Beyond the Resume: The Unique Path of Autistic Job Seekers

About the Author

Brenda Dater, MSW, MPH, is the executive director at AANE and the author of “Parenting Without Panic.” Brenda is a mom of three, and her eldest is an Autistic woman. Brenda has facilitated parent support groups for over 20 years and thoroughly enjoys creating an environment where parents can find the support, information, and the community they need.

There is one topic that comes up in conversation after conversation at AANE: employment. Whether I’m talking with an Autistic adult or the parent of a teen or young adult, the conversation often comes back to the same question: How can meaningful work be found with a hiring process that often feels stacked against Neurodivergent candidates?

The statistics reflect what I hear every day. Approximately 85% of Autistic adults are unemployed or underemployed. But statistics don’t capture what that experience actually feels like for Autistic individuals and families. Our family has lived it too. My Autistic daughter, Rachel, gave me permission to share her story.

School was where Rachel thrived. She loved learning, especially history. She could spend hours researching and writing. But like many Autistic students, succeeding academically didn’t mean everything else came easily. Depression and anxiety became overwhelming during college, and she needed to reduce her course load and take breaks to focus on getting well.

After graduating from college, there were nearly two years when she simply needed to recover her energy. Looking for a job wasn’t realistic. As her mental health slowly improved, people encouraged her to volunteer. Rachel struggled with the idea. She had worked hard to earn her undergraduate degree. She believed her education, knowledge, and skills had value and that people should be paid for their work. 

Eventually though, she decided to give volunteering a try. Not because she’d changed her mind about being paid, but because she needed a place to begin.

She volunteered at a local food pantry. It gave structure to her week and a reason to leave the house. While it didn’t replace the satisfaction of meaningful paid work, it helped restore something years of mental health challenges had taken away: the feeling that she had something valuable to contribute.

That experience changed the way she thought about volunteering. She still believes people should be paid for their work, but she came to see it as something that could help her move toward employment rather than away from it. And she felt like she had a purpose in the world and could be helpful to others.

As her mental health improved, Rachel decided to pursue graduate school in history. Then life intervened again. Within a year, she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, celiac disease, autoimmune thyroid disease, and cancer. Once again, work had to wait while she focused on her health.

Today, five years later, she is in remission. She has finished graduate school and is ready for the next step. She hopes to work in a museum or library, or perhaps in a gluten-free bakery or restaurant, following her love of history or her love of baking and cooking.

She’s working with an AANE LifeMAP coach to navigate today’s job market. Together they’ve updated her resume so it isn’t filtered out by AI screening software before a person ever sees it. They’ve broken the job search into manageable steps. She volunteers one day a week at a Boston museum, gaining experience in an area that interests her. Every week she bakes cookies to share with the staff and volunteers.She’s applying for jobs. She’s getting screening calls. She’s interviewing. She’s also getting rejected.

As the executive director of AANE, I hear stories like Rachel’s every week. As an employer myself, I also understand how difficult hiring decisions can be. When a resume shows long gaps or limited work experience, it’s easy to move on to the next applicant.

But as I know all too well, those gaps leave out the whole story. Sometimes they represent years spent recovering from Autistic burnout. Sometimes they reflect serious medical challenges. Sometimes they’re the result of workplace misunderstandings that had very little to do with someone’s ability to do the job well.

A resume tells you where someone has been. It doesn’t always tell you what they’re capable of. One of the things Rachel’s journey has reminded me is that careers don’t always unfold in a straight line. Sometimes we’re learning. Sometimes we’re recovering. Sometimes we’re building the confidence and experience to take the next step. Life doesn’t always follow the timeline we imagined.

Interruptions don’t erase potential. They simply mean someone may need the opportunity to begin again.

Every employer has the opportunity to recognize potential that others might overlook. Sometimes that begins by looking beyond a resume, asking a few thoughtful questions, and seeing the whole person instead of just their work history.

At AANE, we partner with employers to build more neuroinclusive workplaces, from hiring practices and manager training to ongoing consultation and coaching. Expanding opportunity doesn’t just help Autistic job seekers. It helps organizations recognize potential that might otherwise be overlooked.

If you’re ready to make your workplace more welcoming to neurodivergent employees, we’d love to help. Sometimes creating opportunity starts with looking beyond a resume.