Are employers really ready to take disabled graduates seriously?
A Scope survey, 'Ready, Willing and Disabled', showed that, generally, jobseekers with a disability made an average of two-and-a-half times as many job applications as non-disabled people, and yet got fewer job offers. It does look like many disabled graduates are having to work much harder to secure employment than non-disabled graduates. But having a diverse workforce is recognised as a key factor in improving efficiency, productivity and overall business success. Disability is an increasingly important dimension of the diversity debate. There are over 10 million disabled adults in the UK alone, making up a large and growing proportion of employees, and existing and potential customers. Employers do need to tap into the previously neglected pool of talent amongst disabled jobseekers.
The figures for disabled graduates are better than for disabled people as a whole. A recent AGCAS report reveals that 48.4% of disabled graduates entered employment compared to 53.4% of non disabled graduates which is a very close comparison and demonstrates that having a degree goes a long way to increasing job prospects for disabled people.
