While a person's disability can be a hurdle to certain types of jobs, employer attitudes are often more difficult barriers to overcome.
Many employers allow fears and stereotypes to steer them away from considering qualified people with disabilities (PWDs) for opportunities within their organizations. For example, they might believe that:
- The company’s worker compensation rates will rise
- The Americans with Disabilities Act makes it illegal to terminate PWDs regardless of the circumstances
- Reasonable accommodations are expensive to implement
- PWDs (1) require a great deal of supervision and assistance, (2) are more at risk of causing workplace health and safety incidents, (3) have higher turnover and absenteeism rates, and/or (4) cannot be held to same performance standards as their peers
Employers who hire PWDs consistently report that they’re motivated, dependable, productive, loyal, and long-term workers. In other words, they possess valuable workplace soft skills!
In addition, PWDs help contribute to the bottom line by reducing the need to fill vacated positions, and there’s generally at least a 10:1 return on investment on the cost of reasonable accommodations. Employers additionally benefit from an expanded talent pool, improved workplace morale and innovation, and good public relations.
Now that you know the “why,” let’s briefly discuss the “how.” Specifically, what are some ways you can look beyond a person’s disability and recognize the value that he and his soft skills can offer your company?
The first step is to shift your perspective from process to results, then modify your expectations (and, ideally, your job descriptions) accordingly. For example, which is the more important skill for an administrative assistant: typing 60 words per minute or crafting correspondence that’s well-written, visually appealing, and error-free? The latter, of course! In other words, as long as an employee’s results are satisfactory, be open-minded about how, when, and where the work gets done. This flexibility will benefit your entire workforce – which, in turn, will support your organization’s success.
Some job candidates will be quite personable during the interview, which may lead you to believe they possess a broader range of soft skills than they actually do. Other candidates, however, might make a more neutral or even negative first impression. Whether due to nervousness, lack of knowledge about the interview process, or social deficits that may or may not be related to a disability, it’s important not to make snap judgments about a person’s skill set or ability to do the job.
When your initial opinion of a candidate is, at best, mediocre, it may be difficult to imagine him as a contributing member of your team – especially if he has the added challenge of a disability. But if you take the time to gain a solid understanding of what each applicant brings to the table, you'll be pleasantly surprised at what you can uncover!
Why should you go through the trouble? After all, isn’t it the candidate’s responsibility to “sell” himself to you during the interview? In a perfect world, yes, every job candidate would put his best foot forward when meeting potential employers. In reality, however, some may not have learned to showcase their soft skills during an interview, or even their importance in the workplace. You could be missing out on highly qualified talent if you don’t make the effort to draw out the skills of these individuals through questioning. Behavioral interviewing is a very effective technique for doing just that.
Determine in advance the skills that are most important to the job for which you’re recruiting, and develop a list of focused interview questions. For example, to assess whether a person can handle difficult customers, you might ask: “Tell me about a time when a customer treated you rudely and how you dealt with the situation.” If you’re looking for a problem solver, ask: “What has been your biggest work challenge and how did you overcome it?” If teamwork is important: “Have you ever had to partner with a co-worker who didn’t carry his weight? What did you do to gain his cooperation? Were you successful?”
Through behavioral interviewing, you can uncover a candidate’s past words and actions (behaviors) in circumstances similar to those he may face in your workplace, allowing you to evaluate his skills and suitability for the job at hand. Regardless of which soft skills you’re trying to assess – professionalism, communication, self-management, problem solving, integrity, teamwork, customer service, perseverance, and countless others – behavioral interviewing is a powerful tool.
In addition, posing the same set of questions to all applicants ensures that you’re comparing their skills and qualifications, rather than your initial reaction to each – essentially leveling the playing field and getting to the heart of what’s truly needed to succeed in the job.
Making these small changes to your mindset and interview practices will help you identify the best candidate for your organization, some of which will likely be PWDs whom you might not have otherwise considered.
That said, your focus on soft skills shouldn’t end once you’ve made an informed hiring decision based on what you learned during the interview process. To further explore the importance of employee soft skills to your organization, and learn easy-to-implement strategies for continually assessing and reinforcing these traits and attributes in your workforce, check out our post titled Get the Most Out of Soft Skills Training by Providing Ongoing Support and Reinforcement.
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