How to Recruit and Train Top Talent

After a number of years in the doldrums, the Canadian economy is coming roaring back and nearly every sector is seeing employee growth needs rise to pre-pandemic levels, if not further. The issue, therefore, becomes how to recruit and train top talent when every other business in your market is also looking to hire. One obvious option is to make sure that you have the highest rates of pay and the best benefits package out there, but that will only get you so far. Your best is to look in places that your competitors haven’t found yet and find the best talent in those pools.

Hiring Autistic Workers

One of the best-kept secrets in the world of recruitment is the power of autistic workers. In the last few years, several major corporations such as JP Morgan Chase and Microsoft have created autism-specific hiring policies to take advantage of the unique skill sets that autistic workers bring to the workplace:

• High levels of concentration - a common trait in many autistic individuals are the capacity to get truly immersed in a topic and they are able to maintain incredibly high levels of concentration as they learn and study this field. With the right training and preparation, they will be able to bring this focus to the workplace, improving productivity and output as soon as they start the job.
• An eye for detail - complex data analysis and pattern recognition are also hallmarks of autistic workers. This helps them to excel at the number and data-based work such as financial accounting and computer programming. In both of these fields, companies that have hired autistic workers find that their new employee is able to get up to speed with complex programs quickly.
• Out-of-the-box thinking - finally, it’s common knowledge that autistic individuals see the world in a different way to their neurotypical peers. In the workplace, this means that they excel at out-of-the-box thinking as they are able to see and think of new and streamlined approaches to tasks and processes.

How To Recruit Autistic Talent

It’s easy to see why so many big businesses are looking to tap into the skills that autistic workers bring to the workplace. However, some of the other common traits of autistic individuals make the typical hiring process almost impossible to navigate. This is why 80% of the autistic adults in British Columbia are either out of work or in jobs that don’t recognize their skills, qualifications, and experience. To hire top autistic talent, you’ll need to rethink each stage of your hiring process:

• Finding candidates - a big first step to finding qualified autistic workers is to make it clear in your job advert that you are an autism-friendly company and that you are actively seeking applications from autistic employees. While there is no requirement for an autistic jobseeker to disclose their condition, these upfront declarations will make them feel confident of being given a fair opportunity at the job.
• Interviewing candidates - the formal face-to-face interview has to be retooled. Across all demographics, it’s a poor indicator of job performance, and for autistic people, it plays into all their weaknesses making it hard for them to sell themselves properly. A better way to see what they are capable of is a task-based interview, where you watch them complete part of the work that they’d be doing or a group-based task where you can see how they interact with your existing staff. Both of these will give you a much better idea of whether they are the right fit for your company.
• Training new employees - once you’ve hired the right autistic employee, you’ll need to modify your onboarding process. This will include working with them to make changes and accommodations to their working environment and how their daily task list is shared with them. You’ll also need to provide the rest of the staff with autism awareness training so that they can help their new colleague integrate fully into the company.

All of these require a certain level of autism expertise that not many companies have in-house. This is where teaming up with an autism talent agency in Vancouver will give you access to the best local top talent. They will do the legwork of finding and training high-quality autistic workers and will work with you and your staff about how to become autism-friendly to help your company find your next superstar and get a competitive edge in the marketplace.