Checklist: Interviewing Tips

The impact of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) on each aspect of the employment relationship cannot be underestimated. Hiring, while critical, is only one of the major processes significantly impacted by the ADA. Where does an employer start? Start with the beginning of the hiring process. One of the key steps in the hiring process is interviewing. This document provides the reader with: 

POLICY GUIDANCE: Impact of ADA on attitudes 

New skills needed. With the passage of the ADA, managers and interviewers may need skills and insights to assist them in interviewing applicants with disabilities. Skills and insights needed include: 

• Interviewers will need to be in touch with their real feelings towards people with disabilities. If the interviewer has negative or biased feelings, he or she must learn to overcome them.
• Managers must have correct information about specific disabilities. 
• HR professionals, supervisors and interviewers must understand the reasonable accommodation process. 
• Managers should learn how to utilize referral sources in all aspects of the employment process--hiring, work rules, discipline, benefits, programs, etc. 
• In addition to any applicable state law, employers should have a clear understanding of their responsibilities and liabilities under the ADA.

Negative feelings. Interviewers may be uncomfortable interviewing an applicant with a disability. These feelings may arise from:

• Lack of contact with individuals with disabilities or a general sense of uneasiness because they are uncertain how to act in the presence of an individual with a disability. 
• Feelings of paternalism--a feeling that people with disabilities are dependent and helpless and therefore in need of special treatment. 
• There may be certain assumptions on the part of others concerning what people with disabilities feel about their conditions--that individuals with disabilities feel sorry for themselves or feel bitter; or that people with disabilities can or cannot do certain activities. Some individuals may harbor strong feelings of rejection or revulsion in the presence of a person with a disability.

Managers and professionals should be aware of these attitudes since they may affect behavior in the interview and can create liability for the employer. For example, negative attitudes are often telegraphed through body language. The interviewer might put increased distance between himself or herself and the applicant.

CHECKLIST: Tips for interviewers uncomfortable with persons with disabilities 

There are several approaches that an interviewer may use to deal with social uneasiness during the interview.

• When addressing the applicant, look at him or her directly. Deliberately averting your gaze is impolite and can be uncomfortable. Tension is only increased when the interviewer avoids eye contact.
• Ask the person with a disability what is the best way to communicate with him or her. The person with a disability will understand that this is your first experience with someone with his or her specific condition, and may be quite comfortable letting you know what behaviors are needed.
• Even if the person with a disability is accompanied by a helper, speak directly to the person with a disability.
• Do not automatically assume that the person with a disability needs assistance. However, feel free to offer assistance if the need arises.
• Do not tell the applicant that you admire his or her courage. Do not express sympathy for him or her.
• Do not avoid certain questions because you assume that the applicant is sensitive or fragile. Do not avoid asking certain questions that are important to the interview.
• Ask all questions in a straightforward matter-of-fact manner.
• Do not assume if the interviewer is uncomfortable that attitude will be reflected by coworkers.

CHECKLIST: Interview tips relating to specific disabilities 

Interviewers who may feel comfortable with individuals with disabilities may lack basic information about the symptoms and effects of different disabilities. While HR professionals cannot expect to be experts on all disabilities, there are some guidelines that they can use to enable the interview to go more smoothly. 

Applicants with hearing impairments. When communicating with applicants with hearing impairments: 

• Face a person who is lip reading. Speak slowly and distinctly. Avoid gesturing around the face, since this is distracting. A beard or mustache may interfere with a lip-reader s ability to read your lips.
• A sign language interpreter should be positioned properly. He or she should sit next to you so that the person with a hearing impairment can shift his gaze back and forth from the interpreter to you easily.
• Do not refer to a deaf person as deaf and dumb. Many deaf persons have the ability to speak.
• It is not necessary to avoid using the word hear with a deaf person.
• It is appropriate to tap the person with a hearing impairment on the shoulder or to wave your hand to get visual contact.

Applicants with vision impairments. When communicating with individuals with vision impairments:

• It is not necessary to speak more loudly. However, you should not stop talking when a person with a vision impairment is approaching you because he or she relies on the sound of your voice for direction.
• When a person with a vision impairment enters your office, it may be helpful to extend your arm to guide him or her to a chair.
• If there are other individuals in your office, a person with a vision impairment may not be aware of this. Therefore, introduce each person by name and indicate where they are sitting in the room relative to where the person with a vision impairment is seated.

Applicants with mobility impairments. When communicating with an individual with a mobility impairment:

• Do not presume that he or she needs assistance. An individual in a wheelchair will not normally require your help to push him or her into a room.
• Provide assistance if you are asked.
• Be aware of the location of wheelchair ramps and restrooms so that you can refer the applicant if necessary.

