TIMELINE BEFORE THE JOB FAIR / REVERSE JOB FAIR

Jun 28 - Jul 13: posting of 1st wave of job openings

Jul 14: deadline for candidates to submit resume (1st wave) 

Jul 13: registered candidates will be sent a form to declare preferences for applications (1st wave)

Jul 13-14: declare preferences for job applications (1st wave)

Jul 14-20: recruiters select candidates for reverse job fair

Jul 14 to 21: posting of 2nd wave of job openings

Jul 20: registered candidates will be sent a form to declare preferences for applications (2nd wave)

Jul 20-21: declare preferences for job applications (2nd wave)

Jul 21: deadline for candidates to submit resume (2nd wave) 

Jul 21: candidates will be notified for reverse job fair

Jul 28 (Wed):  job fair - reverse job fair

 

GUIDELINES FOR EMPLOYERS IN THE STANFORD NEURODIVERSITY JOB FAIR/ REVERSE JOB FAIR  

 

We will have the same agenda on both July 28, 2021 (Wednesday); all in Pacific Time:

  • 9 - 9:30 AM: Introduction (all attendees in 1 session)

  • 9:30 - 10:30 AM: Job Fair (in small groups; each recruiter will speak with small number of job seekers for each 15 min session)

  • 10:30 AM - 1 PM: Reverse Job Fair (in small groups; each pre-selected job seeker will speak with a recruiter for each 15 min session)

 

Please see below for more detailed information on each session:

 

Job Fair

Each job seeker will join a group consisting of one recruiter and other job seekers. Each small group will meet for 15 minutes. The employer will likely give a short presentation, and then s/he will invite you to ask questions. 

 

Reverse Job Fair

Each job seeker will speak with 1 recruiter for 15 minutes. The small group session will begin with you, the job seeker, providing a brief 5 minute overview of your experience. After that, employers are likely to ask you some questions for about 10 minutes. 

The jobseeker can give the 5-minute presentation in 2 different ways: (a) pre-recorded video, or live presentation. 

 

Suggestions to Employers When Interacting with Neurodiverse Job Seekers:

  • Ask specific questions rather than open-ended ones. Individuals on the spectrum often find open-ended questions difficult or anxiety-provoking because of the need to interpret (or guess) what the interviewer wants.

    • Instead of: “Why are you a good fit for this position?”

    • Try: “Have you worked in a job similar to this one before?”

  • Concrete Questions: Ask concrete questions based on what you see on the resume rather than abstract questions about hypothetical situations.

    • Instead of: “How do you think you'll cope with working if there are lots of interruptions?”

    • Try:  “At your last job I see that you answered multiple phone lines and greeted customers. Please tell me your process when you were answering phones and greeting customers?” or “'Think back to your last job. Can you tell us how you coped with your work when people interrupted you?”

  • Prompt the candidate in order to extract all the relevant information and gather sufficient information. Neurodiverse individuals often have all the knowledge to answer the questions, but are unsure of what information to provide unless it is specifically requested.

  • Expect literal answers and adjust: Be aware that the candidate may interpret language literally (e.g: asking “How did you find your last job?” may result in the answer “I found it on Indeed and applied”).

  • Understand body language: Many neurodiverse job candidates are not consistent with eye contact.  It’s best NOT to assume that they are not interested or not listening.

  • Small talk: Although each person has individual strengths, many Neurodiverse job seekers are not polished when engaging in small talk.

  • Completing the tasks/Big picture:  It varies, but some ND job seekers are really good at following directions, but not really good at seeing the “big picture”. But there are also ND job seekers who are good at discussing the bigger picture.

  • Specific instructions: Many are good with specific instructions. For example, if you ask, “How did you do task A and B to get to C?”

At the end of the Job Fair/Reverse job fair, we hope that you are able to consider many of the job seekers as candidates for your jobs. Please email Mark Gavartin, Stanford Neurodiversity Project Program Manager, for assistance in contacting and scheduling the interviews at gavartin@stanford.edu.