Transcript: Greg Elin on the Inaccessibility of Online Job Applications
PEAT asked Greg Elin, Executive Director of GovReady: “Given that many job applications are not accessible to people with disabilities, what’s your advice on how best to change this?”
Elin: Small and medium-size businesses are only going to purchase solutions. They only adopt solutions they don’t really — time is very precious commodity, as well as money, but time is the most precious of commodities so you don’t have a lot of ability in a small and medium, even if the information is available and you have the time to read about it you don’t have the time to implement something that’s not ready made. So I think if I wanted to improve the application process for individuals who need accessibility technologies to complete the process, I would look at building a solution that is a drop in or plugin for people that are creating the forms or a translation mechanism that small and medium-size businesses could use.
I think that there’s a great likelihood as we move towards, move forward in the digital future that the employment process in general will get more streamlined, where I will have a digital resume or digital portfolio the same way that I have an electronic health record or other things like that, and if we can engage, if this community can engage in the building of the electronic resume and job application and make that a universal design that is used for jobs in genera,l that would have a major impact on the ability for individuals who need accessibility technologies to complete the application process.
