Peter Berry Consultancy Named Disability Confident Recruiter

Peter Berry Consultancy (PBC) has achieved the status of Disability Confident Recruiter (DCR). The firm successfully completed the program in May 2018, demonstrating their commitment to fair and equitable treatment of candidates with disability.

What motivated you to sign up for the DCR program?

PBC was motivated to sign up for the DCR program to provide assurance to our clients that our recruitment processes are inclusive for all people, including those living with disability. PBC works with a range of clients to support them in recruitment and selection strategies. We pride ourselves on providing best-practice solutions that consider candidate care and uphold a positive candidate experience. We believe that the Australian Network on Disability’s (AND) recognition of our status as a Disability Confident Recruiter makes us stand out from our competitors.

In addition, we wanted to ensure that our internal selection processes are inclusive, so we attract the best talent for our own business.

Which part of the program did you find the most challenging?

The most challenging part was the discovery phase of the DCR evidence checklist. Whilst this was time-consuming, it made us realise the small things which can have an impact on accessibility. The checklist demonstrated to us that all parts of the recruitment process were critical in ensuring a positive experience for candidates, particularly those with disability.

Did you come across any obstacles while completing the program and how were they overcome?

PBC was required to show evidence for practices related to internal recruitment (for new PBC staff members), as well as externally with our clients. It was difficult to navigate the complexities that come with external recruitment as there are some parts of the recruitment process for which we don’t have any control. Additionally, our work with clients can vary largely due to the wide range of clients, industries and roles that we operate with. For some parts of the DCR checklist, it was difficult to ascertain evidence as we may not have encountered a process before or we didn’t work with that process very often. AND was very helpful in providing us with guidance as to how we could show evidence for parts we were unsure about.

What were the most surprising things to come out of completing DCR?

What was most surprising was the breadth of disability awareness that was made available to us. Although members of our business had some exposure to training and working with people with disability, we realised there was a lot more we were unaware of. After eLearning and talking about some of the new things we learnt, we were not alone in realising there was so much more to disability awareness.

What changes have you/will you make as a direct result of completing DCR?

The key changes we’ve implemented as a result of completing DCR is in our communication and messaging. Through all stages of the recruitment process, even when a role is not advertised, we ensure there’s messaging to indicate that we are inclusive, and we invite people to request adjustments.

What do you hope to achieve from being recognised as a Disability Confident Recruiter?

We hope our consultants proactively consider ways in which their practices can be further enhanced by an additional perspective on inclusion and accessibility. We hope our clients have confidence in us to deliver fair and equitable recruitment strategies. We also hope that in our encounters with all candidates we work with, including people with disability, we feel confident in what we say and do. We hope that as a Disability Confident Recruiter, we can more effectively engage with all candidates, including our own candidates, and those of our clients.

Find out more about the Disability Confident Recruiter program.

This article originally appeared on the Australian Network on Disability website.