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 disabilities2016 Conference (Denver, Colorado)October 6th, 2016

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!

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Denis BoudreauUser eXperience. Accessibility. Inclusive Design. Gamification. Empathy.

Empowering all users. Geek. Introvert. Pragmatism. Good design = inclusive design.

Deque Systems / Knowbility / W3C

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.

Employment rate of People with disabilitiesage 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

Referencehttps://www.disabilitystatistics.org/reports/cps.cfm?statistic=employment

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?

Basic AccessibilityFor e-recruiting websites

Basic Accessibility issue typesSimple 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.

ImagesAny situation where people will struggle

with accessing information that is conveyed through

images that are informative in nature.

FormsAny situation where people will struggle with understanding the purpose of form

labels and form controls, as well as

error messages.

ContrastsAny situation where

people will have trouble perceiving information due to color combinations

that are insufficiently contrasted.

Text ResizingAny situation where

resizing text will cause page layout to

break and create issues for people

trying to read content.

Top job sites

April 2016Top 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-websitesReference

Most popular job sites April 2016( According to the e-Biz MBA Guide )

www.indeed.com www.monster.com1

www.glassdoor.com

2

3www.careerbuilder.com

4www.simplyhired.com

5

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

Findings – Indeed.comaccessibility 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

Findings – Monster.comaccessibility 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

Findings – GlassDoor.comaccessibility 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

Findings – CareerBuilder.comaccessibility 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

Findings – SimplyHired.comaccessibility 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

Recommendations

Recommendations for Keyboard AccessSome 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.

Recommendations for ImagesSome 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.

Recommendations for FormsSome 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.

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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.

Recommendations for ContrastsSome 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.

Recommendations for Text ResizeSome 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.

Designing for accessibilityBasic 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

Designing for dyslexiaDesigning 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

Designing for autismDesigning 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

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.

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Thank you.Accessibility leads to empowerment

facebook.com/boudden ca.linkedin.com/in/dboudreau twitter.com/dboudreau skype.com/denisboudreau

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Questions & comments

Stay in touch!denis.boudreau@deque.com+1 (514) 730-9168@dboudreau

Building Accessible Online Recruiting & Hiring Systems 29@dboudreau

Resources &references

U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsEmployment status of the civilian population by sex, age, and disability…http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t06.htm

Disability Statistics - Cornel UniversityU.S. disability statistics in 3 easy steps – Employment Rateshttps://www.disabilitystatistics.org/reports/acs.cfm?statistic=2

Disability Statistics - Cornel UniversityU.S. disability statistics in 3 easy steps – Employmenthttps://www.disabilitystatistics.org/reports/cps.cfm?statistic=employment

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOROffice of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP)http://www.dol.gov/odep/

American Psychological AssociationDisability & Socioeconomic Statushttp://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/factsheet-disability.aspx

U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsPersons with a Disability: Labor Force Characteristics Summaryhttp://www.bls.gov/news.release/disabl.nr0.htm

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http://a11yMTL.org/