North American companies are short of
workers. In the United States alone, there are approximately
9.6 million unemployed, working-age people with disabilities
who would prefer to be working. The numbers are similar in
Canada. Like most other companies in North America, your
company can’t afford to ignore a poorly-tapped labor pool of
millions of willing workers. The good news is that there
truly are millions of unemployed people who really want to
work. The bad news is that recruiting them isn’t all that
easy – particularly finding the ones with the right skills
for your job openings.
Companies that are proactive about
recruiting people with disabilities, companies that
proactively do “targeted” recruiting, find that this
minority group is quite different from others that they have
targeted in the past. Unlike racial and ethnic minorities,
people with disabilities are more difficult to target. They
do not as readily congregate in groups. With few exceptions,
you are unlikely to find high concentrations of people with
disabilities in particular neighborhoods, churches, cultural
organizations, etc. Similarly, particularly on a local
level, there are few media sources (magazines, TV programs,
radio shows, etc.) that effectively reach a broad audience
within the disability community. Given that, how can your
company develop a strategic recruiting program that will
enable you to successfully attract applicants with
disabilities?
A truly successful recruiting program
is going to be a multi-faceted one. While there isn’t a
proscribed “recipe for success”, there are several
ingredients that are typically associated with successful
recruiting programs. Which ones you choose to use (and what
proportions you choose to use them in) will be determined by
your own resources, commitment and creative planning!
In general, people with disabilities
have historically faced a variety of barriers to employment.
Because of this, many organizations and services have been
established to help individuals surmount those barriers. In
your efforts to successfully recruit people with
disabilities, it is in your interest to take advantage of
these resources.
Community Based Organizations (CBOs)
- CBOs are organizations that provide employment and/or
training to people with disabilities. They come in all
shapes and sizes and they will have varying capacities to
meet your workforce needs. Generally, CBOs also have limited
penetration within their disability communities. (Less than
20% of employees with disabilities attribute their
recruitment to the services of a CBO). However, they do
provide some of the highest concentrations of disabled job
seekers that you are likely to find and they can often
provide you with other related services and supports.
It goes without saying that you should
develop solid contacts with disability-focused organizations
within your recruiting territory – particularly those CBOs
that provide training/education/employment services to
individuals with disabilities.
As a first step, you should develop an
inventory of CBOs in your recruiting territory. You might
consider a standardized format for this data that would
include:
-
How many people with disabilities
do they place annually?
-
What percentage of their clients
have the kinds of skill sets that you are seeking?
-
How do they screen assess their
clients?
-
What other services will they
provide you with? (i.e. Some CBOs can also provide you
with job accommodation support, in-house
disability-related staff training, etc.)
-
What post-placement support do they
offer you and/or the employee? (i.e. Many CBOs provide
post-placement retention-focused support.)
-
What mechanisms does the CBO have
to be kept alerted to your recruiting needs and to keep
you alerted to prospective applicants?
-
What other companies you can
contact for references on their services?
You might want to consider using the
CBO assessment tool developed by Mainstream Inc. See:
“Evaluating Local Disability Organizations” at
http://www.diversityworld.com/Disability/DN04/DN0410.htm#item.5
If you are unfamiliar with the CBOs in
your local area, a
good starting point for U.S. Employers is the website of
Disability Resources Monthly. It has a state-by-state
directory of disability-related organizations that includes
an “Employment” category. See:
www.disabilityresources.org/DRMreg.html.
Similarly, EnableLink is a good resource for
Canadian employers who want to find local CBO’s. They have
an online directory of employment-focused disability
organizations throughout the country. See:
www.enablelink.org/employment/emp_disab_orgs.php?showemployment=1
Government Agencies – Many
government agencies, at local, state and federal levels, to
provide services that support people with disabilities in
their efforts to secure employment. These can vary from
state to state and community to community. Some are more
strictly focused on job placement than others.
State Vocational Rehabilitation
Agencies exist in virtually every State and, among other
responsibilities, are charged with securing “employment
outcomes” for their clients. For contact information on
State Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies, see
http://www.jan.wvu.edu/SBSES/VOCREHAB.HTM.
Most U.S. States have a Governor’s
Committee on employment concerns for people with
disabilities. These can be an excellent source of referral
and information on how to target your recruiting efforts.
