Your recruitment process may be excluding talented candidates before you ever meet them

This is a guest blog by REC business partner, ReciteMe.

Your recruitment process may be excluding talented candidates before you ever meet them

With careers sites, application forms, assessments and onboarding now largely online, recruitment has become a digital experience from the very first interaction. If those digital touchpoints are not accessible, candidates may drop out before the process has even begun. Prioritising digital accessibility is one of the simplest and most effective ways to widen opportunity and reach the best talent.

Why prioritise digital accessibility and inclusion in recruitment?

For millions of people, applying for a job online is not straightforward. Candidates with visual impairments, neurodivergence, mobility impairments, learning difficulties, or those who speak English as a second language can encounter barriers throughout the recruitment process. These barriers are often unintentional, but their impact is significant. If someone cannot navigate a careers site, complete an application form, or access an online assessment, they are unlikely to continue with the process.

That means organisations are potentially excluding talented people before recruitment has even properly begun.

According to the Recruitment Industry Disability Initiative (RIDI), 75% of jobseekers surveyed said their condition impacted their job search, while 54% encountered barriers at multiple stages of recruitment. For recruiters facing skills shortages and increasing pressure to attract diverse talent, those figures should act as a wake-up call. In our own survey of recruitment professionals, 94% of recruiters said that attracting diverse talent is a priority. This means digital accessibility should make it to your list of top priorities.

Inclusive recruitment is often framed as a culture conversation, and rightly so. But digital accessibility is one of the most practical and immediate ways organisations can improve inclusion, candidate experience, and hiring outcomes simultaneously.

Digital accessibility and reputation

If a candidate cannot read a job advert clearly, navigate a website using a keyboard, understand online instructions, or use assistive technology during an application process, the experience immediately becomes more difficult than it should be. Many candidates will not raise concerns or ask for help, they will simply leave. That gives you a commercial and, potentially, a reputational problem. No one wants to see a public review about their processes as not being inclusive.

Organisations invest substantial budgets into attracting talent, yet inaccessible recruitment journeys create unnecessary drop-offs. At the same time, businesses risk missing out on skilled candidates who could bring valuable perspectives, innovation, and lived experiences into the workplace.

As recruitment is increasingly reliant on digital touchpoints, accessibility can no longer sit solely with IT or compliance teams. It needs to become part of your recruitment strategy.

Digital accessibility and legislation

Alongside the ethical and commercial case for inclusive recruitment, organisations are also facing growing legal and regulatory pressure to improve digital accessibility.

In the UK public sector, the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations (PSBAR) require websites, mobile applications and digital services to meet accessibility standards, including compliance with WCAG guidelines and the publication of accessibility statements. Across Europe, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) is raising expectations around accessible digital experiences for organisations serving EU consumers and users.

Importantly, accessibility obligations are no longer limited to one region or one sector. Organisations should consider the regulations and accessibility expectations of every territory they operate in or serve digitally. A recruitment business headquartered in the UK may still need to align with EU accessibility requirements if it recruits internationally or provides services across borders.

That is why accessibility cannot be treated as a standalone compliance exercise. It needs to become part of how organisations design digital experiences from the outset.

The encouraging part is that inclusive recruitment does not require organisations to rebuild everything overnight. Often, meaningful progress comes from removing practical barriers and making recruitment experiences easier for everyone to use.

Here are five key actions recruiters can take to prioritise inclusive recruitment

1. Write job descriptions that are genuinely inclusive

Many job descriptions unintentionally exclude people through overly complex language, unnecessary requirements, or gendered terminology.

Using plain English, clearly defining responsibilities, and avoiding jargon makes roles easier to understand and more accessible to a broader range of candidates. Inclusive language also benefits candidates using assistive technologies or translation tools.

If someone outside your organisation cannot easily understand the role, there is a good chance the advert needs simplifying.

2. Review the accessibility of your careers site

A careers website is often the first interaction candidates have with an organisation. If it is difficult to navigate, inaccessible on mobile, or incompatible with assistive technologies, candidates may never complete an application.

Recruiters should work alongside digital teams to ensure careers sites align with recognised accessibility standards such as WCAG 2.2 AA.

Simple improvements such as keyboard-friendly navigation, descriptive links, accessible forms, clear heading structures, alt text for images, and strong colour contrast can significantly improve usability.

3. Normalise reasonable adjustments

Candidates should not feel uncomfortable asking for support during recruitment. Instead of waiting for people to disclose needs, organisations should proactively ask whether adjustments would help candidates perform at their best. This could include additional time for assessments, alternative interview formats, subtitles during video calls, or flexible scheduling.

When accessibility is treated as standard practice rather than a special request, it creates a more inclusive experience for everyone.

4. Train hiring teams to recognise unconscious bias

Technology alone cannot solve inclusion challenges. Recruitment teams also need to understand how unconscious bias influences decision-making.

Bias can appear through assumptions about names, career gaps, education, communication styles, or “culture fit”. Structured interviews, consistent evaluation criteria, and inclusive recruitment training can help hiring teams make fairer and more objective decisions.

Diverse interview panels can also improve representation and help candidates feel more comfortable during the process.

5. Treat accessibility as an ongoing process

Accessibility is not a one-off exercise. Recruitment platforms, job adverts, and candidate experiences evolve constantly, which means accessibility needs ongoing review and improvement. Organisations should regularly monitor candidate feedback, identify where applicants drop off, and assess how accessible their digital recruitment processes remain over time.

The organisations that recognise this now will be better positioned to attract and retain diverse talent in the future. Because inclusive recruitment is not simply about opening doors wider. It is about ensuring people can actually get through them.

To check your website’s accessibility, use Recite Me’s Accessibility Checker starting with a free scan. You can also download our report, Breaking Barriers: Inclusive Hiring for All for more guidance.

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