What motivated Virgin Red to think about offering an internship to an autistic candidate?
Offering an internship to an autistic candidate was an exciting opportunity to help make a difference to someone’s career prospects and overcome the workplace challenges that autistic candidates often face. 

What was the existing level of knowledge about autism within the organisation?
There was a certain level of knowledge about autism within the organisation, but there is always room for improvement; so working together with the National Autistic Society was an excellent springboard to increase awareness amongst the organisation.

What did you consider when identifying a suitable role/team?
We considered some of the typical skills that an autistic candidate possesses, along with where these skills would fit nicely into our business. The Data Team was the perfect choice and we were confident the team could also offer learnings and ongoing development opportunities to the successful candidate.

What did you feel you could offer the candidate and what did you hope to gain as an organisation?
We hoped to offer the successful candidate valuable work experience, an environment for confidence building and insightful learnings, especially given our business start-up mode. As an organisation, we hoped to gain learnings ourselves and to build a relationship that was both rewarding and worthwhile.

What were your concerns, if any, before embarking on this project?
We didn’t really have any big concerns, but as a new organisation we were in a place where things were constantly changing and often quickly. Undoubtedly those elements brought with them some slight concerns for us and how someone with autism may cope, but after voicing them to our friends at the National Autistic Society, we were reassured that we could overcome them.

What appealed to you about the National Autistic Society’s Autism at Work programme?
We were so impressed by the passion behind the Autism at Work programme and the positive changes in society that they were aiming to achieve. It was evident that a lot of planning and consideration had been undertaken to launch the programme.

How has the National Autistic Society supported you in terms of recruitment, awareness training, on boarding and on-going support, both for the candidate and line manager?
The National Autistic Society held our hand throughout the entire journey! Everything from job advertisement content, to on-site support on the day of the interviews (for both the candidates and interview panel), through to detailed team awareness training, company-wide training and more.  

Has communication with the National Autistic Society been good in terms of response time and provision of useful resources and suggested strategies?
The communication channels between Virgin Red and National Autistic Society have always been open and we knew they were at the end of the phone as and when we had any questions or concerns.

How easy or difficult has it been to make the reasonable adjustments required for an autistic team member and to accommodate them in the team?
With the guidance and support from the National Autistic Society, it was easy to make the necessary reasonable adjustments required. The team themselves showed a great level of understanding and naturally took a very accommodating approach.

What has been your overall experience of the programme?
Our overall experience of the Autism at Work programme has been so positive and a joy! The knowledge and support provided has been second to none. The programme has certainly increased our colleagues' confidence about working with an autistic team member. 

Would you consider offering further internship opportunities to autistic candidates?
If the opportunity arises, then absolutely! Given our enriching experience, we would really encourage other organisations to consider doing the same and to get involved. 

Read more from a candidate that worked with Virgin Red