Over the past year, employers have recognized the need to be more accessible and inclusive in all of their practices. Doing so presents many perks for the company, brand and beyond. One of the biggest benefits of being more accessible throughout your hiring process and beyond is building a more inclusive brand overall.

Individuals with disabilities or who come from different backgrounds can have a unique set of skills to contribute to your organization. Having an inclusive brand means you will be able to attract more of these quality candidates to your organization and potentially even improve your sales.

Diversity in the workplace also helps kickstart innovation and productivity. In fact, companies that are more diverse are more likely to have above-average financial returns. On top of that, you will find you have more committed and reliable employees. They will also be generally happier in the workplace than they would be in less diverse environments.

To be more accessible, you have to ensure all of your hiring materials are inclusive of all your employees, applicants, and potential candidates. Here are a few things you might consider implementing within your organization to improve your hiring process.

Audit Your Process for Accessibility

First and foremost, you need to audit your current hiring process and identify areas where you might be able to improve. For instance, you may need to take a look at your job listings and clean out any limiting language that may discourage a disabled candidate from applying to the position.

You should also assess your application materials. Be sure you are not limiting the applicants you will receive by the things you are asking for to apply. You should also be open to making reasonable adjustments to help disabled individuals and people who may have different needs than your typical applicant.

Get Feedback from Users

If you are struggling to find areas where you can improve, reach out for feedback and listen to the people who have been through your process. You can do this by sending out a survey once the application process is completed. Give the candidate a chance to grade your application process on user-friendliness, accessibility, and how clear the expectations are. This will give you a good picture of your hiring experience.

You can also reach out to individuals who fall off during the application process at a certain point. Send out reminders to them that their application is still open. You can also ask for them to give you details as to why they quit the application. The process may be too difficult, too long, or limiting in some way that you did not previously realize.

Review Your Privacy Policies

Another huge thing you need to review when making your entire process more accessible is your privacy policy. Individuals with disabilities or different backgrounds want to know their information is safe when they apply with your company. Be sure your privacy policies protect people going through your hiring process and beyond. Doing so will make people more comfortable when applying to work with you.

Innovate With Accessibility in Mind

When you begin to make changes to improve the accessibility of your process, set some goals you hope to obtain with the changes you’ve made. Be sure the things you are altering will help contribute to your bottom line and truly make the process more accessible to the individuals you were previously underserving. For instance, you may want to make changes to your career page to be sure there is no limiting language on job postings or information about your company that may turn disabled people away.

You may also want to be sure that all of the text on the page is able to be enlarged. This ensures people with vision problems can easily access all parts of your site. Be sure your hiring pages are accessible on any device as well. This way, whether they are a mom at the park with their children on their cell phone or accessing the site from a desktop computer, the potential applicant will be able to clearly obtain the information they need. Making adjustments like this will make your hiring process more inclusive.

Consult Professionals

These are just a few things that you can do within your organization to improve accessibility. However, sometimes it is helpful to get assistance from professionals. Staffing agencies can help you make your hiring process a bit more accessible and inclusive. By outsourcing the recruiting process, vetting and interviews, you remove any previous bias you may have and leave it to pros who are well-versed in what it takes to succeed in your industry.

Sources

  • Ref. https://www.icims.com/company/blog/make-your-hiring-experience-more-accessible-for-dei/
  • https://www.hrci.org/community/blogs-and-announcements/hr-leads-business-blog/hr-leads-business/2019/01/16/is-yourrecruitment-process-disability-friendly
  • https://ripplematch.com/journal/article/how-to-ensure-your-hiring-process-is-accessible-for-candidates-with-disabilities-e4972117/
  • https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2018/06/28/is-your-job-application-process-accessible-andinclusive/?sh=58eb41ab5788