Interview tips for neurodiverse jobseekers (that can work for anyone)
McLaren Recruitment
As a specialist recruitment and HR consulting company we pride ourselves on delivering results, not surprises.
Interviewing for a new job when you’re neurodivergent can provide its own challenges, especially when most organisations will have their own way of doing things, which can make it hard to know quite what to expect from the interview process. Our top tips are here to help you navigate a job interview, no matter how your brain ticks!
Tips for before your interview
Learn about the company and role you’re being considered for:
Before your interview, find out what you can about the organisation by looking at their website, social media pages, news articles – anything you can get your hands on to help build up a picture of what their company values are and how they operate. This background info will help, but equally try not to get too bogged down by all the details, as knowing about the job itself, and what you can bring to it, is what’s going to be more important.
Make sure you have a good read of the position description and job ad – take notes if that helps you to form potential talking points or draw comparisons to your own experience.
Think about how you would answer common interview questions:
If you can, find out in advance what interview style you should prepare for. Being prepared and having examples of your work experience that you can talk to will help ease the nerves and allow for a better interview experience.
We have a list of common interview questions that can help you start thinking about how you would approach them here . Some organisations will now provide their interview questions ahead of time, so it’s always worth an ask.
Often interviews will start with open-ended questions such as “tell me about yourself?” – these types of questions can be tricky when there’s no right or wrong answer to give, but seek.co.nz has some great advice including examples on how to approach it here .
Think about your own questions:
Just about every job interview ends with you being given the opportunity to ask them questions. While it might be tempting to politely thank them for their time and get out of there as soon as possible, having some prepared questions really shows you’ve put thought and effort into considering this opportunity.
It’s good to have a few options up your sleeve as you may find that some are answered throughout the interview. Some examples of questions you might ask are:
Know who you’re meeting with:
If you’ve been selected for a job interview, it’s important to understand who you’ll be meeting with and what their relationship is to the job in question. Sometimes people misunderstand who they’re speaking with, which can impact their answers and make them sound less prepared than they really are.
When interviewing for a role, you could be meeting with:
The Hiring Manager or Direct Line Manager – the person who this role will be directly reporting to. They’ll be able to give you good insights into how the role functions, what the team dynamics are and what their expectations are.
HR or an Internal Recruiter – in bigger organisations or sometimes when the direct manager is unable, you might be interviewed by someone from the HR or internal recruitment team. Though they work for the organisation that you’re interested in, it’s important to remember that they aren’t going to be your direct manager and very likely don’t work in the area you’re being considered for. However, they can still give you good insights into what the company culture is like.
An External/Agency Recruiter – many organisations outsource their hiring needs to recruiters that will run the recruitment process on behalf of that company. While they will have been given a thorough brief on the role and what the company is looking for, keep in mind that they don’t work for the organisation you’re interviewing for, so asking them why they enjoy working for that particular company isn’t applicable!??
If you haven’t been provided with information on who you’re meeting with prior to your interview, just ask.
Tips for on the day of your interview:
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