Author - Lise Austen, Recruiters’ Club Manager, MyPlus
With 16% of university students in the UK having a disability employers need to have a strategy which not only considers how to attract and recruit disabled students but also provides them with support enabling them to thrive and contribute to the organisation once they are employed.
Organisations who want to ensure they are employing the best talent will miss out if they don’t consider disabled talent as part of their early years employment strategy not least that the true number is likely to be higher than 16% since not all students disclose a disability. This is due to many concerns including that they will be discriminated against, treated differently and because they are unsure how the information they share will be used.
Attraction
To successfully engage with this talent pool, employers should proactively position themselves as an employer of choice for disabled students. Since disabled students are reluctant to apply to employers who don’t appear inclusive, believing that their disability will rule them out of the selection process, employers need to communicate and demonstrate commitment to build their confidence in your organisation.
Include information on your company website and careers page about disability
Share stories of role models to bring disability inclusion to life
Leverage your social media to promote yourself as a disability inclusive employer
Ensure disability information is included in all marketing / engagement events
Ensure your campus ambassador team includes those who have a disability
Ensure company representatives are confident engaging with disabled candidates
Recruitment
It is essential that your organisation has a straightforward process and positive mindset to provide support for candidates with disabilities throughout the recruitment process. This will enable candidates to focus on demonstrating their abilities, rather than worrying about how their disability may impact their interviews or assessment exercises.
Ensure your recruitment strategy includes disability
Provide regular disability confidence recruitment training to ensure all recruiters are confident and knowledgeable to engage with students throughout the process
Ensure your application process is fair and barrier free for disabled candidates
Proactively, and continuously, encourage candidates to tell you about their support needs in advance
Establish clear and consistent guidelines for screening and processing all applications including those who have a disability or have stated mitigating circumstances
Train hiring managers and interviewers in how to interview and assess students with disabilities; this will help to mitigate for unconscious bias in decision making and ensure they can make a fair comparison to the candidate’s peers. It will also ensure they are aware of the legalities surrounding interviewing disabled candidates.
Support in the workplace
How a disability manifests itself and how individuals manage it, differs from person to person and it therefore follows that everyone will have different support requirements. The types of support required are many and varied and may include flexible working, additional screens, use of assistive technology, provision of noise cancelling headphones, to name but a few examples. Workplace support should remove barriers and enable students with disabilities to perform the role that they were recruited to do.
Support required in the workplace should only be discussed once an offer of employment is made
Involve the Manager in discussions since they are responsible for supporting their team members, including those who have a disability, and will be a key player in their future success.
Gain an occupational assessment if required however be mindful that this is not required by everyone
Apply for Government funded access to work if applicable
Ensure all support requirements are in place for the student from day one
Continue to review adjustment requirements as the student may not have known what support they required or what is available especially as it could be their first job.
For further information about how MyPlus helps organsations employ disabled students visit the Recruiters’ Club page or email info@myplusconsulting.com.
