The Hidden Talent

By: Brendan Kelley

Finding a job is really hard. It is especially hard when you lack social and networking skills. How are you able to succeed in an interview let alone get one? Could you imagine trying to get a job, while also suffering from autism. Well many companies are trying to change this.

            A German Software company called SAP is making an initiative to hire more people suffering from autism and Asperger’s Syndrome. It all started two years ago when they hired a woman named Janis Oberman as a software specialist. Janis had been diagnosed with Asperger’s as an adult and for years and went in and out of temporary jobs. Even though Janis had a master’s in multimedia fro California State University, she still had trouble finding a job. She got hired as part of the company’s global initiative to recruit candidates with autism and Asperger’s.

            People with Autism can be very smart. Sometime it is just the social skills that are slightly lacking. Strengths of people with autism include, the ability to find patters in data, and focus of highly repetitive work. These qualities are perfect for jobs in data analysis, IT, software design and multimedia.

            Tim Weiler says, “They’re diligent and capable of a period of prolonged focus. If you can alter your sourcing strategy by not unconsciously screening them out when you interview them, you can solve management issue.” So far the information technology services company for SAP, CAI, has hired 50 people with autism and is aiming to hire 120, 3 percent of their work force.

            I think that this is a great initiative. Because autism can effect people’s social skills it makes it hard for people suffering from it to excel in interviews and face-to-face discussions. With all the benefits of these hard working individuals it would be idiotic to not hire them because they present talent that can be extremely useful for companies.

Sources:

Che, Jenny. "Why More Companies Are Eager To Hire People With Autism." Huffington Post. 29 Mar. 2016. Web. 30 Mar. 2016.