“In former days, we would ask for a driver’s license if travelling is needed in the job. Now, we realize that travelling can also be done by public transport or any other means. And this is why we now mention that you need to be able to travel.”

“If special skills are needed, we formerly asked for a diploma that shows you have a proof of ‘having these skills’. Nowadays, we ask for the special skills. Because you might have learned them in your former work, or anywhere else.”

“Formerly we wrote ‘you need to be enthusiastic and dynamic’. We liked the words and wanted all candidates to be this, although it wasn’t really clear why we wanted this for the job. As if somebody quiet and secure wasn’t able to carry out the work in the most effective way. We learned to delete those words and only go for the essence!”

“Before, we used ‘you need to be multi deployable’. It was difficult for interested candidates to interpret what we meant by that. Now we make it clear where the candidate will be deployed, that can be two places, then we define two places.”

“We know we are allowed to openly stimulate candidates with a disability to apply. Since they form a minority in our company, it is generally allowed to mention it, to eliminate the inequalities between people without disabilities who work and people with disabilities who work.”

“ We indicate in our vacancy text that ‘we invite everyone who meets the minimum job requirements and has a disability for an initial interview’. That is positive discrimination and it gives them an advantage.”

“ We work together with this service provider; they have job coaches and candidates and they
support us in making the match between what we need and the candidates. It saves us a lot of time; they are really partners for us.”

“ The service provider’s support has been fundamental, being always available within a phone call’s reach, establishing a relationship of great trust and honesty. They reassure us that we will not be left ‘hanging’ if something goes wrong.”

“We introduced working with tables with a list of requirements, to make use of the objective information mentioned in the application letters of the candidates. It really took some time getting used to working in this objective way, The tendency to immediately put letters of candidates mentioning a disability aside, ran deep. Now, I am happy that we are doing this in our company and I am pleasantly surprised by the choices of candidates we have made.”

“ We always include the following sentence in our invitations: Do you need any specific requirements concerning the time and place of the interview, or is there anything we need to think of when arranging the interview Candidates really appreciate this; young parents appreciate it, as well as the few candidates with a disability we have.”

“We once invited a person in a wheelchair for an interview on the second floor and we had no elevator.
We felt really embarrassed, and decided such a mistake was once and never again. And that’s how it is now, we know what to think of when inviting someone with a disability.”

“ We learned to communicate in a clear way. We skip metaphors, make short sentences, we avoid jargon and difficult words. It was difficult in the beginning, now we feel much more comfortable ourselves.”

“ We know all our candidates want to make a good impression. We once had a candidate that did not look at us, which feels strange. We now know he was very interested in the job, although he appeared not to be.”

“ We give all our candidates time to answer, although this sometimes takes more time than we are used to. Again, it doesn’t say anything about the intellectual capacities of the candidate, that’s what we have learned.”

“ We always organize a tour through our company, that gives candidates a good view on the work and the context of the work.”

“We know most adjustments have to do with hours and time of working, and being respected by colleagues.”

“In our case the necessary adaptations, such as the presence of a colleague to face the employee’s insecurity, arranging the transport to the workplace, or the timely reinforcement of the employee necessary for a predictable increase in the work volume, have been taken care of from the beginning.”