Authors: GILLIAN PARKER | Membership & Communications Manager for BASE and Inclusive Trading CIC | BASE-UK (British Association for Supported Employment)
gillian.parker@base-uk.org
EMMA SHEPHERD MIEP, BSC(HON), MSC, CHARTERED MCIPD | Owner & Founder of Let’s Talk Disability & M’s Cafe
emma.shepherd@base-uk.org
In 2018 there were still 5.3 million people with no or very little digital skills, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research and, 23.3% are disabled compared with only 6.0% of those without a disability.
The Government’s Disability Confident Scheme aims to encourage employers to make the most of the talents that disabled people can bring to their workplace and recognises that adjustments to recruitment processes can be one way to remove barriers for this group. Whereas the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology’s guidance on the use of responsible AI in recruitment highlights the potential for AI to further exclude those who are not digitally literate and “could bring about novel risks of disadvantage”.
Bearing the above in mind, this article explores how we can support employers to do the right thing and embrace an inclusive recruitment approach, whilst also being able to recruit on a large scale. Employer
engagement is often cited as one of the greatest challenges for employment support organisations but increasingly employers are engaging with Reverse Job Fairs run by specialist employment support teams.
WHAT IS A REVERSE JOB FAIR?
They started being mentioned widely in the UK around 2015 when Justin Tomlinson, Minister for Disabled People, hosted his own reverse jobs fair “to meet the demands of employers and create lasting employment opportunities for disabled people”.
A Reverse Jobs Fair takes the traditional Jobs Fair concept and turns it on its head. Typically, a jobs or careers fair, is where employers, job agencies, service and training providers come together to offer job seekers information and be on hand to ask questions. Some large employers may also have apprenticeships, entry level roles or graduate programmes that they are wishing to fill. Job Fairs are often held in hotels, colleges or community centres and each employer will have a stand trying to attract a candidate. They are naturally busy, buzzing, noisy events and can be intimidating and stressful places for disabled and neurodivergent people. Whereas at a Reverse Job Fair, the job seekers are at the centre of the process, and they are empowered to explain about their skills, strengths, and interests.
WHY RUN A REVERSE JOB FAIR?
Headline figures from the CIPD shows that the number of job vacancies will fall although 38% of UK employers continue to have hard-to fill vacancies. The CIPD recommends that employers and people practitioners: “Take a varied approach to addressing your hard-to-fill vacancies. Adopt inclusive recruitment and selection approaches to help broaden your talent pool”.
Despite 18,000 employers having signed up to Disability Confident, evidence shows that this is not translating into more disabled and neurodivergent people in employment within those companies. In our
experience, it is the fear of getting it wrong combined with a lack of support around how to be inclusive in practice which prevents employers from doing anything at all. A Reverse Job Fair which includes disabled and neurodivergent candidates provides a well-supported and safe space for employers to interact with this talent pool and demonstrate how easy reasonable adjustments can be.
By taking an alternative approach to recruitment some of the burden for recruitment is removed from employers, for example, advertising vacancies and sifting through CVs to develop a shortlist. Instead at a
Reverse Job Fair, employers are presented with a readymade talent pool of candidates who are highly motivated to work and ready to show and talk about their career aspirations. Plus, it’s a fantastic opportunity for job seekers to practice their soft skills in a natural way.
WHAT TO CONSIDER WHEN STAGING A REVERSE JOBS FAIR
Think about the venue itself. One that is accessible, with parking or nearby transport links. Have a ‘quiet area’ that is clearly signed, so that anyone feeling overwhelmed can take a five-minute breather.
Maximise attendance at your event by considering the needs of the businesses who will attend. There may be particular pinch points such as month or quarter end that would prevent managers etc from fully
engaging with your event.
Use both the aspirations of people and the local labour market intelligence to target specific employers or industries that match the career pathways people want to pursue.
Consider creating information packs with redacted information about each of the candidates. These can be shared with employers ahead of the day via email with hard copies available on the day.
Use a simple anonymised system to link the information pack with the location of the candidate on the day to enable employers to speak to their ideal candidates.
Create sector-specific sections within the room and create a map/key for employers so they can navigate to those areas most relevant to their needs. Provide opportunities for people to demonstrate their talents, for example individuals who want to work in catering can give demos of their skills on the day.
Create a mixed economy of support for employers by inviting organisations who can provide free practical advice and support the event: Access to Work expertise and benefits advice are always useful. Specialist Employment Support teams will welcome the opportunity to support employers with free disability awareness training and advice around reasonable adjustments.
WHO WILL A REVERSE JOB FAIR BENEFIT?
The short answer is everyone! How many groups of individuals are there within society for whom the mainstream routes to recruitment no longer work? By embracing a Universal Design approach to recruitment, inequity based on socioeconomic backgrounds, gender, and cultural background, as well as simply extroverts vs introverts, is avoided.
Whilst the supported employment model was originally designed for disabled and neurodivergent people, it has been shown to work with people recovering from addiction, people experiencing homelessness and the long term unemployed.
How many other disadvantaged people that your organisation supports could benefit from a collaborative approach between all agencies?
Exploring the UK’s digital divide – Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)
Labour Market Outlook -CIPD Winter 2023-24
Minister: MPs must help ‘open doors’ for disabled jobseekers – GOV.UK(www.gov.uk)
