Accessible recruitment begins before someone requests an interview adjustment. Review the advertisement, application method, communication and assessment arrangements to identify barriers that could prevent a person from showing relevant capability.
This guide focuses on an employer’s process review. An individual adjustment request still needs discussion about the person’s circumstances and the actual assessment, rather than a standard response applied to everyone.
Check requirements against the work
Start with the role’s real responsibilities. Ask whether each advertised requirement is necessary for the work or simply inherited from an old advertisement. Describe the result needed rather than assuming there is only one way a person can achieve it.
The Australian Human Rights Commission’s recruitment guidance discusses accessible recruitment materials, adjustment contacts and access to interview or assessment arrangements. Use it alongside advice relevant to the organisation and vacancy.
An access review does not mean removing legitimate role requirements. It means checking that the process measures those requirements rather than an avoidable barrier in the method used.
Test the application journey
Follow the advertisement through to submission. Check whether applicants can understand the instructions, access the documents and identify a person to contact if the format does not work.
Ask someone familiar with accessibility to review the actual forms and materials. A team member successfully submitting an application on one device does not establish that the whole process is accessible.
Where an alternative method is offered, make sure it is monitored and connected to the selection process. An unused contact address is not a practical alternative.
Use a practical barrier review record
For each stage, record:
- Task: what the candidate must do.
- Purpose: the capability or information the task is intended to assess.
- Possible barrier: a specific format, timing, location or communication issue.
- Check: how the team will investigate the issue.
- Arrangement: an agreed change or alternative and its owner.
- Confirmation: how the candidate and relevant staff will receive the details.
- Review: whether the arrangement worked and what needs improving.
Keep personal information necessary for an individual request separate from the general improvement register.
A fictional assessment example
An invented employer asks applicants to analyse a document during an interview. A candidate cannot use the scanned image format supplied. The recruitment lead checks an accessible document format and confirms the assessment arrangements with the candidate and panel.
The team retains the relevant analytical task and agrees how participation will work. It does not score the candidate down for requesting a usable document or assume a particular format suits every person with disability.
JobAccess guidance on reasonable adjustments provides further information about recruitment and workplace adjustments. Seek appropriate advice if the request or proposed alternative is uncertain.
Confirm arrangements before assessment
Check the venue, meeting platform, instructions, materials and responsible contact. Tell the people implementing an arrangement what they need to do without unnecessarily distributing medical or other personal information.
After the process, review any barriers and the effectiveness of the response. Assign practical changes before reusing the same advertisement or assessment. Accessible recruitment becomes more dependable when the organisation checks the actual candidate journey and follows through on the arrangements it offers.
For a wider view of barriers candidates may encounter, see employment access and support in Brisbane alongside this employer-side process review.
