Job search at a dead end? Building Accessible Online Recruiting & Hiring Systems

Statistics show that people with disabilities finding employment is at an all time low. Which is staggering, considering it's never been easier to find a job using online recruiting platforms. This session will demonstrate why and how accessible eRecruiting tools make sense to help people with disabilities find employment, and some of the simple steps web developers and designers can take to ensure job seekers with disabilities are not excluded from employment opportunities.

Presented at:
* Coleman conference - Denver, CO (October 2016)
* PEATWorks - monthly webinars (April 2016)

Transcript

1. Job search at a dead end? Building Accessible Online Recruiting & Hiring Systems Why accessible eRecruiting tools make sense and the simple steps that web developers and designers can take to ensure that job seekers with disabilities are not excluded from employment opportunities. Coleman Conference on cognitive disabilities 2016 Conference (Denver, Colorado) October 6th, 2016
2. The unemployed must be either lazy or unmotivated… or both! Surely, in a world where technology makes it so easy to find a job in a few clicks, one can’t help but wonder why so many people are still without a job!
3. Building Accessible Online Recruiting & Hiring Systems 3 @dboudreau Denis Boudreau User eXperience. Accessibility. Inclusive Design. Gamification. Empathy. Empowering all users. Geek. Introvert. Pragmatism. Good design = inclusive design. Deque Systems / Knowbility / W3C
4. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, June 2015 About 2 in 10 persons with disabilities were in the labor force in 2012, compared with about 7 in 10 persons with no disability.
5. Employment rate of People with disabilities age 18-64, employed in the United States from 2000 to 2014 24.40% 12.90% 0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 25.00% 30.00% 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Reference https://www.disabilitystatistics.org/reports/cps.cfm?statistic=employment
6. We have a responsibility to create applications that are accessible & usable by the largest number of people possible. Otherwise, why bother building them in the first place?
7. Basic Accessibility For e-recruiting websites
8. Basic Accessibility issue types Simple tests to measure accessibility Keyboard access Any situation where people will be unable to use the keyboard to perform certain tasks, or where focus management will cause problems. Images Any situation where people will struggle with accessing information that is conveyed through images that are informative in nature. Forms Any situation where people will struggle with understanding the purpose of form labels and form controls, as well as error messages. Contrasts Any situation where people will have trouble perceiving information due to color combinations that are insufficiently contrasted. Text Resizing Any situation where resizing text will cause page layout to break and create issues for people trying to read content.
9. Top job sites April 2016 Top 5 Most Popular Job Sites as derived from the eBizMBA Rank, which is a continually updated average of each website's Alexa Global Traffic Rank, and U.S. Traffic Rank from both Compete and Quantcast. http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/job-websites Reference
10. Most popular job sites April 2016 ( According to the e-Biz MBA Guide ) www.indeed.com www.monster.com 1 www.glassdoor.com 2 3 www.careerbuilder.com 4 www.simplyhired.com 5
11. Accessibility findings Indeed.com Monster.com GlassDoor.com CareerBuilder.com Simplyhired.com Keyboard Access Images Forms Contrasts Text Resizing Prevalent accessibility issues on top job search sites
12. Findings – Indeed.com accessibility issues found using AXE and Tenon 60% Main issues include insufficient color contrasts for text and links, and labels that are not programmatically associated with their controls. Keyboard Access Images Forms Contrasts Text Resize
13. Findings – Monster.com accessibility issues found using AXE and Tenon 0% Main issues include missing focus indicators on active elements, insufficient color contrasts for text and links, images not properly described in text, labels that are not programmatically associated with their controls, and text that disappears or gets truncated when resized. Keyboard Access Images Forms Contrasts Text Resize
14. Findings – GlassDoor.com accessibility issues found using AXE and Tenon 0% Main issues include missing focus indicators on active elements, insufficient color contrasts for text and links, images not properly described in text, labels that are not programmatically associated with their controls, and text that disappears or gets truncated when resized. Keyboard Access Images Forms Contrasts Text Resize
15. Findings – CareerBuilder.com accessibility issues found using AXE and Tenon 0% Main issues include missing focus indicators on active elements, insufficient color contrasts for text and links, images not properly described in text, labels that are not programmatically associated with their controls, and text that disappears or gets truncated when resized. Keyboard Access Images Forms Contrasts Text Resize
