Nearly seven out of ten jobseekers (69 per cent) think that employers and recruiters should make online job applications more accessible for disabled people, according to the results of a new survey by Recite Me and VERCIDA.
The survey of 112 jobseekers was run in collaboration between web accessibility company Recite Me and online diversity and inclusion recruitment platform VERCIDA in March 2018.
The results also show that just one in three jobseekers (33 per cent) think that employers and recruiters currently do a good job of making online job applications accessible for disabled people.
These findings echo those of the 2017 RIDI candidate survey of 200 jobseekers with disabilities conducted by The Recruitment Industry Disability Initiative (RIDI) in partnership with VERCIDA.
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The findings from that survey include:
- 75 per cent of the disabled jobseekers surveyed find their condition has an impact on their job search
- 54 per cent find hurdles at multiple stages of the recruitment process
- 28 per cent find online assessments challenging
The disability employment gap (the difference between the employment rates of disabled and non-disabled people) is more than 30 per cent.
However, many more disabled people face barriers that stop them from entering the workplace, including inaccessible online job applications.
The new survey run by Recite Me and VERCIDA also shows that only 26 per cent of jobseekers think that employers and recruiters do a good job of making online job applications inclusive for people who don’t speak English as their first language.
And nearly half of jobseekers (47 per cent) think employers and recruiters should do more to make online job applications inclusive for people who don’t speak English as their first language.
Employers and recruiters can learn how to make the digital and online parts of the recruitment process more accessible for disabled jobseekers thanks to a recently launched guide, produced in collaboration between Recite Me and Guidant Group.
Ross Linnett, Recite Me Founder and CEO said:
“Online application forms and skills assessments are now standard parts of the recruitment process.
“But the results of this survey show that jobseekers think employers and recruiters must do more to make online applications more accessible and inclusive.
“This backs-up the findings of other research that shows disabled jobseekers often find barriers in the recruitment process.
“Clearly, we need to help recruiters and employers to make the recruitment journey more accessible and inclusive by doing things like creating The guide to digital inclusion for recruiters.
The guide to digital inclusion for recruiters is available on the Recite Me website: http://bit.ly/2BUag8h
Rebecca joined the HRreview editorial team in January 2016. After graduating from the University of Sheffield Hallam in 2013 with a BA in English Literature, Rebecca has spent five years working in print and online journalism in Manchester and London. In the past she has been part of the editorial teams at Sleeper and Dezeen and has founded her own arts collective.
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