Written by Jan Coplan, Senior Director of Career Connections at Landmark College
At Landmark College—the world’s first higher education institution built exclusively for students who learn differently—we take a uniquely personalized approach, helping every student to develop a strengths-based approach to academic, social, and professional growth. We know that learning difference is not just a disability or diagnosis, but rather something that can be embraced and leveraged to achieve success.
This October, as part of Learning Disability Awareness Month, I am pleased to share some of the facets of our work that we have found most critical when developing career readiness and ultimately achieving career placement for neurodivergent college students.
Preparing Neurodivergent Learners for Career Success
In our Career Connections department, we take a different approach than at many colleges. Much like our professors and learning specialists work to do academically, we ensure that every student receives personalized and scaffolded career support. Just as with an academic advisor, every Landmark College student is assigned a career advisor when they arrive on campus who will work with them throughout their associate or bachelor’s degree program to work towards career or graduate school goals.
This approach, and the programming offered year-round by our career connections office, is research-backed and designed to support learners across a wide range of career readiness. Some of our students enter the College with, or quickly develop, advanced skills and a high degree of executive functioning, ready to excel in competitive internships in sectors from finance to technology, something we proudly help them to achieve. But for some students who need support to develop executive functioning and other skills in a workplace setting, we also operate a robust Employment Readiness Experience (ERE) program on-campus, matching students with college departments who can provide what is typically a first-time employment opportunity for the student.
These ERE students then receive coaching and support from career specialists at the College, ensuring that they have the scaffolding necessary to build from an ERE on-campus to both internal and external internships, before working towards career placement ahead of graduation.
Building a Neuroinclusive Career Fair
Starting this fall, we are merging two critical lines of our work, supporting our students and cultivating accessible employers, into one neuroinclusive career fair. This work has started on the employer side as we invite employers who either we know can ably support our students, or who are interested in learning more about how to become a more neuroinclusive workspace.
All the employers are invited to join for a workshop session on neuroinclusivity in the workplace in the morning before they transition into a more typical career fair setting, with booths set up in the gym and students roaming the floor to meet with various companies. In this workshop, employers gain resources to support their accessibility efforts at every stage of employment, from the application through onboarding and into retention.
By ensuring that the prospective employers are prioritizing neuroinclusivity, we can have more confidence that students we place will thrive in an internship or job. For our first career fair this fall we are proud to be working with businesses that include Fortune 500 companies, our state government, local hospitals, insurance agencies, and cultural institutions.
On the student side, our career counselors have been working from the start of the semester to help students prepare for the career fair, from offering drop-in hours to research employers who are attending and to work on their resumes or providing them with headshots for LinkedIn. Thanks to the fact that every student has a dedicated career advisor, we’re able to build trusted relationships with our students and to help them develop confidence about career discussions ahead of the career fair, ensuring that they feel prepared for what can amount to an informational interview.
At Specialisterne, we believe that building neuroinclusive workplaces begins before a candidate ever applies—by equipping recruiters and hiring teams with the knowledge and empathy to recognize and support neurodivergent talent. Landmark College’s approach to preparing students mirrors this philosophy, and we’re thrilled to be part of their inaugural neuroinclusive career fair this fall. Our colleague Courtney will be attending, and we’re excited to connect with both job seekers and employers who are committed to creating inclusive pathways to employment. When both sides of the hiring equation are supported with intention, we unlock the full potential of neurodiverse talent.
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