Interview Advice for Neurodivergent Job Seekers That Actually Works
Most interview advice assumes the best candidate is the one who's best at small talk. For neurodivergent and introverted job seekers, that assumption is the barrier.
Interview coach Ramon Santillian has helped clients on the autism spectrum land roles at companies including Google, Amazon, Facebook, and NASA. On Inclusive AF, he told Katee Van Horn and Jackye Clayton what works. It isn't applying to hundreds of jobs with a perfect elevator pitch.
Outsmart the process instead of outcompeting the crowd
Mass applying puts you in the same pile as everyone else, judged by the same filters. Ramon's approach is to narrow the search, customize every application, and get in front of the people who actually make the decision.
Drop the elevator pitch
A memorized pitch sounds memorized. Ramon coaches clients to build the conversation around three things instead: educate, entertain, and engage. Share something useful about the work, bring a real story, and ask questions that get the interviewer talking. An interrogation becomes a conversation, which is easier for everyone, especially people who find scripted small talk draining.
Go to the decision maker
LinkedIn is most useful when you use it to reach the hiring manager or team lead, not just to hit Easy Apply. A short, specific message about the work gets further than a perfectly formatted résumé sitting in an applicant tracking system.
Prepare for the interview you're actually walking into
Research the team, the problems they're solving, and the interview format. Ask what to expect. A candidate who knows whether it's a panel, a case study, or a casual chat can prepare for it instead of guessing.
For hiring teams: your interview may be the barrier
If your process rewards eye contact, rapid-fire answers, and comfort with ambiguity, you're screening for interview performance, not job performance. A few changes help every candidate:
- Share the questions or topics in advance.
- Tell candidates the format, who they'll meet, and how long it will take.
- Offer a work sample or written option alongside the live conversation.
- Score answers against the job, not against how natural the candidate seemed.
Cut the steps that don't help you decide. You'll hire more good people, neurodivergent or not.
Listen to the full conversation with Ramon Santillian on the episode page.
Co-Host
Jackye Clayton has spent more than 15 years in HR and HR tech, most of it arguing that hiring is a design problem, not a pipeline problem.
She led talent and inclusion work at Textio and SeekOut and edited at RecruitingDaily. Today she runs Talent Lab, advising companies on AI in hiring, neurodiversity, and talent strategy. She founded People Puzzles, teaches on LinkedIn Learning, and reports from the field at conferences like HR Tech and Workhuman Live.
She's building Who Do I Work For?, a tool that uses public records to show job seekers what a company actually does before they take the offer.
Her work has been cited in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, and SHRM. She's on HR Executive's Top 100 HR Influencers list.
She lives in Waco, Texas, where she serves as Secretary on the board of Creative Waco and Chair of the board of Communities In Schools of the Heart of Texas.