The idea of working as a software tester hadn’t occurred to John Cha until his life coach told him about a job opening with a software testing company. It was 2013, and Cha was in his mid-20s, studying for a graduate degree in math at New York University.
Cha had no software experience, and the beginning of the interview process wasn’t promising. “They asked me some basic questions about software testing [in a phone interview],” Cha recalls. “I believe I failed because I didn’t know anything about it.” That didn’t disqualify Cha; nor did his autism. The software testing company, ULTRA Testing, sent Cha a series of website screenshots and asked him to identify differences; Cha found subtle variances. He got the job and still works for ULTRA.
Autism spectrum disorder, which includes a range of cognitive, motor and behavioral challenges, can lead to sensitivity to light and sound, poor eye contact and the inability to read body language and other social cues. About 44 percent of children diagnosed with ASD have average to above average intellectual ability, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But Cha’s autism actually helped him land the job.
Autism is the most common of a group of complex developmental brain disorders that collectively form the ASD, according to The Arc, an organization based in the District of Columbia that works to protect the human rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and supports their full inclusion in society throughout their lifetime. “ASD is a ‘spectrum disorder’ because it affects individuals differently and to varying degrees,” according to The Arc.
A diagnosis of ASD includes several conditions that were once diagnosed separately, including autistic disorder, pervasive developmental disorders (a group of disorders characterized by delays in the development of socialization and communication skills, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke) and Asperger’s syndrome, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Asperger’s syndrome, often characterized by weak social skills and the tendency to focus intensively on a particular topic, is a neurobiological disorder on the higher-functioning end of the autism spectrum, according to the Autism Spectrum Education Network.
While some employers have reservations about hiring someone with autism, ULTRA values traits people with ASD tend to have. These include the ability to maintain focus on an assignment for long periods of time, attention to detail and excelling at visual tasks, says Rajesh Anandan, co-founder of ULTRA. The company launched in 2013, and 75 percent of its approximately 50 workers are on the autism spectrum. ULTRA’s lead recruiter, Marcelle Ciampi, has Asperger’s syndrome.
[See: 12 Questions You Should Ask Your Kids at Dinner.]
Proactive Recruiting
“We proactively recruit people on the spectrum who are bringing a skill set to our team that’s critical for us to do our job,” Anandan says. “An entry level software tester needs the cognitive ability to find subtle patterns in complex designs. We’ve found that recruiting people on the spectrum has been an incredibly successful way to train people to become world-class software testers even if they’ve never been testers before.”
Ciampi posts job openings to ASD communities on Facebook and Twitter and reaches out to officials at universities that have resources for students with disabilities. ULTRA accepts nontraditional resumes in which candidates list self-taught skills and volunteer work. Ciampi has also tailored ULTRA’s interview process. “Research has shown that interviewers judge people within the first minute or two of meeting them,” she says. That’s not good for people who aren’t great at small talk or unscripted moments, so the process is designed to objectively measure a job candidate’s abilities or potential to do the job, Ciampi says. She provides job candidates a document detailing each step of the screening process so they’ll know exactly what to expect, and she discloses she has Asperger’s herself to put candidates at ease.
[See: 6 Dangerous Games Your Kids Should Avoid.]
High Unemployment
ULTRA is an exception in its efforts to recruit people with ASD. The vast majority of U.S. residents with ASD are unemployed or underemployed, with estimates as high as 80 to 90 percent, says David Kearon, director of adult services for Autism Speaks, a global science and advocacy organization that supports people with autism and their families throughout their life span. About 500,000 teenagers with ASD are expected to enter adulthood over the next decade, according to Autism Speaks.
The employment problem is so acute that some family members of people with ASD have launched businesses to employ their relatives and others with the condition. Dave Friedman, who has a son with ASD, started AutonomyWorks, a marketing firm in a Chicago suburb, in 2012. Most of the firm’s employees have autism, Friedman says. In Parkland, Florida, John D’Eri and his son Tom launched Rising Tide Car Wash to provide employment to John’s son Andrew, who has autism, and other people with ASD. The car wash employs 35 people with ASD, and the family plans on opening a second location this summer that will provide jobs for another 50 workers with autism.
Experts recommend these strategies for people with ASD who are job-seeking — and for employers interested in hiring people with autism:
For People With ASD
Focus on your strengths and interests, not your challenges. Write a list of your skills, plus what you do best and enjoy doing, Kearon says. List your dream job, but also include others you’d be willing to do and are interested in trying. Note which jobs line up with your abilities and interests.
Seek professional and informal support. Speak to a vocational rehabilitation counselor about the support they provide, which may include help with writing a resume and job coaching. Make a list of all the people who can help you get a job, such as relatives, friends, neighbors and teachers, and ask them for help. Use online job hunting tools, like thespectrumcareers.com, which helps job seekers with ASD find the right job for them and helps employers reach out to the autism community.
Carefully consider when to disclose your ASD. For people with ASD, the decision of whether to disclose their diagnosis can be complicated, Kearon says. By federal law, employers are mandated to provide “reasonable accommodation” to people with ASD and other disabilities. A good time to ask for a reasonable accommodation is when there’s something in the workplace preventing you from competing for a job or performing the work because of your autism. For people with ASD, a reasonable accommodation could be an alternative form of communicating with co-workers, such as using email, texts or instant messaging instead of verbal conversations.
For Employers
You don’t need special knowledge to hire people with autism. As with any employee, you need to understand the strengths of people with ASD and how they work best, Friedman says. “Once you get to know them, common-sense management techniques, such as clear expectations and feedback, are all you need,” he says.
Reconsider relying on traditional interviews. Such interactions aren’t a good way to assess the abilities of a person with autism. “Asking someone on the spectrum to sit across the table from someone, develop a friendly banter with a complete stranger, maintain eye contact [but not too much!] and brag about himself [but not too much!] is setting him up to fail in many cases,” Kearon says. Consider alternative screening methods, such as asking the job candidate to complete a sample task or providing a trial work period.
[See: 6 Ways to Train Your Brain for Healthy Eating.]
Provide employees with ASD an array of opportunities. Don’t assume you know what people with ASD can and can’t do, says Hiren Shukla, a process improvement leader at EY, a global professional services firm formerly known as Ernst & Young. EY recruits people with ASD and trains them on a new process every six weeks to get a better sense of their strengths. A group of four new workers with ASD who were newly trained in managing and processing data recently provided suggestions that cut the firm’s instruction on that process by 50 percent. “They turned the traditional training on its head and said, ‘Why not do it this way?’ ” Shukla says.
More from U.S. News
Hoarding, ADHD, Narcissism: Inside the Minds of History’s Great Personalities
9 Sports Injuries That Sideline Kids
Which Practitioner Do I See, and When?
Finding Work When You’re On the Autism Spectrum: It Could Be an Advantage originally appeared on usnews.com
