Specialisterne Ireland is a not-for-profit recruitment consultancy funded by Ability that promotes employment for people on the autism spectrum and similar challenges. DCU has partnered with Specialisterne Ireland as part of being an autism-friendly university.

The 8th Principle of an Autism-Friendly University is to increase the employability of autistic graduates through a range of initiatives that will develop their soft-skills to support their transition beyond university.

Specialisterne Programmes in DCU

Specialisterne Ireland provides an intensive interview skills programme with individualised assessment, CV preparation, and interview training at no cost to the student. They work with undergraduate students for a weekly forty-minute slot over six weeks. They provide guidance on workplace etiquette and the corporate environment. They help build up personalised competency-based interview answers that reflect your experience and provide mock interviews to prepare. After the internship, they work with the student to incorporate their new relevant experiences into their interview answers when job seeking on graduation.

This video explains how Specialisterne Ireland work with DCU candidates

Specialisterne aim to help students their potential while at college but also leaving college, transitioning into the world of work. It is hoped that if students have a better experience at college, for example around internships and INTRA placements, then they have a much better chance of having a good outcome when they leave, in terms of finding a job as a graduate. By working with Specialisterne it is hoped that while in DCU students will get the opportunity to develop their whole skill sets and gain real experience to knock down some of the barriers to employment after university.

If you would like to learn more about Specialisterne Ireland click here

If you would like to learn more about DCU’s Autism Friendly University Project you can click here

If you would like to learn some tips on how to tell your university that you are autistic you can click here