Interviewing Neurodiverse Candidates: 9 Important Keys

Neurodiverse workers are more common than you might think. Not only are an estimated 1 in 7 people neurodivergent — research shows that they can help make teams up to 30% more productive. If you’re underprepared for interviewing neurodiverse candidates effectively and fairly, you could be missing out on a significant, highly skilled talent pool.

In fact, some of today’s most famous entrepreneurs and philanthropists are neurodivergent: Microsoft founder Bill Gates (dyslexia), JetBlue founder Dave Neeleman (ADHD), founder Charles Schwab (dyslexia), gymnast Simone Biles (ADHD), and actor Emma Watson (ADHD).

The good news is adapting your hiring process for neurodiverse talent doesn’t have to be a major lift. Here’s what it takes to interview these candidates successfully.

In this article, you’ll find:

What is neurodiversity?

As a concept, neurodiversity refers to the natural variations in how the human brain works. As a movement, it dispels the myth that there’s a single “correct” way of perceiving and responding to the world, instead celebrating all cognitive differences of the estimated 15% to 20% of people globally who show signs of neurodivergence, as well as the 85% to 80% who are neurotypical.

While awareness and research of neurodivergence have evolved over time, the neurodiversity spectrum today contains at least 14 neurotypes ranging across neurological conditions, developmental differences, and learning disabilities. Well-known examples listed by the Cleveland Clinic include:

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Autism spectrum disorder
Bipolar disorder
Dyslexia
Dyspraxia
Dyscalculia
Down syndrome
Epilepsy
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
Tourette syndrome
Trauma
Sensory integration disorder
Synesthesia

Is neurodivergence a protected disability?

Depending on where you work in the world, neurodivergence may be considered a protected disability. Understanding the legal definition can help your hiring process stay compliant. It’s also worth noting that you should follow a candidate’s lead on whether they use the word “disability” to describe their neurodivergence; some individuals feel like they are neurodivergent, disabled, or both.

50% of leaders and managers said they’d be uncomfortable managing or employing someone with one or more neurodivergent conditions.

Countries where neurodivergence is a protected disability include, but are not limited to: The United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Australia, and the European Union. Below are examples of legislation that your hiring process must adhere to if you’re in one of these nations.

United Kingdom: The Equality Act 2010, The Autism Act 2009
Canada: The Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA), The Duty to Accommodate
United States: Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Autism CARES Act
Australia: Disability Discrimination Act 1992, National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)
European Union: European Disability Strategy 2021-2030, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

How are neurodiverse candidates different?

Every neurodiverse candidate is unique, but understanding their potential strengths and challenges can help you better support them (and yourself) for success. Here are five to consider when adapting your hiring process for people with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, etc.

Sensory sensitivities

Neurodivergent people’s brains interpret environmental data differently than neurotypical ones. This means sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures aren’t just distractions to be ignored, but sources of discomfort that may lead to irritability in manner, difficulty concentrating, and even physical symptoms such as nausea or headache.

Between 5% to 16.5% of the general population are affected by sensory processing challenges; among people with autism and ADHD, those numbers jump to 96% and 50%.

Social skills

One of the biggest hurdles facing neurodiverse candidates in the interview process is the pressure to conform when interacting socially. Expectations for eye contact, fluency in body language, and passive communication skills like inferring meaning puts neurodivergent candidates at a disadvantage, who are more literal than their neurotypical peers.

As many as 85% of college-educated autistic adults struggle with unemployment in the United States.

Specialized skillsets

Neurodiverse candidates tend to have great strengths in specific areas, but lack proficiency in others. That’s because people with conditions like autism or ADHD are motivated by their interest in subject matters. Topics and skills they’re less interested in will remain underdeveloped. Understanding this can help you contextualize resume or skills gaps.

More than 70% of autistic individuals have a special isolated skill in memory (52%), visuo-spatial abilities (32%), calculation (17%), drawing (17%), or music (17%).

Justice sensitivity

People with autism and ADHD are more likely to have high justice sensitivity — e.g. a sense of fairness, equity, and inclusion, as well as the need to address and correct injustices — than neurotypical people. This makes them principled upholders of team agreements and dynamics.

Efficient teams consist of members who comprehend each other’s talents and recognize their contributions to achieving success.

Lateral thinking

Whether knowledge work, skilled trade, or gig economy role, today’s jobs require creative problem-solvers who can think outside of the box. Neurodiverse candidates can make amazing additions to teams because their lateral thinking skills help them synthesize disconnected information and make connections that power innovative solutions.

Cognitive diversity can be a critical driver of new ideas, enabling 3x faster problem solving than homogenous teams.

9 considerations for interviewing neurodiverse candidates

Neurodiverse people thrive in an environment of psychological safety, which means they do best when the workplace culture is defined by trust and mutual respect — which benefits all workers, not just neurodiverse ones. The following nine suggestions can help you honor this core need, while also building neuroinclusion into your hiring process and team culture.

Make accommodations available. An accommodation is simply a way to help someone by modifying a situation or environment to meet their needs. You can ensure interviewees are set up for success by asking them if they need any accommodations (e.g. longer breaks, a longer time to respond, a quiet space, etc.).
Provide transparent interview prep. In addition to accommodations during the interview itself, neurodiverse candidates perform better when they’ve had the chance to adequately prepare. Empower them before the interview by outlining the interview process, answering clarifying questions, and sending interview questions ahead of time if possible.
Ditch open-ended interview questions. When it comes to interview questions, it’s important to be mindful of the style used. Open-ended questions often cause neurodivergent brains to flood with information, which is why direct questions about the role and a candidate’s strengths/abilities, stated in simple language, are best
Confront unconscious bias. A major challenge for hiring managers in assessing neurodiverse talent is overcoming their unconscious bias towards neurotypical social cues. Instead of perceiving poor eye contact or mismatched body language as signs a candidate isn’t trustworthy, understand it’s a different communication style altogether.
Schedule for success. Social interactions with new people can be very draining for neurodiverse candidates, especially since many read, process, and express social cues differently from neurotypical candidates. As such, avoiding back-to-back interviews, or too many interviews in a single day, is an important support you can provide.
Focus on skills rather than traits. It’s critical to evaluate neurodiverse candidates on their strengths and skills, not only with a conversational interview but also through work sample tests. From there, you can compare the results to a role’s responsibilities for overlaps. Interview scorecards should also correctly reflect the weighted criteria as well.
Communicate clearly and frequently. Ambiguity can lead to increased confusion and misinterpretation for neurodiverse candidates, so it’s key to use well-organized, straightforward, and precise communication. Additionally, it’s good practice to ask candidates how they prefer to communicate, e.g. phone, email, or video call.
Offer post-interview feedback. Even if a neurodiverse candidate is not moved to the next stage in your interview process, it’s incredibly helpful for them to learn why not. A simple email with direct, constructive feedback can go a long way in assisting their improvement in interview performance for the next opportunity.
Keep things compliant and confidential. As mentioned above, your company might be responsible for compliance with specific workplace protections for neurodiverse individuals. Be sure to work with your HR team to understand any legal requirements your hiring process must adhere to, such as those enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in the United States, etc.

Power neuroinclusion at work with superhuman hiring

What benefits neurodiverse candidates benefits all candidates. By making your hiring process more supportive through modifications such as interview accommodations, workflow automation, and AI-powered chatbots, you can bring in the power of technology where it makes the most impact to improve accessibility and keep the bar high for candidate experience.

At the heart of the SmarRecruiters recruitment platform lies Winston — the reliable AI companion that facilitates a deeply embedded, end-to-end AI-driven hiring process. Winston can help you streamline scheduling for neurodiverse talent, answer common application questions for candidates, and intelligently screen talent for skills without even breaking a sweat.

To see Winston’s skills in action and learn how AI-driven technology can power equitable hiring for your workplace, get in touch to schedule a demo.