Should Recruiters just ignore disabled Candidates, Clients & Colleagues?

UK Recruiter has been working with Anne Tynan on accessibility issue around our events (she’s our Events Access Co-ordinator!).  Here is a guest post from her.

Exactly a year ago, I suggested to Louise Triance that the UK Recruiter events were the ideal place to carry out a little experiment.

She agreed to let me go ahead with my idea. This was not, after all, anything too drastic – just the proposal to provide UK Recruiter event delegates with accessibility details for each venue. I would also attend as many of the events as possible to engage delegates in light touch conversation about the topic.

A year later and has anything been achieved?

On the face of it, the UK recruitment world is spinning along in exactly the same orbit as before. Most recruiters appear to care as much or as little about accessibility issues, as demonstrated by their websites. New delegates with challenging accessibility requirements have been conspicuous by their absence at UK Recruiter events.

A respect for delegate confidentiality prevents me from repeating anecdotes told to me over the course of the year. They highlighted some recruiters’ concerns that they are just ignoring disabled candidates and that they often feel unskilled when dealing with disabled clients.

I questioned people about what they thought might happen when they and their colleagues aged and therefore might became less mobile. Some thought that the only solution would be to give up as (quote) “Isn’t the recruitment profession about the survival of the fittest?”

In more public feedback, many delegates candidly admitted that they hadn’t noticed the accessibility information provided as they didn’t need it. Those who had noticed it were pleased to see that an effort had been made, although nevertheless were often unsure as to whether recruitment is the right place for anyone who actually needed accessibility information.

On a more positive note, the mere mention of the words ‘accessibility, disability, equality & diversity’ set off some delegates on an impressive account of what their company was doing or had achieved. Although some spoke in what I would describe as ‘annual report speak’, it was clear that individuals and companies are striving to address specific areas within the whole equality ambit.

So what do you think?

Promoting accessible events for recruiters is a way to focus their attention on candidates, clients and even colleagues who might be disabled. It can help them to become better recruiters in the long run by making them more in tune with many more people.