For a listing of Governor’s Committees, see
State Liaisons)
The
Employer
Assistance Referral Network (EARN) assists employers to
locate and recruit qualified workers with disabilities.
Through a single national toll free number, 1-866-327-6669,
well-informed technical assistance specialists will take
employers job orders, seek out qualified local candidates,
and return this information to the employer.
Each year, the
Workforce Recruitment Program
(WRP) offers employers a free data base over 1000
pre-screened college students with disabilities. These
students are from across the U.S. and represent a broad
spectrum of educational pursuits.
Educational System - Every year,
a talented new “crop” of students with disabilities graduate
from high schools, colleges and universities. Don’t overlook
this great source of emerging talent.
In a very proactive move, some larger
companies have begun to use employees with disabilities to
take the lead role in recruiting disabled students.
Virtually every educational institution
now has a “Special Needs Office” that provides supports to
students with disabilities. That is a great place to start.
Contact someone there and discuss how your company can best
target students with disabilities on their campus. Sometimes
you will be directed to the Campus Career Center, sometimes
the Special needs office will work with you directly and
sometimes, like the University of California Berkeley, there
will even be a Career Center just for students and alumni
with disabilities.
If you are not sure who to contact on a
particular campus, the
Association
on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) may be of
help to you. Committed to full participation in higher
education for persons with disabilities, most of its members
are in disability-related services on campuses throughout
North America.
In an effort to enhance employment for
U.S. college graduates with disabilities,
Career
Opportunities for Students with Disabilities (COSD) has
the goal of creating a collation between employers,
university career services, and disability services
personnel, and disability service organizations.
Generally, students with disabilities
aren’t as well-organized as those from other minority
groups; but a new national alliance is emerging – the
National Disabled Students Union. In addition, there is
the National
Alliance of Blind Students (NABS). In Canada, the
National
Educational Association of Disabled Students (NEADS) is
an excellent resource for employers.
Some Colleges and Universities are
aggressive about attracting students with disabilities and
have a higher-than average concentration in their student
bodies. Two prominent examples are
Gallaudet
University and the
National
Technical Institute for the Deaf – both of which cater
particularly to Deaf students.
In addition to direct recruiting, don’t
neglect Internship opportunities. Internships have proven to
be an excellent way to prospect talent and to groom future
employees. Make every effort to include students with
disabilities in your Internship programs. Be sure to explore
internship possibilities with all your recruiting contacts
for students with disabilities. For a fee, you can also
recruit some highly-qualified students in technical fields
from the
Entry Point program of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Job Fairs - In many communities,
Job Fairs that target job seekers with disabilities are held
annually. These job fairs can give you immediate access to
current job seekers. They can give you an opportunity to
heighten your profile within the disability community and
they give you an opportunity to strengthen your ties to
local CBOs. If there isn’t such a Job Fair in your
community, consider partnering with other companies or CBOs
to hold one. If you are looking for ideas, see the website
for the
Cinco de Mayo Career Expo in Los Angeles.
Online Recruiting - The Internet
has opened a new world of recruiting opportunities for
companies, large and small. Take full advantage of the
opportunities that it affords you to recruit people with
disabilities.
Assuming that you have a “jobs”,
“careers”, and/or “diversity” section on your company’s
website, make sure that it is “disability friendly” in both
format and content. Ask your Webmaster to ensure that your
website meets at least minimum standards for web
accessibility. For more information on accessible web
design, visit the
Web
Accessibility Initiative (WAI).
Whether through pictures or text, use your website to
communicate your proactive interest in candidates with
disabilities.
If you are using online services to
post jobs and/or search resumes, determine whether or not
those sites are accessible to people with disabilities and
what efforts they make to include people with disabilities
in their talent pool. There are a growing number of
recruiting sites on the Internet that help employers to
target candidates with disabilities. Many of these are
listed at:
http://www.diversityworld.com/Disability/recruit.htm.
Tune in next month for the
conclusion of "Tips for Proactively Recruiting People with
Disabilities". Look forward to insights on Proactive
Projects, Public Profile, and Dismantling Attitudinal
Barriers!
~ Rob McInnes
© Rob McInnes, Diversity World, February, 2007 (If not used for commercial purposes, this article may be
reproduced, all or in part, providing it is credited to "Rob
McInnes, Diversity World - www.diversityworld.com". If
included in a newsletter or other publication, we would
appreciate receiving a copy.)
EVENT:
EVENT:
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