Neurodiversity, encompassing autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and more, offers unique strengths to the workplace. Yet, traditional hiring methods often create barriers. Test Partnership explores challenges and solutions.
Many neurodivergent candidates face discrimination, with 54% believing recruitment processes exclude them rather than accommodate their needs. It is not just about hiring neurodivergent candidates; it’s about creating hiring processes that doesn’t unnecessarily bias against them.
An ISE Webinar with Test Partnership explored this theme in detail. Here we share some of the key insights.
Watch Neurodiversity in Testing: Challenges and Solutions:
Challenges
Traditional hiring processes often unintentionally exclude neurodivergent candidates. The biggest barriers lie in interviews, group exercises, and inflexible psychometric testing.
Interviews are the most biased selection tool, often assessing irrelevant traits like eye contact and small talk. They are known as particularly biased against neurodivergent candidates.
In comparison, psychometric assessments are a marked improvement. However, reasonable adjustments can and should be made to level the playing field.
Verbal and numerical reasoning tests, can also disadvantage neurodivergent candidates with dyslexia and dyscalculia, respectively. And Situational Judgment Tests (SJTs) pose challenges for autistic individuals due to hypothetical scenarios.
Solutions
Solutions typically fall across two categories:
- Improving the psychometric testing experiences for neurodivergent candidates
- Adjust assessments by offering extra time to level information processing differences (typically 20%)
- Allow for screen reader compatibility, and other accessibility tools.
- Educate hiring teams on assessing candidates based on job-relevant skills. Often bias occurs from the assessor, not the assessment.
- Use gamified (dynamic/interactive) assessments that have improved fairness built into the assessment from the outset
- Reducing unintended bias from within the hiring process
- Create an environment where candidates feel safe disclosing neurodivergence without fear of discrimination.
- Standardise requests for reasonable adjustments to avoid inconsistent practices.
- Shift group assessments from subjective discussions to numerical scoring frameworks to reduce bias.
Final thoughts
Overall, organisations can improve inclusion by:
- Making adjustments to psychometric tests (extra time, alternative formats, gamification).
- Reassessing interview structures (structured formats, alternative formats, reducing bias).
- Encouraging open disclosure and accommodating candidates fairly.
By making these changes, companies can unlock the full potential of neurodiverse talent, fostering both innovation and fairness in the hiring process.