Nick Venturella was inspired by his son to start AutismHR.
Finding meaningful employment and getting through the interview process can be a challenge for any adult. But for adults living with autism, who are perhaps distracted by fluorescent lights and the conversational buzz of an office setting and who struggle with social interactions, it can be nearly impossible.
Nick Venturella is on a mission to increase the employment options for people with autism via his online platform AutismHR (autismhr.com).
Venturella’s brainchild comes out of personal experience. When his son was diagnosed with autism a few years ago, Venturella, who does marketing work at a human resources software company, took on additional work through the freelancer platform Fiverr to help pay for his son’s therapy. He began to wonder how his son would support himself as an adult on the spectrum.
Venturella, who lives in Verona, first created a blog with content targeted towards young adults with autism looking for ways to utilize their college education and skills. Many adults on the spectrum are bright, high-functioning individuals who would be an asset to employers. Venturella was trying to envision various ways to connect employers to job seekers with autism, but he didn’t have time to play recruiter. Then a lightbulb moment happened.
“Fiverr markets for you, so it dawned on me that it could be a really useful avenue for many people who are very capable of [freelancing] and doing quality work,” but have trouble “selling” themselves to an employer, says Venturella.
He expanded his site to include free tutorials (targeted to autistic users) on how to use Fiverr and find employment in the gig economy in general (that is, temporary freelance jobs).
Venturella intends to maintain the no-cost tutorials and has connected with Fiverr on growing his site. His goal is for AutismHR to be a springboard for individuals with autism to build a portfolio of work that will make it easier to market themselves for traditional employment or freelancing.
He’s also introduced AutismHR to his alma mater, Edgewood College, through its Cutting Edge program, which strives to give individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities a true college experience. Dedra Hafner, assistant professor and director of Cutting Edge, believes the AutismHR platform could be a good fit for several of her students.
“The unemployment rate for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is much higher when compared to the general population,” says Hafner. “AutismHR is one approach to filling a need in the community for assisting individuals with ASD in obtaining job skills.”
According to research published in the May 2012 issue of the journal Pediatrics,35 percent of young adults (ages 19-23) with autism have not had a job or received postgraduate education after leaving high school.
These numbers push Nick Venturella to make his site even more useful to adults who need that extra bit of help: “If AutismHR can help even a few people, then I’ll feel like it has been successful. But I hope it can help many more.”
