Unique company-specific policies
As opposed to the use of the common recruitment strategies, the uniqueness and complexity of the nature of work at SAP and the need for the company to remain on top of the competition has led to the adoption an unorthodox strategy of recruiting employees for the distinctive positions available at the organization (Lockwood & Ansari, 1999). For the company, simply recruiting the average top talent available is not enough, hence the need to identify the top talents, but with an edge over the other candidates vying for a particular position. For this reason, the company identified the unique abilities of people with autism and began the initiative to recruit employees from this eccentric pool to fill out positions such as manual writing and software development. The ingenuity of this move satisfied the two most important organizational needs in the company's recruitment efforts, which include finding employees who can perform complex tasks in an innovative and unique manner, and remain a step ahead of the competition. People with autism are the best fit for the organization as their unique abilities put them at an advantage when performing certain tasks. For example, the company is set to benefit significantly from the improvement of the performance of some common tasks ranging from manual writing to software debugging, owing to the highly structured way of thinking of people with autism. Their special ability for paying careful attention to detail will result in vigilance in the performance of tasks and ultimately improved end products. Such products will give the company competitive advantage over its rivals, helping it retain its position as a leader in innovation. In addition, over and above the recruitment method cementing the organization's position as a leader in innovation due to the fact that it is the first to adopt it, the fact that the strategy recruits from a section of the population that is disadvantaged and often overlooked pushes SAP further ahead of the competition.