Why attracting neurodiverse talent is only a part answer to a global talent shortfall

To recruiters I am an enigmatic unemployable. That’s because my career is full of discovering new things, new experiences, learning new roles… because I get bored easy… and I’m certainly not neurotypical, even though I’ve never been diagnosed as being anything else.

This is the first barrier to hiring neurodiverse talent. They don’t fit neurotypical hiring methods or tools. Even age old bankers like the good old CV don’t work here. There is bias against neurodiversity everywhere in recruitment systems. In the expectations placed on candidate profiles.  In the words used to advertise jobs. In the way the interview process is designed.

Let’s not forget that practically every other famous entrepreneur, artist and scientist through history was believed to be neurodivergent. These are the people you miss out on when you design a hiring process targeted at finding ‘normal.’

To the first point, many would say, ‘of course yes’ without really getting the leadership team of their business to fully buy into the idea. That’s because, to make a decision, you need to be acquainted with all the facts—the pros and the cons—and there are definite downsides to taking on neurodivergent people.

This is a decision that needs to be aired before it can be made. To prepare for that decision, it pays to run workshops to frame the current maturity of the organisation culture towards neurodiversity needs, and ask for some help from stakeholders on what needs improving. Then, management teams need to be presented with the full facts, the pros AND the cons.

To the second point, working out how to hire neurodivergent people has been described to me by HR leaders as (at best) baffling. You see, neurodivergent people don’t fit into the neurotypical frames of cultural behaviours, recruitment processes and systems, of support, nurturing and retention policies, etc. that every business today adopts.

I stay this because even if you can attract neurodiverse people into your business, you’re going to find them hard to keep if you don’t create a welcoming culture (on their terms). You will need to create a culture that is not resistive to neurodiverse people; one that feeds into them an emotional sense of belonging.

Part of this ‘belonging culture’ is about not setting neurodivergent people into separate boxes to treat them differently, but raising the bar on your workforce culture to embrace all forms of diversity in an equitable way. It’s about recognising the need to serve the career and wellbeing aspirations of people who are encouraged to bring their whole self to work.

Intersectionality is arguably key to getting a universal workforce right. It is a term that describes the interconnected nature of social categorisations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.

Companies that want neurodiverse talent to join and stay in their workforce need not to single them out for special treatment, but to treat all equally within a culture made from the ground up for everyone.  Get that right, and industry might just attract the talent it needs in the future, rather than see it go to waste …sitting in bedrooms around the world waiting for a call that never comes.