Microsoft says yes to people with autism and believes that hiring people suffering from the condition can have a positive impact on the future of the company. Microsoft has started a campaign that encourages the hiring of people with autism and they are launching their quest by offering jobs.
Microsoft is changing its game plan and is making way for people with autism to get the chance of obtaining a job. The high tech company announced that in May they will release a program that will engage in hiring people suffering from autism on full time jobs that will be available at its headquarters located in Redmond, Washington.
The world is a diverse place and the people living on this planet have different perspective with different approaches. What Microsoft is looking for with this project is to broaden opportunities and create a diverse group of employees that can represents its clients, explained the vice president of world wide operations, Mary Ellen Smith, through a written statement posted on the 3rd of April on Microsoft’s blog.
She added that people suffering from autism are needed inside the company as they can only make it stronger. Every person with autism is different from the other, and they are known to have incredible capacities of retaining information since their mind performs at a different level than the rest of us. They have a developed sense for coding and math that is hard to be found in anyone else.
Smith has admitted of having a 19 year old son, who was given the diagnose of autism when he was four years old. She continued writing on the blog post, that Microsoft truly believes in the potential of these humans and they are educating all their workers to see the great potential they have. She added that her son is the one who inspires her on a personal level, and he is the one who gave her this strong belief in people suffering from autism.
Microsoft wishes to encourage other big companies to create programs to incorporate people with autism in their work field and give them the chance to show their potential. According to a representative of the company, Microsoft is expecting to make the first steps of the project with 10 candidates for the job positions.
Microsoft is collaborating on this project with a Danish firm, called Specialisterne, which is specialised in training and finding jobs for people suffering from autism.
The past year, Specialisteme has tried to develop similar projects together with the German software company SAP, to its headquarters from North America. The idea came to them after their projects from Germany, India and Ireland have proved to be successful. With the help of this action, SAP is hoping that in 5 years they will manage to find jobs for almost 650 people with autism.
This is not the first campaign Microsoft is launching to help people with autism. Fourteen years ago, in 2001, Microsoft broadened its health benefits plan, and modified them in order to cover the costs for special therapy for children diagnosed with autism. After its launch, this method was also adopted by other large companies like Intel, Cusco, Apple, Qualcomm and Oracle.
Apart from providing special care for children with autism, Microsoft is also educating its employees on autism and how to approach this type of disorder.
People with autism who are interested in applying for a job at Microsoft can send their resume at the email address: msautism@microsoft.com.
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