An IT consultancy firm which specialises in recruiting staff with autism spectrum disorders has just launched a UK branch, in a bid to improve career opportunities for people with autism in the City of London.
Social enterprise Auticon first made a name for itself in Berlin, Germany – where the company has successfully operated since 2011 under an autistic-only workforce.
The firm, which specialises in analytics, software testing, transformation and migration was first launched after its German founder was inspired by the continuing struggles of his autistic son in trying to find career opportunities in Berlin.
Auticon has since grown and expanded across Germany and beyond – and profits have been put towards opening additional offices in London and Paris,
The former is now up and running, and currently recruiting and training new staff.
“Lots of people with autism have amazing problem-solving and pattern-spotting skills and can perform lots of tasks much better than neurotypicals [people without autism] can. The problem is that the workplace is not [traditionally] built with people on the autism spectrum in mind,” says channel man Ray Coyle, who is driving Auticon’s UK recruitment campaign.
“We interview everybody who applies and we disregard previous work history because people with autism can have a sporadic and varied CV, so we don’t judge them on that basis, or their education history.
“We don’t judge them on their interview performance either because it won’t reflect their abilities.
“We spend a lot of time assessing people and giving them tests within an environment in which they can perform. It’s then that we unlock their talents,” he added.