Ameliorating the disadvantage for autistic job seekers: An initial evaluation of adapted employment interview questions.
Katie Maras, Jade Eloise Norris, Jemma Nicholson and 3 others
PMID 33339462WHAT IT FOUND
Adapting job interview questions by breaking them into parts and giving candidates a printout improved answer quality for both autistic and non-autistic applicants.
This reduced the disadvantage autistic candidates faced when answering standard questions, though employers still rated them lower on overall impression.
Key findings
01Employers rated the quality of autistic interviewees' answers significantly lower than non-autistic interviewees when using standard, unadapted questions.
02Adapted questions, which were broken down into parts and provided as printouts, significantly improved the quality of responses for all participants.
03While answer quality differences between groups disappeared with adapted questions, employers still rated autistic interviewees lower on overall impressions of confidence, communication, likeability, and ease to work with.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study used mock interviews without a specific job description, which may not reflect the pressure and context of a real job interview. Employers rated transcripts only, so non-verbal cues like eye contact or posture were not considered, which are often critical in real hiring decisions. The sample size was small (42 participants completing both phases), and the study did not assess for co-occurring anxiety or depression, which can impact interview performance. Autistic participants had less employment experience than non-autistic participants, which may have influenced employer ratings independently of communication style.
Declared interests
The work was funded by an Economic and Social Research Council grant. No other conflicts of interest were reported.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume these adaptations eliminate bias in hiring. While the adapted questions improved the quality of autistic candidates' answers, employers still rated them lower on overall impressions of confidence and likeability compared to non-autistic candidates.