Last year, Nathan was at a juncture in his career path.
“I was doing lots of volunteering and helping with various unpaid jobs for fun and for building my skills,” he recalls. “These included fixing laptops at a computer repair service, helping a friend with their coffee machine repair business, and helping my neighbour build boxes and various things out of wood to sell.”
He was keen to expand his skillset further by training as a forklift operator, but the agency that was supporting him asked that he first find employment in a role where a forklift licence would be beneficial. They put him in touch with Marnie Datson, Senior Recruitment Consultant at Acclaimed Workforce in McLaren Vale. It was a fortuitous meeting.
“They happened to have an opening in the perfect job opportunity for me,” explains Nathan.
One of Acclaimed Workforce McLaren Vale’s clients is Torresan Estate Adelaide Hills, a bottling, packaging and warehousing business servicing the wine industry. According to site manager Bruce Ludewigs, Acclaimed Workforce McLaren Vale has assisted the business over a number of years, finding staff to meet the needs of a fluctuating work schedule. In this instance, Torresan was looking for someone to support their production line operations.
“This work is quite repetitious,” explains Bruce. “It may be applying labels to bottles of wine, it might be stacking bottles, or making up cartons ready for wine to be packed into it.”
Marnie supported Nathan to join the team at Torresan, and he took to the work readily. “When we show Nathan a process, he picks it up very quickly,” says Bruce. “He understands tasks and completes them to a standard that our customers would expect. He’s very good.”
“The Acclaimed Workforce McLaren Vale team were very helpful and made everything very easy for me, both in the process of getting the job, and while I've been working,” recalls Nathan. “If I need help with anything I can text Marnie at any time, and I always get a quick and helpful response.”
Nathan, who has autism and is non-verbal, is supported on-site by a carer, and communicates with his co-workers via his phone. While Bruce says Nathan was quite shy and introverted at first, he has been thrilled to see that shyness dissipate as Nathan has grown in confidence, both in his work and among his colleagues.
“Nathan works well with the team,” says Bruce. “In a team environment, there’s always someone who’s got a complaint about someone else. I never hear anyone complain about Nathan.”
For Marnie, it’s the kind of outcome that makes recruitment such a fulfilling industry to work in. “As a recruitment consultant, you always look at the specific needs and goals of both businesses and individuals, and try to align them in a way that is beneficial to both,” she says. “It’s been very satisfying to see how much both Nathan and Torresan have benefited from this match.”
A strengths-based focus on neurodivergent employees
“I really like working with the team at Torresan,” adds Nathan. “They are always looking out for me, not looking after me. I feel respected as a team member. It feels really good to be working and earning my own money, which I can spend on whatever I like.”
The inclusiveness Torresan has displayed with Nathan is not a strength for every Australian workplace. In an interview with Diversity Council of Australia, public servant and advocate for autistic people Yenn Purkis discussed the challenges she has experienced in her career. Often, these came down to misconceptions or a lack of understanding of neurodivergence in the workplace.
“Some managers don't get me at all,” she said. “They don't get my working style, and they think I'm totally incompetent. Those assumptions around someone's competence can really dictate not only that person's career path, but also how that person sees themselves.”
For Purkis, the important thing when working with neurodivergent employees is to not focus on challenges or view that person’s differences as an obstacle to overcome. Instead, it is to recognise that every employee is an individual and embrace the particular skills they bring to the table.
“There is no one set of skills that all people with autism share,” she says, “but there's a number of skills that lots of us have. Things like attention to detail, and a great ability for pattern thinking. We tend to be scrupulously honest, to be very kind and thoughtful of other employees, and very loyal.”
This strengths-focus is something Bruce and the team at Torresan have embraced with Nathan. Bruce is already thinking about what’s next for Nathan, adding to his skillset as he seeks to progress his career.
“He is capable of more,” says Bruce. “Nathan has great attention to detail. We’d like to introduce him to some different tasks, including administration and computer inventory systems that manage stock movements and all of the moving parts that go with that. He’d be great at that.”
“Currently I am trying to build skills wherever I can while also finding things that I enjoy and am good at,” adds Nathan. “Working at Torresan has given me confidence in myself and my abilities to work in a team. This has helped me a lot because now that I have had this experience, I will feel a lot more confident in taking career opportunities that involve working with lots of other people.”
Acclaimed Workforce has offices in Australia’s key wine regions, along with Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Contact one of our consultants today to find out how we can support your recruitment or job-seeker needs.
