Neurodiversity and Recruitment: Do you really need to be good at everything?

What do you look for as an organisation when recruiting new talent? All-rounders, people who can do everything? I sometimes think so when we consider the amount of psychometric testing people undertake to get into a new role.

I am a dyslexic individual and when I applied for my first role, I avoided jobs that involved psychometric testing as I knew my reading speed and comprehension would fail me, even though I have amazing critical thinking and entrepreneurial skills. In fact, I used my critical thinking skills to side-step these psychometric tests. My first role at Rolls-Royce only involved an interview, and, once I was in, I knew I would have more chance to side-step with my Occupational Psychology Masters into an HR role.

35% of entrepreneurs in the USA have dyslexia (Julie Logan 2007) and I feel lucky to have an entrepreneurial brain which looks for ways around things. My ability to conceptualise and problem-solve has been such a gift in developing Lexxic, but should I really have had to think of ways around things, to get a job in which I knew I would fly?

My friend who is an autistic person has extraordinary coding skills; she could do any coding job with her eyes closed. But at interview, most organisations spend so much time looking at social engagement and eye contact, this deters her from applying for roles.

So, as an organisation trying to attract neurodiverse talent, is the first stage of your recruitment process deterring the candidate you are looking for? Are you using the correct tests for the role, or are they putting off the applicant you are trying to attract? Why are you using psychometric testing when looking for a certain skillset and expertise for a role? Are you expecting a person to be able to do everything, or does unconscious bias come into play?

When recruiting neurodiverse talent, it is important to ensure the recruitment process is measuring the essential skills the organisation needs for the role. I find with my experience of being a psychologist and working with neurodiverse adults, very often they might not be an all-rounder, but rather excel at certain skills, for example, sales, coding or creativity. So, if you want a salesperson and you are asking them to write a long paper on a sales case study, you might miss out on your best salesperson as the task does not reflect the kinaesthetic and conversational nature of the actual job.

So, how could you change or influence your recruitment process, so it is more reflective and inclusive for the candidate you are trying to attract? Does a coder need to be able to provide eye contact at an interview and be social at break time? Does a salesperson need to be able to write an essay? Maybe ‘yes’ and maybe ‘no’. The main question is, is the assessment process reflective of the candidate you are trying to attract?

It’s time to rethink things.

Nicola James

Psychologist and Founder at Lexxic