Examining the use of game-based assessments for hiring autistic job seekers

Abstract

Although people with autism are protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, there is little theoretical or practical effort to determine whether traditional pre-employment assessments unfairly impact autistic job seekers. Due to the lack of emphasis on social communication, game-based assessments (GBAs) may offer a way of assessing candidate ability without disadvantag-ing autistic candidates. A total of 263 autistic job seekers took one of two game-based assessment packages designed to measure cognitive ability. After comparing their results to 323 college-graduate job seekers in the general population, we found that performance on the GBAs was generally similar in both populations, although some small differences were detected. Implications for hiring decisions are discussed.