Graduate programs are a mainstay of early career talent strategies for most larger organisations. However, there is a growing shortage of skilled graduates entering the market every year.

In Australia alone, the demand for Information & Communications Technology roles could result in a deficit of 65,000 candidates by 2023 according to the Group Executive of People for Telstra, Alexandra Badenoch.

Something I haven’t really written about before is my own experiences working in accounting. In fact, it’s possibly even something that you may not have appreciated I spent the early part of my career doing!

So, I thought it might be helpful to share with you my own thoughts on how a neurodiverse inclusive approach to hiring could be of benefit to accounting firms. My own experience was predominantly within mid size and small firms, but I think this will be relevant to any size firm. I’d like to explore how an understanding of neurodiverse individuals and their work preferences could enable firms to both to attract applicants that are both capable and motivated and to avoid the often common mid level drop off. That career point where many people either leave professional practice or move ‘up’ to bigger firms.

Over recent years, the process of recruitment has been heavily influenced by the same pressures that all business processes have experienced. The constant need for ever greater productivity and efficiency. A focus on common metrics such as Time to Hire and Cost to Fill and the ever-present debate between insourcing and outsourcing recruitment requires more rapid judgements when making hiring decisions.

When making filtering decisions, weeding out candidates who'll not be a good fit, how often do you make judgements based on experience or broad assumptions such as the candidate's degree choice?

Earlier this year when attending the Autism@Work Summit in Melbourne I heard from a panel of employers who have commenced autism hiring programs. It’s fantastic to see so many businesses open their doors to talent they may have not explored before and start learning to be much more inclusive as a result.

A question raised from the audience around how smaller organisations can replicate what these typically very large corporates are doing. It was a great question and one that I’d also like to share some thoughts on.