Despite the worker shortages and current hiring boom, many employers continue to miss a key demographic of workers: people with disabilities. According to a survey by the Kessler Foundation, many companies feel like they do an adequate job of recruiting job seekers with disabilities, but few actually implement key processes to attract these candidates. Only 27 percent of companies have partnered with a disability organization to recruit workers, despite the fact that these industry leaders believe such partnerships would be feasible.
Too often, employers place the burden on candidates with disabilities to overcome inaccessible application processes and job listings that can be difficult to navigate. Accessibility can’t be a core value for companies that create barriers for applicants.
If your business is serious about inclusivity in hiring, it’s time to rethink your recruiting process. Here’s how you can take active steps to recruit more people with disabilities.
Evaluate your job listing templates
It’s not uncommon for companies to use standard templates when creating job listings. These include boilerplate information about the company and generic requirements for most jobs. However, many of these listings can quickly become exclusionary, even if the job criteria are added without thinking.
Wendy Lu, a journalist with vocal cord paralysis, reported on these exclusionary requirements. On ZipRecruiter, there are more than 950 job listings that include the phrase “25 pounds” (which references the requirement that employees must be able to lift that much weight). Many of these listings don’t require physical labor, including postings for finance directors and sales representatives. However, the “25-pound life requirement” is a boilerplate requirement that is added to every job listing.
There are other boilerplate phrases that can also prevent people with disabilities from applying. Requesting that candidates can type a certain number of words per minute can isolate people who use dictation services. Even the phrase “ability to type,” can discourage some applicants.
You can take steps immediately to make your job listings more inclusive just by reviewing your templates and removing these limiting terms.
Add welcoming language
Once you remove exclusionary language from your job listings, you can take steps to add inclusionary statements and phrases that welcome people with disabilities to apply. There are multiple ways to communicate your core values to potential candidates:
- Provide recruiting materials in multiple formats, including large print, electronic, audio, and braille.
- Highlight how your office is accessible as one of the benefits of working there – go into detail about the steps you take to accommodate employees.
- Include images of real employees with disabilities in your recruiting materials and ask them for testimonials about the company (avoid stock photos that promote a false picture of your company’s actual diversity).
You can even talk about your company's culture of diversity, and the efforts that are made to promote accessibility and inclusion. You want to actively encourage applicants, not deter them.
Expand your job board postings
Companies that are serious about creating a welcoming workplace can’t passively expect people with disabilities to apply for their positions. Instead, hiring managers and recruiters can take steps to actively look for job seekers with disabilities and those who need accommodation. By actively recruiting these team members, employers can welcome people from different backgrounds into the company. However, This means looking beyond Indeed and LinkedIn job postings.
There are multiple job sites that cater specifically to job seekers with disabilities. A few of the top options include:
- disABLEDpeson.com – this accessible website has been active since 2002 and has more than 300,000 job listings to search through. This site doesn’t aggregate posts from other job boards so employers need to submit a job directly.
- abilityJOBS – this website has been functional since 1995. Along with posting listings specifically for people with disabilities, this site allows job seekers to post their resumes to get noticed by recruiters. This brand also runs ABILITY Job Fairs frequently, which are virtual career fairs conducted with video, text, captioning, and sign language.
- Getting Hired – this is a job board that is committed to connecting employers with diverse candidates. The site hosts multiple virtual events and has a resume builder tool to help candidates.
The Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion (EARN) also curated a list of job boards you can use to find quality candidates.
Posting on these job boards shows that you are proactively recruiting people with disabilities instead of passively hoping applicants with disabilities stand out.
Work with inclusive recruiters
If your company works with outsourced recruiters to bring in potential candidates, consider auditing their accessibility and inclusion efforts. These recruiters are an extension of your organization. They represent you. This means you can dictate the type of talent pool you want access to.
You can also work with recruiting firms that specialize in highlighting candidates with disabilities. Hire Disability Solutions is one company that does this. They specialize in recruiting and evaluating job seekers with disabilities to help them find the right jobs.
As you develop accessibility guidelines within your company, make sure your contractors and vendors follow these same best practices to create more a more inclusive work environment.
Improve your application process
Even if you can get your job listing in front of hundreds of people with disabilities, you might isolate them with an inaccessible and outdated application process. William Goren, a lawyer with ADA Consulting in Georgia, says poor web experiences can frustrate users with hearing or vision impediments. They can also impact applicants that struggle to use a keyboard or mouse.
Complex navigation paths and CAPTCHA tests (the ones where you prove that you aren’t a robot) can be difficult for people with learning disabilities. Additionally, webpage timeouts or application countdowns can place unnecessary pressure on people who are trying to focus on the forms.
Evaluate your website or application software to see if your forms are dated or difficult to use. Along with updating your systems, you can look for ways to proactively improve your application process. This could include accepting non-traditional resumes to encourage people of various backgrounds to highlight their skills in unique ways.
Audit your recruiting process frequently
Information sharing is one of the best parts of modern technology. People are constantly discovering new ways to make processes easier and more inclusive. Once you update your recruiting process to attract more job seekers with disabilities, keep up with the latest best practices. Look for new tools and resources to create positive experiences for applicants.
You can’t sit by and wonder why your job postings fail to attract applicants with disabilities. Instead, take action and work to create a welcoming and inclusive job pool. A good place to start is our Digital Accessibility resources, which you can use to update your website and online applications.
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