How Collaborative Future's hiring process benefits disabled people
Becky, one of our 2021 interns, reflects on the recruitment process for the Collaborative Future placement, commenting on how it differs from traditional hiring methods and how placing inclusivity at the centre of recruitment benefits disabled people.
Becky Olaniyi, intern on the collaborative future programme
Being rejected at the interview stage is somewhat of a privilege. Just making it to that point is a momentous achievement. CV’s are skimmed by hiring managers and if they fail to see a suitable amount of experience, a certain degree or particular buzzwords – you’re out. This is the harsh process used to cull hundreds of applicants, or even thousands at the more highly sought-out companies. I understand that this is the most time-efficient method, and that if hiring staff had to go through every CV meticulously, hiring anybody would be a near-impossible task. However, this means that certain candidates who would have been a huge benefit to the team had they been hired, don’t even make it to the telephone screening.
Employers expect your CV to be bursting at the seams with work experience and refuse to hire you if it isn’t. This is difficult enough for everybody, but for disabled people this is even harder. There are 14 million disabled people in the UK and only 4.1 million of them are employed.
Even when taking factors like age into account, disabled people are over twice as likely to be unemployed than non-disabled people. There are several barriers to the workplace for disabled people, from literal inaccessibility to buildings to prejudiced attitudes.
This is excluding the problems that disabled people face during higher education, which is another (very long) article in itself.
This is where the Collaborative Futures hiring process comes into play. Without assessing CV’s as part of the hiring process, the program is open to those with very little or no work experience. Even if this would be your first ever job, you are still encouraged to apply. Collaborative Futures hires people based on who they are, what they can do, and what their goals are. No history necessary. This hugely benefits disabled people in that this is a role that doesn’t reject people based on a lack of work experience, which is a situation that even the most talented and capable disabled person can find themselves in. Collaborative Futures ethos is one of inclusivity, and this stage of the hiring process reflects that.
The typical hiring process is a progressive volcano of stress that culminates in an interview: one of the most nerve-wracking aspects of finding a job, that can throw even the most experienced and sincere candidates. Their CV was outstanding, their performance in the psychometric test was unbelievably good, and they had the job in their grasp until the interviewer asked them a question they were not prepared for. Their mind blanks and they stare off into the distance, willing for something to come. Nothing does, other than an email that arrives a few days later letting them down nicely.
It is a situation that almost everybody will find themselves in at some point. No matter how well you prepare, however many mock interviews you do and how many times you’re asked to use the STAR (situation-task-action-result) method, an interviewer will eventually throw something at you, and you’ll have nothing to say. Some companies don’t mind this, understanding that mistakes can be made. Others find this to be a red flag, perhaps you don’t have enough knowledge about the field, you’re not enthusiastic enough or that you’re simply unprepared.
Three people sitting at a table in a meeting room, two to one side and one to the other, talking and smiling (Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash)
People with learning disabilities often have the same level of intelligence as any other applicant, but an inability to instantly process information and respond with a detailed answer can be hugely detrimental. This is also problematic for people with mental health conditions like anxiety, as the pressure to perform may be overwhelming. To me this aspect of the hiring process is flawed. Some may say it shows an ability to think on your feet, or that it shows extensive knowledge about the field, but is this task really reflective of what you’ll do in the workplace?
In my personal experience, even in business meetings, no. Everybody involved will be well briefed on what the topic(s) of discussion will be ahead of time. It wouldn’t be acceptable for a person to go in and start a presentation and expect you to be fully prepared to answer questions, without telling you what would be in it. It is true that most interviews use certain types of questions, but an industry-specific question that the person didn’t prepare for can always crop up. The Collaborative Futures hiring process takes this into account by letting the applicants know the upcoming interview questions beforehand. This allows candidates to have a sufficient amount of time to prepare and practice their responses. This leads to better thought-out answers, more detailed examples and an overall more relaxed interview experience where conversation can flow organically.
Another way that the Collaborative Futures hiring process benefits those who have difficulties expressing themselves verbally is that the applicant’s level of skill and creativity is also done through a project made by the candidate under time constraints to be presented in the interview. In the 2021 project, applicants we were given 3 hours to make something promoting a CV free working world, using whatever format we wanted – podcasts, infographics, presentations, really anything we could think of. This gave us some time to make something which reflected ourselves, our aesthetic tastes and our beliefs.
A concrete reflection of what you can do is often more important than what you say you can do.
The world of work is now at a point where change is necessary, as these out-dated methods mean that businesses are missing out on great employees. This new process benefits the employer as much as the employee, allowing them to see the skills of applicants they may have otherwise overlooked, and instead consider them as a potential asset to their company. The measures used by Collaborative Futures are a strong example of how to create a more inclusive workplace by diverging from the standard hiring process, which typically focuses on whether a person meets certain static criteria, to a process that examines the applicant’s character and abilities.
I am an intern on the 2021 cohort with cerebral palsy, and although we are all working from home this year I am confident that the Collaborative Futures program would have helped me with any access requests I had, and made sure that I could work as productively and easily as possible.
Collaborative Futures is setting the standard for creating an inclusive workplace, making disability-related accommodations as part of their standard practice, instead of being an optional add-on.
The consideration of accessibility measures further opens up the world of work for everyone, and not just for people who already have their foot in the door.