Access to employment: A comparison of autistic, neurodivergent and neurotypical adults’ experiences of hiring processes in the United Kingdom - Jade Davies, Brett Heasman, Adam Livesey, Amy Walker, Elizabeth Pellicano, Anna Remington, 2023
Autistic people face high unemployment rates. One reason for this may be that hiring processes are inaccessible. This study aimed to establish autistic people’s...
Despite being the most commonly experienced recruitment method, interviews were not well endorsed by autistic people (Mrating = 2.21, SD = 0.78) (see Table 3). Group tasks were also perceived as particularly negative by autistic participants (Mrating = 1.60, SD = 0.80).
Participants in all three groups noted that traditional recruitment methods place an unnecessary emphasis on personality and social skills, as opposed to the skills required for the prospective job role: ‘I feel that interviews are only a test of your acting and social skills’ (A-138).
‘[group tasks are] not good when you’re autistic, [I] don’t know when to interject, [and I] take a while to process information. . .
‘psychometric tests are perfected specifically to filter out autistic traits’ (A-188).
I believe the online tests were an unnecessary screening process to filter out people without actually looking at your CV and professional merit . . . only after completing a literacy, numeracy and psychometric test was I actually able to speak to a real person. (ND-041)
The focus on social skills during recruitment meant that many autistic candidates felt they had to mask to succeed. Indeed, positive experiences of the interview process were typically reported when individuals were able to mask successfully (‘All the positive processes are the one(s) where I successfully masked and got through. Where I outsmarted them’; A-188) or rote learn responses they perceived as desirable: ‘I learned to interview very well because I learned to predict the type of questions asked. . . I had a prepared script. I could put on a perfect performance for the duration of the interview’ (A-048). Those who felt unable to mask effectively reported struggling to gain employment.
Autistic, neurodivergent and neurotypical participants discussed the undue levels of uncertainty and ambiguity that pervade in all aspects of the recruitment process. Indeed, ambiguity was felt to be an issue right from the start of the hiring process with many participants noting that job specifications often name vague, generic skills: ‘We need to change role descriptions. We need to be more realistic about what we are recruiting a person to do. (i.e. do they really need to be adaptable, able to be a good consultant?)’ (NT-019). As a result, some autistic participants were not sure they possessed the necessary skills to apply: ‘I find it difficult to look for jobs and to know whether I would be suitable for the role’ (A-118). This ambiguity and resulting uncertainty was highlighted in further aspects of the traditional hiring process and typically fell into two main categories: (1) a lack of information in advance and (2) the need to read between the lines.
While there were qualitative similarities in experiences, autistic people appeared to face a set of unique barriers to successful recruitment, over and above those that non-autistic neurodivergent and neurotypical people faced. While all participants reported being frustrated by the perceived unnecessary emphasis on social skills and personality traits in traditional hiring processes, only autistic candidates reported that they had to mask their authentic self to successfully gain employment. Similarly, despite the majority of participants reporting that disclosure of a diagnosis or access need was desirable, autistic participants expressed unique concerns surrounding the potential stigma and discrimination associated with their diagnosis. Employers have a critical role to play in reducing such inequalities in recruitment experiences. By actively offering and implementing adjustments for all candidates, employers can be confident that they are not only supporting their autistic candidates but also that the experiences of otherwise neurodivergent and neurotypical candidates are also likely to improve. Indeed, by developing more inclusive and accessible hiring processes, organisations can ensure that they see the best version of each candidate and do not overlook highly valuable talent.
