From the Web: Making Interviews Even Worse

Interviews are awful. They're a glorification of the first impression, a phenomenon that is notably inaccurate for actually assessing people, their personalities, and their skillsets.  They are also nearly mandatory for getting hired in the United States.

There are whole classes offered in colleges on how to do an interview.  These aren't for autistic people, they're offered for everyone, because doing a good interview is an art form.  Few people are naturally good at interviews, so these classes are offered to help offset the dozens of stumbling blocks involved in the process.  Things like what to wear, what questions you might be asked, what type of resume to bring, and how to answer tricky questions like "what thing would you change about yourself/what's your most negative trait?"  Mostly, though, interviews are an exercise in lying through your teeth.  

Autistic people tend to be worse at interviews than the general population.  Lying often doesn't come naturally to us, so when asked "why do you want to work at this company?" we're more inclined to say "because I need a roof over my head and food to eat," rather than the expected answer of "oh, I love Company because X, Y, Z, and I think I'd fit in really well and enjoy the work."  The hiring process is so skewed that in order to get hired, you need to say things like that, even though you most likely do not believe them.  Even if the job in question is just being a stocker at a grocery store, or a janitor at a retail store.  

Even if you've learned what the right answers are to all these questions, and what's expected of you, you still need to manage the in-person interview with another live human being.  Statistically speaking, that human being will not know much, if anything, about autism, and will only see it as a liability and a reason to pass over you.  If you disclose your diagnosis during the interview, that will be a factor the interviewer will consider consciously, and ableism is quite rampant in the United States.  If you don't disclose your diagnosis, you're at the mercy of how well you can "act normal" during the interview process.  Your tone of voice, amount of eye contact, posture, facial expressions, and word choice will all be scrutinized by the interviewer.   All of which is entirely aside from your actual skills for the job.  

Then there's the dress requirement (not everyone can shell out for a nice suit or appropriate formalwear), the resume mess (formatted just so, with just the right information tailored for each job you apply to), and the luck factor (better hope the interviewer likes you).  In short, it's no surprise autistic people suffer much higher rates of unemployment and underemployment.  

It's probably quite clear by now how poorly I view the hiring process.  So what could make it worse?  Well, how about making the interview one-sided, recorded, and having it be analyzed by a face-reading computer?

You would think this would be an improvement, since there's no longer a human being to manage interactions with... but the thing is, that also means there's no feedback and no discussion.  There's no chance to explain your diagnosis, no chance to make an actual human connection.  You, as a person, are represented solely by how well you can lie to a webcam and pretend it's a person.  This includes making eye contact with the webcam as if it's a person, which, if you read the comments on the link, neurotypical people find difficult also.

Effectively, this development makes interviewing worse for everyone.  Now, not only do you need to learn how to do a regular in-person interview, you also need to learn webcam etiquette, how to look a webcam in the eye and pretend it's a human, and how to have a one-sided conversation while lying through your teeth.  It is, as one commenter points out, more appropriately termed an audition.

Of particular irony is the fact that this software will, invariably, be used to hire for customer service and people-facing jobs.  So instead of putting the candidates in front of actual people in order to check their people-skills, they will put them in front of cameras.  Y'know, thus checking their YouTuber skills (performing in front of a camera skills) instead.

Now in case this isn't unfair enough, people with autism tend towards more unusual facial expressions.  Some are hyper-animated, but some, like me, are more stone-faced.  With computer analysis of my face as I try to talk to a camera like it's a human, I have even less chance of passing the interview process and acquiring a job.  Thanks, thoughtless jerks in marketing and human resources!