A job interview can make anyone anxious. For people with autism, an interview can be extra stressful. They might avoid eye contact, or rush when they speak. They could miss social cues, or fidget to cope with discomfort from noise or lights. And research has shown that an interview often evaluates a candidate more on their social skills than their abilities for the job.
A new study by Maira E. Ezerins, a doctoral candidate in management at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, examines both the challenges autistic job candidates face in an interview and how they want the process changed to accommodate them.
The paper was published in the most recent issue of Journal of Management. The co-authors are Walton College management professors Lauren S. Simon and Christopher C. Rosen, who both serve on Ezerins’ dissertation committee.
A GROWING AWARENESS
Ezerins’ dissertation is focused on autistic women in the workplace. She came to the subject while working as a management consultant. A supervisor asked Ezerins about employees who had excellent records but struggled to engage socially with colleagues. Could they have undiagnosed autism?
At the same time, Ezerins saw large companies like Microsoft, Wells Fargo and the accounting firm EY trying to hire more autistic people.
“They can be very detail oriented, so companies in the tech sector in particular are noticing this as an untapped labor pool,” Ezerins said.
“I started exploring the topic, and I found that there’s so many unanswered questions,” she said.
Past research on autism and job interviews focused on how autistic candidates could change their behavior. The onus was on the autistic person to manage or hide their autism, an approach known as impression management tactics. Ezerins wanted to hear from autistic individuals about how an employer could change the interview process to better suit their needs.
“I think a large problem with existing research on autism is that it’s coming from a medical model, where autism is positioned as a deficit,” she said.
The study surveyed 100 autistic people and 100 allistic, or non-autistic, individuals about their experiences in job interviews. Overall, autistic job applicants had more anxiety during interviews and were concerned about how potential employers viewed their autistic traits.
Based on the responses from the survey, Ezerins and her co-authors created a checklist of concrete steps a company could take to improve the job interview experience for autistic candidates. The suggestions include giving candidates more flexibility over the time and date of an interview, providing general questions and topics for the interview in advance, and letting applicants showcase their skills for a position in ways that do not rely on social skills.
Many non-autistic survey participants said they would also welcome these accommodations to reduce stress and help them better show their qualifications for a potential job.
“The accommodations we offer can be implemented for everyone. They can reduce the need for anyone to disclose they’re neurodivergent and help improve performance for autistic and non-autistic applicants alike,” Ezerins said.
