According to Purple’s conduct of a nationwide survey of more than a thousand businesses, around 22% of hiring managers had confessed that they were worried about interviewing people with disabilities because they were not sure what to ask or saying something that would offend these people. In contrast, around 45% of the others had stated that they were apprehensive about the idea of hiring people with disabilities out of the fear that they will not be able to do the job expected from them.
People with disabilities have always faced prejudice when it comes to anything in their life – but it really gets harsh when it is time to get job interviews. Despite how far we have come in our social progress, disable people still continue to face prejudices everywhere.
But what we miss out on not hiring these people could be the key that can amplify the progress of our business endeavours. Many people do not realise this but recruiting and hiring people with disabilities does not have to be such a challenging task. Plus, the following benefits might just be able to change your mind when it comes to hiring people with disabilities.
Improving the Bottom Line of a Company
Since the beginning, people with disabilities have spent their whole life trying to solve problems – and this can become a very useful tool within the IT industry. As such, they tend to bring a sense of loyalty and technical innovation within their work environment. Many large corporations such as Microsoft have told their stories about how their companines have benefited thanks to the determined services of their employees with disabilities.
Untapped Potential
Finding the ideal talent for your organisation can be hard to find and on top of that if you are not hiring people with disabilities then you are clearly missing out on a talent pool of untapped potential. There are times when people with disabilities can offer you with a wide and unique range of skills sets that can give you a competitive edge in the industry.
And this is just scratching the service. So if you are trying to hire people with disabilities, you need to get creative and make them feel welcome in your space while giving them an equal chance at a job opportunity.
As an example to show you what others have done, consider looking into the Whiteboard Challenge – a highly satirical reality game show that is based on the tech industry’s job interview practices.
Created by Michael Kureth, the Whiteboard Challenge is a three panelled judge show where legitimate software engineers solve code tests until a contestant gets withdrawn for the time-restricted challenge phase to commerce.
One of the most interesting things about the show is that it does not discriminate against an individual’s race, gender, ethnicity, and disabilities. Everyone is treated the same way by professionals and provided equal opportunities so that everyone can bring out their best potential to the show.
By the end of the show, each candidate is evaluated and are told how they are qualified for certain roles. This way, professional IT experts are able to get a closer look at the best talent and with no judgments, they can bring out the best in people. Whiteboard Challenge voices the societal challenges to transition into the constructive dynamics of empathy, support, and humanity with the local Los Angeles and global tech startup community.
