Some may not have realized the day after April fools is home to a much less jesting observation called World Autism Awareness Day. Not only is April 2nd World Autism Awareness Day, but the rest of the month is dedicated to National Autism Awareness.
In lieu of this month’s observation, Microsoft is looking to empower those with autism with a sponsorship of the second annual Autism @ Work Summit.
In Palo Alto, California this year, a gathering of businesses across various industries will come together to employee an under-invested workforce of autistic individuals.
Each qualified candidate attends a weeklong hiring academy with a variety of Microsoft teams and hiring managers. They are looking to find talent and promote an inclusive and diverse culture within their teams. We have seen great success hiring software engineers, data scientists and other roles across the company, working on products and services like Azure, Cortana, HoloLens, Microsoft IT, Office, Windows, Windows Store and Xbox.
The hiring pool extends beyond Microsoft’s own job boards and offers candidates with autism opportunities with company recruiters from the offices of AT&T, EY, JP Morgan Chase, NCR, SAP, and Ford. The free virtual job booths and recruitment opportunities are free as well as a LinkenIn hosted two-session virtual theater focusing on how to build a profile to help candidates with autism a leg up in a highly competitive job market.
To participate, Microsoft is encouraging interested parties to visit https://aja.ms/autism.at.work for more details. When it comes to diversity in the workplace, Microsoft appears to be broadening the definition.
