How to Hire Neurodiverse Talent

Author

Joe Atkinson
February 12, 2024

This week, I’ve been learning about how we can better hire neurodiverse (ND) talent.

The recruiting wisdom comes from Kerry Pain former Talent Lead a YuLife.

(Just before we dive in, this is by no means prescriptive advice, but just a means to share some areas to think about & a few things that have worked for Kerry while leading these initiatives).

A very high level overview of what ND is and the value ND candidates can add to an organisation 👇

Neurodiversity is: the umbrella term for those who have brains that are structured in a way where they think differently to the rest of the population - it may include up to 15% of people.

Some skills ND candidates can add to the workforce:

  • Lateral thinking

  • Strategic analysis

  • Quality assurance

  • Employee engagement

  • Creativity & innovation

  • Sustained attention to detail

  • Consistency in mastered tasks

  • Information processing & problem-solving

I wanted to share 3 considerations I learnt from Kerry to help craft more inclusive job adverts for ND candidates:

1. The impact of company specific language, niche words and jargon

No-one likes overly-jargonistic, complex job ads and some ND talent will find this type of language inaccessible. Potential candidates may not apply if there are parts of the advert they feel unsure about.

Complex language is also likely to have a negative impact on SEO as the terms are searched much less frequently, moving your adverts further down the rankings.

Plain & concise English that is easy to understand (and search) helps on both fronts.

2. Layout

  • The use of bullet points is helpful as they keep the content clean, simple and easy for everyone to digest
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  • ND candidates are more likely to self-select out if they don’t meet 100% of the requirements
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  • A short list of specific requirements using simple and inclusive language > long list of generic and less relevant requirements
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  • The example below is from a Runa add, taken from Open Org's Open Job Ad Template - a free resource for anyone interested in transparency

3. State your intentions

This can be done as part of an inclusivity statement within the advert that makes candidates feel they can approach you around topics like reasonable adjustments to the interview process.

This is a generic template provided by Kerry; she advises adding some personalisation (e.g company values) when applying this into job ads.

I'm really eager to learn more on this topic, my inbox is always open if you have any thoughts to share!