16. Findings – SimplyHired.com accessibility issues found using AXE and Tenon 0% Main issues include missing focus indicators on active elements, insufficient color contrasts for text and links, images not properly described in text, labels that are not programmatically associated with their controls, and text that disappears or gets truncated when resized. Keyboard Access Images Forms Contrasts Text Resize
17. Recommendations
18. Recommendations for Keyboard Access Some of the top things to keep in mind… Make sure every object in the page can be fully interacted with, using only the keyboard. 1 2 3 Make sure people using the keyboard to navigate can easily and clearly identify where the focus is at all times. Make sure people using the keyboard to navigate can easily and intuitively move inside any component, or out of it.
19. Recommendations for Images Some of the top things to keep in mind… Make sure informative images are described in text, so their content is conveyed to assistive technologies. 1 2 3 Make sure purely decorative images are not described in text, so assistive technologies can safely ignore them. Make sure informative images are embedded as foreground images, so they remain visible in High Contrast.
20. Recommendations for Forms Some of the top things to keep in mind… Make sure every form control is assigned a visible text label, that is programmatically associated with the control. 1 2 3 Make sure placeholder text is not used in lieu of text labels to define the purpose of form controls. Make sure error messages are conveyed to people in a way that is compatible with assistive technologies.
21. Recommendations for Contrasts Some of the top things to keep in mind… Make sure foreground and background colors used for text and images of text present sufficient color contrasts. 1 2 3 Make sure link text used in content is sufficiently contrasted, when compared to its surrounding text color. Make sure colors used remain sufficiently contrasted in less than optimal lighting conditions.
22. Recommendations for Text Resize Some of the top things to keep in mind… Make sure text being resized to 200% of its original size remains completely legible and readable. 1 2 3 Make sure no content gets truncated or overlaps with other content as a result of the text being resized. Make sure resized text also considers word wrapping to help people with low vision read content more efficiently.
23. Designing for accessibility Basic considerations to help you get started with designing for users… • Who have low vision • Of screen readers • Who are deaf or hard of hearing users • With motor or physical disabilities • On the autistic spectrum • With dyslexia Resource: https://t.co/7EcvhHsLnV
24. Designing for dyslexia Designing for users with dyslexia • Use images and diagrams to support text • Left-align text and keep a consistent layout • Offer materials in alternate formats • Keep content short, clear and simple • Allow users to change color schemes Resource: https://t.co/7EcvhHsLnV
25. Designing for autism Designing for users on the autistic spectrum • Use simple colors • Write in plain English • Use simple sentences and bullets • Make button text descriptive • Build simple and consistent layouts Resource: https://t.co/7EcvhHsLnV
26. Most barriers encountered by job seekers with disabilities on the web are created by every one of us, every time we build a new web component, or fail to make sure components are accessible.
27. Building Accessible Online Recruiting & Hiring Systems 27 @dboudreau Thank you. Accessibility leads to empowerment facebook.com/boudden ca.linkedin.com/in/dboudreau twitter.com/dboudreau skype.com/denisboudreau
28. Building Accessible Online Recruiting & Hiring Systems 28 @dboudreau Questions & comments Stay in touch! denis.boudreau@deque.com +1 (514) 730-9168 @dboudreau
29. Building Accessible Online Recruiting & Hiring Systems 29 @dboudreau Resources & references U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment status of the civilian population by sex, age, and disability… http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t06.htm Disability Statistics - Cornel University U.S. disability statistics in 3 easy steps – Employment Rates https://www.disabilitystatistics.org/reports/acs.cfm?statistic=2 Disability Statistics - Cornel University U.S. disability statistics in 3 easy steps – Employment https://www.disabilitystatistics.org/reports/cps.cfm?statistic=employment UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) http://www.dol.gov/odep/ American Psychological Association Disability & Socioeconomic Status http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/factsheet-disability.aspx U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Persons with a Disability: Labor Force Characteristics Summary http://www.bls.gov/news.release/disabl.nr0.htm
30. Building Accessible Online Recruiting & Hiring Systems 30 @dboudreau
31. Building Accessible Online Recruiting & Hiring Systems 31 @dboudreau http://a11yMTL.org/