Interviewing Workers with
Obvious Disabilities
By Dan Woog,
Monster Contributing Writers
Joe HR Guy looks forward
to interviewing his next candidate. Her resume sparkles. However,
when she arrives, he’s surprised:
The candidate is in a wheelchair. She can’t maneuver herself
around the heavy boxes stacked near his door, so he suggests a nearby
conference room. The table is the wrong height, so she can’t
fill out the forms he needs. To break the awkward silence he says, “Do
you mind my asking what happened to you?”
The interview is over
before it begins. The ideal candidate ends up working for his competitor.
And though Joe HR Guy is surprised, workers with disabilities are
not. As recruiters and hiring managers cultivate top-notch staffs,
they cannot afford to make Joe HR Guy’s
mistakes and miss out on this talent pool.
Overlooked Talent
Data from
the 2000 US Census shows that nearly 57% of the 30.6 million Americans
with disabilities age 21 to 64 were employed. However, workers with
disabilities and their advocates note that employers continue to
either overlook or look down on this large pool of talented workers.
Many problems begin at the inter-viewer’s
door, the moment a physical disability becomes apparent.
“It’s so simple and basic,” says Jeff Klare, CEO
of Hire Disability, an employment company. “People with disabilities
are human beings. The focus has to be on the person, not on the disability.
You speak person to person, not person to wheelchair or person to
blind person.”
However, as Joe HR Guy
demonstrates, that change in focus won’t
happen if a company has not already hired people with disabilities
or considered the possibility that they might apply. Every office
in a building should be wheelchair-accessible. At the very least,
the employment office must be.
Addressing the Disability
During the Interview
Interviewers should be proactive,
Klare says. “Engage
the interviewee,” he
suggests. “Nonverbal communication says a lot. Shake hands—and
if the other person can’t shake, just touching him is important.” The
customary “take a seat” greeting can be adapted by motioning
for someone in a wheelchair to move closer.
When the interview begins,
the disability should be a non-issue. Instead, the focus should
be squarely on the applicant’s skill
set and qualifications for the job.
However, at some point the disability should be addressed in the
context of how the applicant can handle the job. Ideally, the issue
will be raised first by the applicant, says Klare.
The candidate might
say, “Because of my cerebral palsy I need
a joystick mouse,” or, “In case you’re wondering
about my hearing impairment, I use TDD and TTY devices.” If
the interviewer does not know what TDD and TTY devices are, he’s
not alone. (They’re telecommunications aids.) That gives the
interviewee a chance to explain how the devices work, allaying the
employer’s concerns about the disability while simultaneously
demonstrating his own competence, forthrightness and motivation.
It’s the interviewer’s responsibility to raise the issue
if the applicant does not. “What can we do to help you do this
job better?” is a straightforward, nonthreatening question. “How
did you become disabled?” while equally direct, is an unwise
question to ask, because the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
prohibits inquiring about the cause of a disability.
“A lot of people think the ADA is a confining law,” says
Jonathan Kaufman, president of DisabilityWorks Inc. and The Monster
Disability Advisor. “But I think it’s very inclusive.
People with disabilities come from every racial, ethnic and religious
group. In fact, we’re the only minority group anyone can join
at any time.” Kaufman, who has cerebral palsy, notes that as
the American workforce ages, increasing numbers of workers will face
some sort of disability.
“We live in a litigious society,” he adds. “The
ADA has created a lot of worries about lawsuits. If you’re
an HR person who doesn’t know everything about the law, admit
it. Ask the person you’re interviewing to give their own story
and perspective on their lives — their disability and their
abilities. Listen, react and be honest. You can even say, ‘Forgive
me if I say anything wrong. Feel free to correct me.’” That
enables the interviewer to see the applicant as a whole person— the
goal of any good interviewer.
Which is exactly what Joe HR Guy will be, as soon as he gets those
boxes out of his office.
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