise-canceling headphones.

Creating a neurodiverse workforce will require managers to take a step back, remove assumptions and communicate in a new way. The bottom line is that inclusion is worth the extra effort.