Become a Disability Confident Recruiter ®
Do you want to access the entire talent pool and encourage people with disability to apply for your roles but don’t know where to start?
Australian Disability Network’s Disability Confident Recruiter ® is a status you can achieve by removing barriers in your recruitment process to make it more accessible and inclusive for people with disability.
Removing Barriers in Recruitment
You may not even know that your recruitment process or the recruiters you engage have these barriers, or what they are.
This is why our Disability Confident Recruiter is a great place to start.
It will tell you what you need to do to remove barriers. You may be surprised at how easy Disability Confident Recruiter status is to achieve.
What’s involved?
Disability Confident Recruiter consists of two phases – Discovery and Education.
- The Discovery Phase is a review of your end-to end recruitment process. In this phase, you will be guided by us.
- The Education phase supports your employees in building knowledge and awareness of Inclusive Recruitment through e-learn training.
To maintain Disability Confident Recruiter status, organisations are reviewed on an ongoing and annual basis.
For more information on the program, contact our team today.
Gain recognition and lead change
By signing our Charter, and completing Disability Confident Recruiter, your organisation will be recognised as a Disability Confident Recruiter, committed to removing barriers to recruitment and selection.
Gain recognition as one of an elite group of Australian organisations who have seen the benefits of being disability confident and taken the necessary steps to achieve it. These organisations are making a genuine impact for change by making accessibility a key element of recruitment.
How has this program benefited Disability Confident Recruiter organisations?
DFP Recruitment Services
DFP Recruitment Services has marked ten years as a Disability Confident Recruiter ® organisation. We spoke to Angela Sergi, National People and Performance Business Partner at DFP, about what a sustained commitment to inclusive recruitment actually means.
Read about the impact achieving DCR status had on DFP Recruitment Services
Testimonials
We are proud to share that the Disability Confident Recruiter has had a significantly positive impact on participating organisations and has provided important learnings and provided safe spaces for people to report having a disability.
Here are several examples of the benefit the program has had on participating organisations:
NSW Treasury
“We’ve seen an increase in the number of people identifying as having a disability across Treasury. We have also seen an increase in candidates feeling comfortable to ask for adjustments during the recruitment process, resulting in a more flexible process and greater awareness and education for hiring managers and teams.” – NSW Treasury (2024)
Australian Film, Television and Radio School
“We have learned a great deal through the process both in terms of physical accessibility and many refinements in our recruitment processes which are ongoing.” – Australian Film, Television and Radio School (2024)
Case studies
Australian Taxation Office (ATO)
I was delighted that the ATO has been awarded Disability Confident Recruiter accreditation from the Australian Disability Network. This is an important step in our commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace for all employees ” Susan Moriarty ATOP SES
Read the Australian Taxation Office case study
RMIT
“Gaining Disability Confident Recruiter status was a key step in RMIT’s Accessibility Action Plan, which aims to enable a diverse and inclusive workplace for all staff and students. This large program of work has encouraged us to rethink and redesign our entire talent process. With the removal of technological, cultural and physical barriers it has inevitably made it a more equitable process for applicants with disabilities. The feedback from our candidates and hiring community has been extremely positive so far however we see this as the start…there is more to do.” Gabrielle Bassett, Executive Talent Acquisition Manager
Disability Confident Recruiter Organisations
Australian Disability Network are proud to share the following organisations are certified as having completed the Disability Confident Recruiter program, and have an ongoing commitment to removing barriers in their recruitment processes and practices, gaining recognition as disability confident recruiters.
- Achieve Australia
- Attorney-General’s Department
- Australian Film Television Radio School
- Australian Taxation Office
- Australia Post
- City of Sydney Council (NSW)
- City of Rockingham (WA)
- CoAct
- Coles Group Limited
- Compass Group
- Cumberland Council (NSW)
- Custom Fleet
- Department of Creative Industries, Tourism and Sport (WA)
- Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development
- DFP Recruitment
- Domain Holdings
- GenU
- HOBAN Recruitment
- Infosys BPM
- Infosys
- Lake Macquarie City Council (NSW)
- Legal Aid NSW
- Life Without Barriers
- Main Roads Western Australia
- Max Solutions
- Medibank Private Limited
- Melbourne Cricket Club
- Mission Australia
- National Australia Bank Limited
- National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA)
- NBN Co
- NSW Department of Communities and Justice
- NSW Department of Customer Service
- NSW Department of Planning, Housing & Infrastructure and NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (previously NSW Department of Planning & Environment)
- NSW Ombudsman
- NSW Public Service Commission
- NSW Treasury
- Optus
- Paxus
- Peter Berry Consultancy
- RMIT
- Russell Kennedy
- Swinburne University of Technology
- Telstra
- University of Melbourne
- u&u Recruitment Partners
- WA Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions
- WA Department of Training and Workforce Development
- WA Department of Transport
- WA Department of Water and Environmental Regulation
- Water Corporation
- Westpac
- Vicinity Centres
- Victoria Police – Victorian Public Service
- Victoria University
- V/Line Corporation
- Yarra Trams
- Yarra Valley Water
- Zoos Victoria
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is involved in Disability Confident Recruiter
Disability Confident Recruiter consists of two phases – Discovery and Education.
