Day: May 8, 2021

Autistic people succeed in IT jobs when companies hire for capabilities not credentials

AHO Admin

Building a diverse workforce means more than hiring more women and people of color. The tech industry should rethink who is a good fit for IT work and look to neurodiverse individuals to fill testing, cybersecurity and other tech roles. This requires modernizing the hiring process and creating work environments to support this new source of talent. Michele Lanza, founder of WorkWider, an online career and recruitment site created to support underrepresented communities, said that neurodiversity covers autistic individuals as well as people with dyspraxia, dyslexia, ADHD and social anxiety…

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Major companies actively recruiting employees with autism

AHO Admin

Autism is a disorder that affects the body’s nervous system. Symptoms can include difficulty with communication, obsessive interests and repetitive behaviors. People on the spectrum are also known to have a deep sense of creativity and imagination, which many companies agree can be beneficial within a workplace.  That’s why some big-name tech companies are working to create neurodiversity programs for employees. Ernst & Young recently changed its interview process for individuals with autism, moving from a 1-on-1 interview to a series of problem-solving challenges.  Click here to read the rest…

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The State Of Autism Employment In 2021

AHO Admin

Entering 2021, most of the members of our adult autism group of the Bay Area, AASCEND, continue to be out of work, laid off or furloughed from the jobs they had prior to the pandemic. Though they are told to be satisfied with their benefit checks or unemployment checks, they are bored, restless and want to get back to work. Whether and when they return to work will depend on the same factors that will determine how quickly other workers return to work. So too these factors will determine how…

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