Talking to a recruiter

If you’re autistic like me you probably find it easiest to concentrate on the formal process parts of getting a job. If there’s a form to be filled in (I hate forms!) then that’s probably the main thing because it feels like a big deal. But it seems there are lots of other things that neurotypical people know to do instinctively somehow but we autistics maybe do not to do with getting your name and face known and getting people to like you.

It’s common in the civil service and many other industries for job adverts to contain the contact details of a person to talk to about the job. It might be the person who would manage you if you got it, or the person who’s doing the job now, or someone in HR. If you’re autistic you probably avoid contacting them because people are tiring and stressful and communication is difficult. But that works against us because it turns out what we’re supposed to do is contact the person.

How to say: “I want the job”?

Lots of job application processes now ask for personal statements – an explanation of how and why you think you’d be ideal for the job. That’s difficult for anyone but for an autistic person it’s particularly hard as you’re expected to know without being told what the people doing the sift would like to read. Do you talk about your passion for the work area, or your interest in the company, or what you’ve done previously? It’s very difficult to get it right without getting it wrong a lot of times first. I certainly did! These are a few tips that might be helpful.

More than one person

The Coronation tomorrow is going to be very much about the two people – the King and Queen Consort – at the centre of proceedings. But an absolutely vast number of other people have been and will be involved. Being a figurehead is all very well, and all nations need one, whether a monarch or a president or something else. But really almost nothing is actually about the figurehead so much as the group as a whole. One person may appear to take credit – by being crowned or just by having their name on a piece of work – but nothing really stands alone. Self-promotion in the professional world means saying “I did this” but for an honest and literal minded autistic it’s almost impossible.

How can I take credit?

Writing about performance reviews I talked about how difficult it can be to talk about your achievements if you’re ruthlessly honest about what’s down to you alone. Selling yourself means saying “I did this” but almost everything in life is down to a team of people not one individual. If you’re an honest and literal minded autistic you quite probably won’t be able to take credit for anything because it wasn’t yours alone.

Selling yourself

Training on selling yourself will probably focus on encouraging you to be authentically yourself but the best version of yourself, to be clear about your strengths, and about what you personally (rather than a team you’re in) have achieved. But if you’re autistic that simple and positive-sounding set of suggestions comes with a bunch of problems.

Can you sell yourself?

Writing about performance reviews seems to have touched a nerve – I’ve had feedback from autistic contacts that the concept of “selling themselves” is completely alien and impossible for them. I dare say if you’re a well-intentioned neurotypical manager (and so many people are!) you’re thinking: “everyone finds selling themselves hard – some interview training should sort that!” And in the case of most people – neurotypical people (specially if they have a number of characteristics of privilege such as male gender, white race, being fully abled) it probably will. But with autistic staff it probably won’t. And that’s a hard truth to get your head round.

My dream autistic job interview

Plenty has been written about ways in which job selection processes disadvantage autistic people but I thought I’d flip that around and write about my ideal job interview. This is my fantasy so other autistic peoples’ ideal job interview may well differ but this might give an idea of how it could be.

Curiously enough, when I’ve had mock interviews and the person doing the interview has gone out of their way to be as challenging and off-putting as their neurotypical self could manage, it’s been no trouble to me at all. People trying to be kind to me – providing subtle hints, pity and lots of emotional cues – are what make life difficult.

I’m autistic – can I be a leader? (part 2)

If about 1 in 100 people is autistic, and if the UK civil service reflects the population it serves, then there may be enough autistic civil servants to make up a medium-sized department. But what jobs are they doing? They’re probably all doing the filing and/or data entry, right? Well no, some of us are doing leadership roles, but autistic leaders may tend to keep quiet about their autism because of the fear of stigma. Part of the role of a senior civil servant is to be able to advise Ministers and speak authoritatively about government policy with people outside government. To do that we need to be able to have credibility, and many of us fear that if our stakeholders knew about our autism, they might not trust us.

I’m autistic – can I be a leader? (part 1)

I got my autism diagnosis when I was half way to my goal and working as a middle manager, and already things were a struggle. So while the diagnosis was brilliant in explaining a lot of things about me that I’d blamed myself for, it also made me feel that leadership was now out of reach. I still struggle with whether that’s the case because of my attacks of self doubt, but I’m hoping that by being open I’ll encourage more autistic leaders to come forward and go for the top.

Autism job interview reasonable adjustments

There are plenty of possible reasonable adjustments for autism in the workplace – not that all of them will help everyone, but there’s probably something that will help most people. But what about at interview? You’ve probably already agonised over whether to disclose your autism in your application, for fear of unconscious bias or stigma in the hiring panel. But assuming you’ve decided to be open – to bring your whole self to the interview – what can you ask for that might help?