Employers need to tap into every talent pool

By Kate Southam

Rezvi Ali says he has a lot to offer any employer. He is well-educated, has a killer positive attitude and an impressive work history with leading employers such as ANZ, IBM and the Victorian Government.

Ali’s contract with the Department of Sustainability & Environment ends this month, which means once again job hunting and challenging stereotypes.

“My resume usually gets me an interview but once employers get a chance to see me – I am in a wheel chair – I suspect they then start to see me as a risk when compared to someone with similar skills and experience,” says Ali.

Cerebral Palsy has not stopped Ali gaining a Bachelor of Social Science majoring in human resources from Swinburne University, excelling at work or planning to buy a house with his wife   like any other ambitious young man.

“My skill set is in creating systems. I put together data bases, reporting systems and business processes,” Ali explains. Having a physical disability has only helped develop the skills he uses at work including excellent communication and people skills.

“I have a huge commitment to getting the job done because I have had to persevere so much in life,” he says. “Also, I have great listening skills, have the ability to empathise and to cope well in stressful situations.”

“If a computer crashes and data is lost I stay calm because in the scheme of things it’s really no big deal.”

After the end of his last contract, Ali wanted to target government. He met with EACH Employment Services and then Randstad’s Disability Employment Advisory Service who in turn used their contacts in the Victorian Government to find him the right role.

Randstad operations director Steve Shepherd says the mission of his consultants is to educate employers about talent such as Ali.  

He says 20 per cent of Australians have a disability so employers who do not understand this talent pool will be at a disadvantage as unemployment drops and the skill shortage grows.

“We work with hiring managers who may not have had a lot of experience in this area that hold misconceptions and fears,” says Shepherd.

Misconceptions include that people with a disability are a higher occupational & safety risk, take more sick leave, require a lighter workload, cannot be performance managed like other employees.

Employers also worry that employing someone with a disability means investing in expensive office modifications.

A 2007 Federal Government report on the cost/benefit of workplace adjustments for employees with a disability found 65 per cent of employers rated the financial effect to be cost neutral and 20 per cent identified an overall financial benefit.
Shepherd told CareerOne that employees often bring their own specialised tools to the job. Employers can also access financial assistance to make modifications when they are needed.

He says employers also fear asking relevant questions at a job interview because “they want to look like they are discriminating again the person. For instance they worry, ‘can I ask someone with a vision impairment if they can perform a task such as reviewing a document’.”

“We help employers and the candidates prepare for the interview. We also provide the candidates with feedback. Sometimes they will not get the job and we can tell them why, otherwise they may think it was just their disability. When they get a job we want them to know they got it on merit.”

“Employers also want to know how to get the information they need in a job interview to evaluate the candidate against another and we help them see beyond the candidate’s disability to see their ability.

“Generally, candidates who are working with us recognise employers will need to know the impact of their disability and so they don’t mind [employers] knowing what their challenges are.

Ali says he has found job hunting harder than many of his peers at university.

“I graduated in 2005 and it took me seven months to find a graduate job yet in that time my peers were all snapping up jobs.

 “It is tough going even when companies say they are Equal Opportunity Employer that does not always match their reality.

Ali used networking to land his first role working within the IBM Graduate Recruitment Team between May and 2006. Other roles at IBM followed including projects with the Diversity Team, Learning & Development division, resource planning and HR systems administration.

After leaving IBM in 2008, Ali secured contract roles at ANZ (May to July 2009) and Uniting Care Community Options. A spell of unemployment followed before his role at the Department of Sustainability & Environment.

If Ali hits a wall job hunting this time around he is going to complete an IT-related Masters degree to develop a more unique skill set and improve his chances of finding long term employment with development and promotion opportunities.

“I am a strong team contributor and I would love to be a subject matter expert maybe as a  project manager or a software developer.”

“I do a good job and make friends easily and try and leave people with a good impression that a disability isn’t a barrier to having a good job. People [who work with me] comment that they don’t see my disability,” says Ali.   
 
“I really value having a job. I see a lot of negative people at work and wonder how they got a job so easily when I and some of my friends find it so hard.”

Useful links

www.randstad.com.au/jobseekers/candidate-services/disability-employment-advisory-service.html

Article from CareerOne.com.au