Australian Disability Network guides organisations in completing Discovery, which is a review of your end-to-end recruitment process. The Education phase supports your employees in building knowledge and awareness of Inclusive Recruitment through e-learn training.
2. How long is the status valid for?
Disability Confident Recruiter status is valid for 12 months.
3. What are the key focus areas of Disability Confident Recruiter?
Disability Confident Recruiter covers key recruitment and selection areas. There are 16 sections of the program checklist, and 34 key recruitment criteria that are addressed through meeting the evidence requirements for each criteria point.
The focus areas include:
- Digital accessibility (website WCAG 2.2)
- Welcoming messaging of candidates with disability
- Inclusive job advertisements,
- Essential requirements within position descriptions, applications,
- Workplace adjustments process for recruitment,
- Key contacts, shortlisting,
- Pre-employment assessments,
- Interviews, access to premises
- Candidate feedback
- Reference checks,
- Pre-employment health checks
- Background checks
- Employment offer and onboarding.
4. What training is involved in Disability Confident Recruiter?
As part of the Education phase, key recruitment staff (Talent Aquisition, hiring managers) are required to complete selected modules from our eLearn suite.
Organisations can purchase these modules as a SCORM file and integrate the training within the inhouse LMS, or purchase individual logins for users. Individual logins will have access to the modules for 12 months from purchase.
5. How long are the SCORM files valid for?
If there are future updates to the SCORM file purchased, organisations will be required to purchase the update for a nominal cost. Where modules are redesigned, the new modules must be purchased.
6. How long should we allow to complete Disability Confident Recruiter?
Organisations have up to 12 months to complete their first year of the Disability Confident Recruiter program. However, some organisations have completed this within 6 to 8 months, largely due to having inclusive recruitment processes and practices already embedded across the organisation.
The annual renewal process can take from 4 to 5 months to complete.
7. Who is involved?
You should nominate one or two key contacts as project leads to liaise with Australian Disability Network. You will be supported by the Disability Confident Recruiter Lead. It is encouraged that organisations engage with their business early in the process and develop an internal working group to support achieving Disability Confident Recruiter status. A few key teams to engage with may be People & Culture (Talent Acquisition/Recruitment), Digital Accessibility (ICT/Digital/Communications), and Premises (Property Services/Facilities/Procurement).
8. What additional resources may be required to achieve Disability Confident Recruiter status?
Organisations may choose to bring on external contractors to support with website accessibility audits, and onsite premises accessibility audits/reviews. It is recommended that these be considered and budgeted for in advance.
Find out more about Dignified Access Review
9. How do we maintain Disability Confident Recruiter status?
To maintain Disability Confident Recruiter status organisations undergo an annual renewal process. This involves completing a review of selected areas within the program checklist.
Organisations are required to:
- provide evidence on the mandatory sections of the program checklist (as advised by Australian Disability Network at each renewal year).
- identify and ensure any new staff who join the organisation (within 12 months from being awarded the previous status) complete the Disability Confident Recruiter eLearn modules.
The annual renewal process is a requirement of the program to ensure that recruitment processes and procedures continue to be barrier free and that inclusive recruitment practices are sustained.
10. How are organisations recognised as Disability Confident Recruiter?
Organisations are recognised with Disability Confident Recrutier status through:
- Gaining access to the Disability Confident Recrutier badge (in various colours) and can be used on marketing collateral, email signature, job advertisements, website/careers page etc.
- Being listed on this webpage with a link to their website.
- Annual Disability Confidence Awards Night
11. How much does the program cost?
Member and non-member pricing is available. Please contact us to for a quote.
Building Inclusive Recruitment Practices Webinar
Discover how removing barriers creates more impactful recruitment practices and helps attract diverse talent. Lara Bernardo, Disability Confident Recruiter® (DCR) Lead, leads a conversation with recruitment specialists from DPV and Custom Fleet.
Slides deck and Frequently Asked Question (FAQs)
- Download the slide deck (PDF, 891 KB) presented in the webinar
- Download the FAQs (Word, 425 KB)