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With a tight job market, one in which skilled, dedicated workers
are hard to find, it is important to look everywhere for talent. Recruiting
should extend to nontraditional sources, including individuals with physical,
mental, and communication disabilities. Employers may successfully recruit
applicants with disabilities through job announcements, advertisements, and
other recruitment notices. Include information on the essential functions of
the job. If "good oral skills" are not essential for a vacant position, listing
this criterion in a job announcement may misrepresent the job and unnecessarily
discourage individuals with speech disabilities from applying for that
position. Employers may indicate in job notices that they do not discriminate
on the basis of disability. Employers should also make all information about
job openings accessible to people with different disabilities. For example, to
access people with visual or other reading disabilities, make job information
available in Braille, large print, audiotape, and computer disk. Get a TTY
(Text Telephone) and list its number on all your recruiting notices - doing so
says your company is sensitive to the needs of people with disabilities.
You can obtain help in reaching this talent pool from
rehabilitation, independent living, social service, and education agencies who
know people with disabilities in careers that could coincide with your business
needs. You can obtain a list of some of these agencies, including the services
and programs they provide, by contacting the resources listed at the back of
this book.
When reviewing each agency's services, ask these questions:
- Does the agency evaluate its clients' work potential? If so,
how?
- Does the agency provide skills training? If so, what type?
- Are there additional incentives for hiring the persons the
agency represents (e.g., tax credits or training grants)? If so, how do these
work?
- Does the agency provide on-the-job training? Coaching?
Follow-up?
- Does the agency offer "awareness" training for supervisors and
managers? Ask the agency about its placement record, including placements in
specific jobs, retention rates, etc.
- Do the agency's representatives seem to understand my needs as
an employer?
Once a relationship is established with one agency, you will find
that other agencies with similar services will contact you. Just one successful
placement will open other avenues of opportunity.
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A student with cerebral palsy obtained a work-study
position as a mower with the landscape crew at Wright State University in
Dayton, Ohio. Concerned that because of his motor disability the student could
not safely operate a push mower, his supervisor made a reasonable accommodation
by assigning him other tasks, such as mulching, weeding beds, and picking up
litter. Had the student been a full-time employee, though, the supervisor would
have purchased a riding mower for him. |
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