My work with Jersey Employment Trust
Back in 2025, I was invited to join Jersey Employment Trust as an Ambassador. Since then, I have delivered a talk, written for the Jersey Evening Post, and delivered a free training session on minute writing. As a professionally diagnosed adult (ADHD and Autism) I feel a great sense of responsibility to help young people navigate through the difficulties that I experienced.
https://www.jet.co.je/about-us/jet-ambassadors/ryan-oconnell
Excerpt from speech given at inclusion event, September 2025.
Good morning all. By way of introduction, my name is Ryan, and I am here as an ambassador for Jersey Employment Trust. I am also an autistic adult, and today I want to talk briefly about my experiences in the work place, and actions that employers can take to become more accessible to neurodiverse people.
I would like to start my speech by referencing The Buckland Review of Autism Employment, which was published in England in February 2024. Here are some key takeaways from the report:
Just 3 in 10 autistic adults are in work, compared to 5 in 10 for all disabled people and 8 in 10 for non-disabled people.
Autistic people face the largest pay gap of all disability groups.
Autistic graduates are twice as likely to be unemployed after 15 months as non-disabled graduates.
Autistic graduates are most likely to be overqualified for the job they have.
They are most likely to be on zero-hour contracts and least likely to be in a permanent role.
Autistic people are hindered right from the beginning of the employment process, and job descriptions are a great example of this. I have read many job descriptions where I could not actually figure out what the day to day tasks in the job would actually be. How can I then know if I want to apply for that job, or if I would be any good at that job? Chance are that over the years, I have held off applying for jobs that would suit me, because the job description just wasn’t accessible.
When I attended interviews, I learnt to ask “what does a typical day actually look like?” to try and figure out if I would be a good fit or not.
I think people are worried that the job will sound boring if they actually just come out and say “it’s emailing, and answering the phone, and filing,” (which are tasks in just about every office job), but trying to jazz it up and obscure it is not helpful for autistic people, and probably not that helpful for anyone else. I have read many interviews for people that work in finance, and I think just about every interview has included something along the lines of “the work is so varied, no two days are the same,” which is also not very enlightening for people trying to figure out if finance is for them.
For an autistic person, like me, certainty is very important. What is my job, and what is not my job. That’s a key part of how my brain works, and how I become comfortable. That doesn’t mean that my tasks and responsibilities can never change, they absolutely can, but I need to have clear conversations and I need to know what the expectations are on both sides.
Interviews are absolutely exhausting for autistic people. Firstly, we’re dealing with unknown people, in an unknown location, asking random things, and secondly, many of us have to put on a neurotypical mask, which I’ll come back to shortly. Basically, we tend to get very anxious when we have unknown factors at play, more so than non-autistic people.
The best way that any interviewer can become instantly more inclusive is to send out their interview questions ahead of time, and stick to them. Even if it’s just a loose framework to go on. I’m sure that this idea will absolutely horrify some people, and if your first reaction is “absolutely not” then try and just sit with the idea.
In my view, interviews are not really about how skilled or experienced someone is, that’s on their CV. What interviews are really about, is how well someone can talk. What the vibes are. Do you like this
person. How will they fit in your team. All of this is going to be more apparent to you if the candidate is prepared and relaxed.
Another great thing you can do, is include photos when you send out the interview details. Head-shots of the people the candidate will be meeting, and photos of the entrance of the building, and the reception area if possible.
Masking is something that the majority of autistic people do, either some of the time or all of the time that they are with other people. This is where we learn to behave and speak in a way that is tolerable to other people, because if we just spoke and acted how we wanted to, the way our brains are telling us to, we can get in trouble.
We can be too blunt, too truthful, ask too many questions. Most of us don’t like making eye contact, and we have to learn to do that, or learn how to pretend to do it, by focusing just above someone’s eyes, or using another technique. Doing this all the time is really tiring, it’s like an extra full time job.
When I was younger, I found it very difficult to navigate interviews. I thought that if someone offered me a time slot, than no matter how difficult it was to make that slot, I had to attend. I think a lot of people feel this pressure, and it is another part of the process that doesn’t really serve anyone by being too rigid. If interviewers can offer a bit more flexibility, a couple of dates and times instead of just one, and offer to look at additional dates if possible, I think you will again get a better interview experience out of a more relaxed candidate.
As I have gotten older, I’ve been able to advocate for myself much more effectively, and this is something that I want to help to pass on to all autistic and neurodiverse young people. I am able to attend a job interview and say “I’m autistic, and I don’t work well with others, I don’t enjoy group projects, and I need a quiet space.”
I know that what I have just said is going to sound off putting to some people here. Some people are going to hear that and think, “well that Ryan sounds like a bit of a jerk actually. Probably difficult to manage and work with. Not sure I want them on my team.”
But if you were able to get past that, you would find that I am very kind, approachable, willing to help others, and great at sharing my specialist knowledge. Just don’t ask me to sit in a noisy part of the office.
I’m an asset to my employer. I have been able to succeed in my career by identifying and using my skillset, and ensuring that I spend the majority of the time doing things that I’m amazing at, and very little time doing things that I’m rubbish at. That’s not the same as saying I never explore other skills, and it’s important to note that. But, because of my disability, there are going to be things that I’m just never going to be good at, even if I practiced at it over and over. I would just end up miserable, and burned out. That’s been something that I’ve had to learn through experience.
For neurodiverse people to truly succeed in the workplace, they need to let the mask drop all of the time, and be honest and open about their skills and challenges. And they can only do this when the workplace is safe for them. That means a workplace where diversity and inclusion is not just some words in the yearly training, or on an inspirational poster, but is actually part of workplace culture, from interviewing through to yearly reviews and one to ones, and career planning.
I would like to finish by summarising the actions that I would like all local employers to undertake:
Ask candidates if there are any accommodations that they require, in supportive language that indicates that accommodation requests are welcome and respected.
Write clear job descriptions.
Send out interview questions in advance.
Send out as many details on the interviewers and interview location as you can.
Deepen your understanding of issues faced by disabled people. Read some blogs, follow disabled content producers, read some books, attend seminars, and listen to people’s lived experiences.
Even if you don’t agree with my suggestions, hopefully you will be inspired to review your processes, and have a think about your own ideas for change.
