VCU professor examines barriers facing neurodivergent job seekers
In PBS’s “A World of Difference,” Dr. Christopher Whelpley explains how subtle social biases can outweigh skills in the hiring process.
By Megan Nash
On a recent episode of “A World of Difference,” Dr. Christopher Whelpley, an assistant professor at the VCU School of Business, laid out the central hurdle facing many neurodivergent graduates: interviews measure impressions more than ability.
“Even if you are perceived as qualified for a job, and you’re interviewing for it, you’re still going to be less likely to be hired, relative to similarly qualified neurotypical individuals,” he said in an expert panel interview. In experiments, he added, this bias becomes plain— “if you are reading a transcript of an interview, as opposed to watching an interview, we actually have neurodiverse people outperform neurotypical individuals.”
Whelpley, who recently discussed his research with VCU News, explained that the gap stems from how hiring managers read social behavior. “It’s less about what people are actually saying, what skills they’re bringing,” he said, “and instead about the social perceptions—speech, body language, eye contact—that end up making decisions for people.”
His commentary appears in the episode “Finding Your Place: Navigating the Neurodivergent Job Hunt,” part of “A World of Difference,” a Beacon College-produced series that airs on WUCF, Central Florida’s PBS station, and streams on the PBS app. The episode follows a new graduate through his first job search and profiles a bank’s tailored hiring effort.
To watch the full episode, visit awodtv.org.
Categories News, research