Adjustments for job applications: where to start?

The adjustments you may need will depend on your own individual circumstances. For instance, you might have a newly diagnosed disability and aren’t quite sure how this may or may not impact you in the application process, or you might have two or more disabilities meaning that you will potentially require more than one adjustment.

A key thing to bear in mind is that you may only need adjustments for certain stages. For example, you might not need adjustments when completing an application form but might require changes to be made for a video interview.

For job applications, it’s helpful to think about adjustments as being:

• Changes you need the employer to put in place, so that you can complete forms, tests, (individual or group) exercises, interviews, or presentations to the best of your abilities.

Adjustments are also about ensuring you can access these forms, tests, and assessments in the first place.

A good starting point would be to think about the adjustments you receive/d (if any) for your university studies. It may be that some of those adjustments will be useful for you during the job application process.

If you are in employment and have some adjustments in place, consider if any of these would be useful for you to have during your job application.

Think back to job applications you have made in the past. When making those applications was there anything that would have been useful for you to have in place at the time?

Tips:

• It’s likely that you will need to be proactive and communicate with the employer when it comes to adjustments. It’s best not to rely on the employer to suggest adjustments.

• Don’t leave it too late the request adjustments as it may take some time for the employer to put them into place. For example, if you get invited to an interview and you require adjustments, it’d be good to contact the employer as soon as you can.

• Employers may have supported other disabled candidates so may be able to make some suggestions if you are unsure of the changes you need.

• It’s a good idea to think about what adjustments would work for you so that if the employer’s suggestion is not appropriate, you have something else to suggest.

Edmund Lewis, LSE Careers, AGCAS Disability Task Group