We would like to extend a huge thank you to our partners at JDM Solutions for allowing this partnership to take flight. Open Door has placed over 12 clients in the software testing realm, with 8 current clients being employed at JDM to execute unit testing. This video short tells the story of our ongoing collaboration to focus on performance over perception regarding our neurodiverse community in the workplace.

Lots of our college graduate clients (even those with good work experience) can have difficulty expressing themselves verbally. Guess what that is unfortunate for? THE INTERVIEW. In the dreaded interview, you are expected to answer open-ended questions, tell your “story”, remember all of your schooling and work experience, and have it roll off your tongue in an eloquent manner…..that is hard for anyone. It is extremely hard for someone with elevated levels of anxiety.

Well, not everyone has the capability to blow a hiring manager away with their exquisite vernacular. If you have a talent and you know your worth, SHOW YOUR WORK.

Proactively keep examples of all work you may have completed in school, in college, on an internship, during your time getting a certificate, etc. This can be on a thumb drive, on a simple portfolio link you share with the potential employer, or even in a manila folder. You can keep examples of the work you have completed, on hand.

Have tangible “work” to show, and SHOW YOUR WORK. You’ll be surprised how this helps in certain Hiring Managers’ decisions.

Differentiate yourself from other applicants and interviewees. Bring your examples to the interview, even leave it, and have them review it.

SHOW YOUR WORK.

Open Door has initiated its contract with Huntsville City Schools Special Education Department. The contract will consist of: Career Preparatory Classes focusing on workplace soft skills, career mentorship, and workplace assimilation skills for the special education students at New Century Technological School.

“The grey area of High Functioning Autism is a demographic that we want to focus on. Some of the most intelligent students in our school systems are overlooked simply because of their diagnosis or placement in a special education class. These are the minds that need to be cultivated and assisted with soft-skill learning, prior to entering the workforce. We do not need students in Huntsville that graduate High School and then college with a degree in Physics, but are then stocking shelves at the grocery store. We are going to be proactive about cultivating these students to be prepared to enter the professional workforce, not just focus solely on academics.” -David Stidger, Owner/Founder, Open Door

We have collaborated with Straigh to Ale to bring the community a beer that emphasizes neurodiversity in our community. WIZEMIND was crafted to bring awareness to the community on Neurodiverse minds, different ways of thinking, and advocacy for those with differing brain types. Open Door client, Sabrina Pagliocchini, is the talent behind the can art.

WIZEMIND Label

Sabrina (Artist) David (Founder of Open Door)

Writing a cover letter for a job application? Nervous about disclosing your autism diagnosis? Flip the table and focus your wording on the STRENGTHS you possess with your autism.

Here we have posted a cover letter template you can use, for that very scenario: