Graduate employers seek new recruits with particular strengths. People with disabilities have often developed exactly these strengths as a result of living with the challenges that their disabilities bring up. For example, consider these strengths that TargetJobs list as in the top ten strengths that employers are looking for:

• Perseverance: A disabled person might have developed perseverance from carrying on in spite of experiencing repeated challenges.
• Problem solving: A disabled person might have developed problem solving skills from coming up with solutions to get around barriers and obstacles that everyday life throws up.
• Organisation: A disabled person might have developed organisational skills from keeping track of appointments and adhering to health/lifestyle routines.

Of course, everyone is different. If you would like to explore your strengths in more detail you might wish to take a look at the resources on Moodle (select Disability) and talk it over with a careers consultant.

Some disabled people may have gaps in education, lower academic marks and/or a lack of work experience that have resulted from their disability. To see examples of how to address these on your CVs, applications or cover letters take a look at our resources on Careers Moodle.

You are always welcome to book an appointment with a careers consultant to talk over your approach. Employability, our partner who specialises in supporting disabled students into jobs, and the Careers Service also run workshops with a focus on applying for jobs with a disability. You might also choose to have your CV, application or cover letter over checked by us. For more details of services available and how to book, take a look at Careers Moodle.

Deciding whether or not to be open about your disability is a highly personal choice that only you can make. Many organisations who work with those who have disabilities point to a number of advantages to being open about your disability:

• You can emphasise the strengths that you have developed as a result of your disability
• The employer’s response to your disclosure could give you important information about what it might be like to work for them as a disabled person
• If your experiences as a disabled person will make you particularly suited to the job, for example a person with a disability might want to disclose their condition if they were applying for a job with a charity or service provider that supports people with disabilities.
• If your disability negatively impacted your academic performance you may want to explain those circumstances so you don’t automatically get ruled out from an application process, eg you have a lower degree grade than specified as being essential for the job.
• Some organisations have guaranteed interview schemes for disabled applicants.

However, you are under no obligation to disclose your disability and legally can ask for adjustments in application / interview processes without doing so. If you do ask for adjustments in job application processes employers should not ask you to justify your request. Find out more about how / when to handle the disclosure of a disability in the disability section of our careers pages on Careers Moodle.

The Equalities Act 2010 makes it clear that in work and the recruitment process “Employers have a duty to make “reasonable adjustments” to ensure that a disabled employee is not treated less favourably than their non-disabled counterpart.”

A reasonable adjustment might mean providing assistive technology, breaks throughout an assessment centre, additional time or many other things.

To find out more about what reasonable adjustments are and how to request them take a look at the resources on Moodle or book an appointment to talk to a specialist advisor at EmployAbility, our partner who specialises in supporting disabled students into jobs.

Once you’re clear on your strengths and you’ve explored career options, how should you go about finding suitable positions?

Royal Holloway’s CareersPortal lists thousands of internship, placement and job opportunities. Beyond that, many employers offer schemes specifically targeting disabled students. The government run Disability Confident is nationally recognised accreditation scheme to support businesses to attract, recruit and retain disabled employees, including people with long-term health conditions. Many of these organisations offer a guaranteed interview scheme, meaning that if a disabled person applies and meets the criteria set out be the employer, they are guaranteed an interview.

Take a look at the resources on Moodle (select Disability) and if you want to discuss your career and how to approach it, book an appointment to speak to a Careers Consultant.