JP Morgan’s Justin Nelson Sees Untapped Talent in Neurodiverse Candidates

Wealth management depends on accuracy. A misplaced figure or a missed detail can cost clients money and trust. That is part of why Justin Nelson believes financial firms should pay closer attention to neurodiverse candidates, who often excel at exactly this kind of work.

Nelson is Managing Director and Head of the Asset Management and Financial Principals Coverage Team at JP Morgan Private Bank in Connecticut. His team oversees more than $15 billion in assets. He has argued that the industry, despite a shortage of talent, regularly passes over capable people on the autism spectrum.

A Pool Hiding in Plain Sight

The reason, he says, is that traditional hiring rewards social ease above other qualities. Neurodiverse applicants commonly find interaction difficult. Nelson observes that the conversational give-and-take most people take for granted can be very hard for them, and conventional interviews put that weakness front and center.

Yet the same candidates can bring rare ability. “They can be extremely creative and have amazing computational skills which far exceed the norm,” Justin Nelson JP Morgan notes. Those strengths line up well with financial analysis and portfolio work.

Making It Work

According to Nelson, firms need three things. They should rethink how they interview, organize work into clear and specific tasks, and partner with organizations experienced in neurodiverse hiring.

On the second point, he emphasizes context. Employees should understand how each assignment connects to a larger plan or set of rules. Given that clarity, he says, these workers can be very exact within a specific framework and often become some of the best employees on a team.

On the third, the JP Morgan managing director practices what he recommends. He works with Broad Futures, a charity that educates employers and helps them select neurodiverse candidates, and with Adelphi University’s Bridges Program, which supports high-functioning students on the spectrum.

None of these steps demands a large budget. What they do require is a willingness to judge candidates on what they can produce rather than how smoothly they talk. For firms that make that shift, Nelson suggests, some of their most reliable employees may be waiting. Visit this page for additional information.

More about Justin Nelson JP Morgan on https://azbigmedia.com/business/the-evolution-of-finance-at-tufts-justin-nelsons-contributions-to-building-a-finance-program/

Wealth management depends on accuracy. A misplaced figure or a missed detail can cost clients money and trust. That is part of why Justin Nelson believes financial firms should pay closer attention to neurodiverse candidates, who often excel at exactly this kind of work. Nelson is Managing Director and Head of the Asset Management and…