Dell hiring program creates opportunities for adults with autism

After a successful pilot in Massachusetts, Dell Technologies is expanding its autism hiring program to central Texas.

The Round Rock, Tex.-based tech giant, which launched the program last April, offers two weeks of training before a 12-week summer internship for adults with autism spectrum disorder. In some cases, those internships turn into a full-time job, said Lou Candiello, Dell's military and disability recruiting program lead.

Last year, 12 adults went through the training at Dell's Hopkinton, Mass., campus. Following the training, two summer interns were hired as full-time employees; the company is in the process of hiring a third candidate.

Candiello said Dell has big goals for the future of the program, with expectations to expand it globally.

"It doesn't stop here," Candiello said. "We don't want this to be a secret. We want this to be another facet of how we recruit at Dell Technologies."

Brian Reaves, Dell's chief diversity and inclusion officer, will monitor the program in central Texas, where the company plans to bring on roughly a dozen adults for two weeks of training at its Round Rock headquarters. Four candidates will be selected for summer internships after the training.

Reaves said the company's push to train and hire adults with autism is part of Dell's broader effort to focus on diversity in its workforce.

Roughly 1 in 59 children were identified as having an autism spectrum disorder in 2018, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network.

The disorder refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, and speech and nonverbal communication, according to the advocacy organization Autism Speaks.

More than half of young adults with autism remain unemployed and unenrolled in higher education in the two years after high school, according to Autism Speaks.

A 2015 survey by the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute — the institute's most recent report on unemployment — found that just 58% of adults in their 20s who have autism are employed.

But don't expect Dell to immediately expand the program. Reaves and Candiello agreed they're trying to take it slowly so that they can build a framework.

The Arc of the Capital Area, an organization that works with central Texans with intellectual and developmental disabilities, is working with Dell to screen candidates and launch the program.

The group will continue working with those who are not selected for positions at Dell to find other employment.

Allison Abramo, director of the Arc's supported employment program, said Dell's program is unique in the area and among big corporations.

"I think they're a leader in the space in Texas, at least in Austin," Abramo said.

"They're really putting a lot of effort into opening up their application process to people who are neurodiverse."

Abramo said the training period is also a skills assessment, which is helpful to candidates who need a more dynamic interview process to show off their skills to hiring managers.

About 15 candidates have applied so far, Abramo said. The training will start April 29.

Abramo said she hopes the program will continue on a yearly basis with Dell and eventually expand to other companies.

Dell is the largest public employer in the Austin metro area, with about 13,000 workers in central Texas. The company returned to the public market in December after five years as a private company.