Why a firm wants staff with autism
news.bbc.co.uk
news.bbc.co.uk
- Henry Ford, "My Life and Work"
I don't know what it's like in the US, but here it's very common to see job advertisements padded out with unnecessary and heavily loaded language like "we need a bubbly, bright and outgoing administrative assistant". I looked at a person spec the other day for a local council admin job which had "good sense of humour" in the desirable column. For that sort of job, personality type shouldn't come anywhere near the decision-making process - and whoever wrote that person spec should be called to account.
It's not outright discrimination, but it does come close - and the experience of the bloke in the article is something I can identify with. You send in a good CV, stellar references and an eloquent, articulate covering letter, get called in to interview... and come second because you're ever so slightly awkward and tend to prefer to concentrate on working rather than making small talk about Britain's Got Talent. Perhaps it's partly why so many hacker types end up gravitating towards the startup world rather than a job in some big company...
All technical positions require some social interaction. If the job is pure development, then I wouldn't worry if someone is a little socially awkward. I would worry, however, if they seem very awkward. People aren't hired on pure ability alone, and I don't see anything wrong with that. One of the most important questions an interviewer can ask themselves about an applicant is "Do I want to work with this person every day?"
Even some technical positions require significant interaction with non-technical people, and in those cases, it's reasonable to expect some who is sociable.
I think I have plenty of the 'autism' traits, I'm probably not the easiest person to get along with on a daily basis but once you get me motivated and going there is no stopping. (though it may take more than a little bit to get that to happen). If the job was interesting enough to me you could probably get me to work for you for free...
Companies usually prefer consistency rather than the all-or-nothing that comes with the territory of autism but from what I've seen around me to have a network of 'minders' around people with the above traits can produce spectacular results.
What next - a scheme to enable gay men to break into the world of musical theatre?
The overall point is that people with autism can perform well on technological tasks, and if that's taken advantage of, then great!