Following our second round of funding from Clwstwr, we have developed an inclusive careers platform to close skills gaps in the Creative Economy with untapped neurodivergent talent.
The problem we’re solving
80% of autistic people are unemployed, and neurodivergent candidates experience specific and often unnecessary barriers during the recruitment process.
Barriers can include completing lengthy application forms or undertaking written psychometric tests.
During the project we’ve been working with creative businesses, third sector organisations, and housing associations to understand the specific challenges faced by neurodivergent candidates.
Watch or listen to our Podcast on Neurodivergency in the Workplace with perinatal mental health expert Mark Williams and Ploy Nilduang – now available on YouTube and Spotify.
The opportunity for our platform
Whilst it is estimated that 15% of people worldwide are neurodiverse, more than 1 in 5 people in the creative industries identify as neurodiverse.
Neurodiversity and autism are strongly linked to advanced problem-solving capabilities, innovation and superior creative abilities. Given that the digital and creative sector is growing at twice the rate of any other sector, there is a growing demand for creative talent in the Welsh economy.
Project Achievements
With the support of Clwstwr, the team has developed a Creative Portfolio and Digital CV extension for Opus Platform to enable neurodivergent candidates to apply for opportunities and showcase their skills to potential employers.
Working closely with neurodiversity experts, Divergent Emergent, we have made a number of changes to our platform to improve accessibility for users. This included adding bilingual narrations, improving the colour scheme and contrast, and introducing overlays and a dark mode.
The new platform has been designed in collaboration with 15 individual neurodivergent users and piloted with several colleges and universities in the Cardiff Capital Region and Swansea region.
The Clwstwr-funded project feeds into our strategy to build a careers marketplace for emerging industries including creative, digital, industry 4.0 and net zero.
ClwstwrVerse
On 4th July 2022 we exhibited our Opus Platform at ClwstwrVerse, Cardiff City Hall, amongst some of the best creative businesses in Wales! Charlie, Matt, and Zainab had a great time demonstrating the platform to visitors and gathering feedback for our next new feature release.
We bumped into our good friends at Wales Interactive, a Welsh video games developer and publisher, who were showcasing their latest releases.
On day 2, Creative Portfolio Product Owner, Matt Ettridge gave a presentation at the exciting new sbarc|spark Cardiff University Campus. Matt gave an articulate account of our progress and learnings from the Clwstwr project. You can see their slide deck here.
To find out more about how Opus Portfolio and Opus CV can help your organisation automate recruitment for creative roles get in touch at opus@iungo.solutions.
