For anyone new here, I have a confession: I am neurodivergent. For anyone who has been here awhile, you probably knew that. There are clues like my recent obsession with putting tiny dinosaurs everywhere and my niche focus on learning everything I can about job posts. I find myself saying almost every time I speak to someone about my work, “I’m a nerd, please stop me if you don’t actually want me to get on this soap box.” Ask my girlfriend or assistant. The list of the ways my neurodivergence shows up in life is long.

As an entrepreneur, this works out for me. I think some people call it my “personal brand.” Many of my clients and people in the audience interpret my neurodivergence as passion, which is at least partially true. I do care deeply about the topics and advice I offer. But it’s not just my big heart that makes me show up this way. My neurodivergence allows me to recall details and digits most people can’t remember, to consume mass amounts of information with a photographic memory, and explain things in unique ways that make sense.

In corporate America, this recall didn’t work so well for me. Some folks interpreted my distinct perspectives and data dumps as abrasive or rude. There are jobs I did not get because I was overly excited about a topic, and this happens every single day. “They’re not a culture fit,” is often what the manager says, but what actually happened? People like me are getting rejected because of neurodivergence, not their ability to do the work.

Neurodivergence Is More Common Than Ever: Why Recruiting And HR Need To Pay Attention  

This is a new-ish topic to most of us at work because the science is new. I’ve heard people say “no one was neurodivergent when I was young,” and that’s just not true. Those people were undiagnosed. Neurodivergence as a concept didn’t even exist until 1988. Reliable tracking from the CDC didn’t exist until the early 2000s when the prevalence went from 1 in 500 to 1 in 54. That is not a typo. Today, about 15% of adults identify as neurodivergent - 1 in 36 adults and 1 in 31 children. [All that data I just cited is from this research from AutismCenter.org.] 

As recruiters and HR leaders, these are the kinds of trends we need to pay attention to. These data points correlate to your office and recruiting, too. It means that in almost every slate of candidates, there’s a high likelihood one of them is neurodivergent. What kind of education are you providing as an organization to help people learn more about neurodiversity hiring or leadership? Is there a chance you’re rejecting candidates for something that could translate into a highly valued skill for your organization?  

Accessibility should be top of mind especially as we consider new ways to hire. Most of the hiring processes we all use originate from the time well before neurodivergence was properly diagnosed. If we want to create a level playing field of any sort, something has to change. Especially the parts of our hiring process that allow subjective evaluations of people’s behaviors to decide if we hire them or not, which often does not favor neurodivergent candidates. 

Neurodiversity Hiring: Where To Start

Just like any bias, a bias against neurodivergent candidates isn’t easily rewired in the brain. Biases are formed over long periods of time by a million little signals, experiences, and messages. The idea that one education session or something I could summarize in 500 words on a blog will transform a person’s beliefs is not reasonable. What I do know about change - especially when it comes to hiring - is that it’s possible if you have at least these two things: education and systems.  

Bias education has to happen in two ways.

• Expert Education. First, there has to be basic education about bias, how it shows up, and alternative behaviors for common scenarios. So in this case, maybe it’s running interview roleplays and talking about how to interpret different behaviors and feedback. 
• Practical Scenarios. Education also has to be practical. Do things to make your workplace more accessible for neurodivergent talent. Make the job posts more clear and remove preferred requirements. Be flexible about work arrangements. Making the work environment accessible for everyone doesn’t just benefit neurodivergent talent. It makes work easier and more inclusive for everyone. 

Then, look at your systems. I suggest that you start with your hiring process. Now, that’s a big project so here’s where I might start. Pick something simple like providing interview outlines that explain the entire process up front. In this outline, you let folks know who they will talk to and what element of their work will be evaluated during that session. For example, I might say: You will meet with the hiring manager for 20 minutes where they're going to ask you questions about the projects you have worked on that would prepare you for this role. Here’s some advice on how to be successful in that conversation. (You know the rest…)

Educating your hiring team on neurodiversity and making sure they don’t reject neurodivergent candidates isn’t just the key to increasing inclusivity in your hiring process, it’s an unlearning process. It will take time but these small steps will help every candidate thrive - especially the folks who are neurodivergent.