Specialisterne shares successes from their journey
Specialisterne is an international not-for-profit social enterprise dedicated to supporting businesses to recruit autistic people. Specialisterne supports successful recruitment of autistic and neurodivergent applicants through enabling employers to provide fair and equitable recruitment processes which focuses on an applicant’s skills and suitability for a role.
Vicky Little, National Manager, Quality and Practice for Specialisterne Australia shares an example of where both the employer and the candidate have experienced positive outcomes.
“We had an instance within a company where the hiring manager was really keen to be involved in the process to hire new talent, but they were nervous as it wasn’t how they normally recruit”, referring to Specialisterne’s recruitment methods. Vicky says that, although there was the initial hesitation and fear “…they were willing to come on the journey” to see the outcome.
Through Specialisterne’s practical and patient recruitment process, an autistic individual was hired.
“The individual that was hired had come from academia… who had the skills … and had never been able to get a job through the interview process”.
The manager was aware that the individual could take some time to adjust to the workplace expectations and etiquette but knew that this was just a part of the process.
“3 months in, after he was settled, the individual was able to solve a system problem that had been sitting around for 5 years” says Vicky. This had been said to be a significant problem impacting many parts of the business and external vendors, which no one had been able to resolve.
“The individual’s ability to come from a different perspective helped him to offer a solution,”
From this positive outcome, the individual has been able to progress in his career, receiving promotions and being regarded as a subject matter expert in his field of work. He still works at the business today.
Vicky says that,
“after 12 months of his placement the manager said to me that hiring him was the best thing he has done in his career… as this individual has added so much value to the team”.
This is a great example of both positive outcomes for the individual and for the business.
The image used in this case study is sourced from Unsplash.