Paraplegics and quadriplegics are not the only disabled individuals who may be mobility-impaired. Amputees, or persons with multiple sclerosis, arthritis or cerebral palsy might also be wheelchair users. However, most persons who are in wheelchairs are paraplegics or quadriplegics as a result of a spinal cord injury. (Other causes include poliomyelitis, Guillian-Barre Syndrome or various dystrophies of the muscle.) This injury is a lesion of the cord that results in paralysis of certain parts of the body and corresponding loss of sensation. Paraplegia refers to paralysis from approximately the waist down; quadriplegia from approximately the shoulders down.

Interviewing Job Applicants Who Use Wheelchairs

 First, are you accessible?

With wheelchair-using job applicants, the interviewing process begins--or may end--in your parking lot. It s been known to happen that persons in wheelchairs have failed to show up for job interviews because they could not get from the parking area to the office.

Determining if the building is physically accessible

The following checklist is to make sure your building is physically accessible.

Parking:

• Are marked spaces designated for disabled people ( Handicapped Parking )?
• If yes, are these spaces located near the entrance to the facility?
• Is a drop-off zone at the entrance available?
• Does a pathway (without abrupt level changes or steps) lead from the parking area to the entrance?

Entrance:

• Is the door at least 32 inches wide?
• Is the door easy to open (not heavy; easily grasped handle; or automated)?

Route to interviewing office:

• Is the office located on the entrance level?
• If yes, can it be reached without interruption, steps, abrupt changes or unmaneuverable corners?
• Is the floor surface hard, or must applicants travel over soft carpet (a difficult maneuver for wheelchair users)?
• If the elevator must be used to reach the office, is the call button no more than 42 inches from the floor?
• Is the elevator door at least 36 inches wide?
• Is the elevator cab large enough for wheelchair maneuverability (a 51-inch diameter is required)?
• Is the top of the control panel no more than 54 inches from the floor?

Interviewing office/area:

• Are office doors at least 32 inches wide?
• Is the door threshold no more than 1/2 inch high?
• Is the surface of the floor in your office area hard enough for easy wheelchair maneuverability? 

Accommodation tips. Some of the changes needed to make your interviewing process accessible to wheelchair users are simple:

• To temporarily solve the soft-carpet problem in an office, place a sheet of Plexiglas over a sizable area of the floor.
• If your office is on the fifth floor and the elevator isn't  accessible, move the site of the interview to a room on the first floor.

The Interview

Interviewing a paraplegic or quadriplegic job candidate should almost be like interviewing any able-bodied person.

• Don t avoid words such as walk or run. In general, persons who use wheelchairs employ the English language like everyone else, especially when it comes to idioms. ( I've got to run. )
• Relaxing and talking naturally is an important part of showing acceptance and respect.
• It's human nature to wonder how a person in a wheelchair became disabled but a job interview between two strangers is not the time or place to find out. Keep all your questions related to the task at hand--determining whether the candidate is qualified for your job opening.

Other interviewing tips:

• DO say: Here are the duties of the job. How would you accomplish each one?
• DON'T say: I honestly can't see how you can do this job.
• DO ask the qualified applicant what kind of accommodation he or she needs to perform the job.
• DON'T assume your company/organization cannot accommodate the wheelchair- using candidate--or the cost will be too high--before finding out what worksite modifications are available.
• DO, if possible, take the applicant for a tour of the worksite. It is the ideal place to discuss job accommodations.
• DON'T make assumptions about a quadriplegic's or paraplegic's ability to do a job based on your knowledge of the disability or your experience with persons who have a similar disability.
• AND NEVER OFFER A WHEELCHAIR USER A JOB OUT OF PITY. It isn't fair to the disabled job seeker, nor to your employer nor to the individual who is qualified for the position.

Applicants with speech impairments. When interviewing a person with a speech impairment:

         If you cannot understand the person s response, ask him or her to repeat himself or herself.

• You may lose valuable information if you do not follow up on answers that are confusing or that don't make sense to you.
• Relax while listening. Your ear will adjust more quickly to the sound of the applicant's speech.

More information on specific disabling conditions can be obtained from local and national rehabilitation agencies.

POLICY GUIDANCE: Illegal inquiries under the ADA

There are valid reasons to screen out an applicant who happens to be disabled. There are also questions an interviewer may ask an applicant with a disability and there are some inquiries that would be considered illegal under the ADA. Here are some examples:

• You can refuse to hire an individual who currently uses drugs illegally. However, you cannot refuse to hire someone who is otherwise qualified for the position and who has successfully completed or is currently in a drug rehabilitation program. That person must no longer be using drugs, however.
• You cannot refuse to hire an applicant with a disability because he or she presents a slightly increased risk of harm to himself or others. You cannot deny an otherwise qualified applicant with a disability a position based on speculation that he or she won t be able to perform the job in the future, or because by hiring him or her your workers compensation or health insurance costs may increase.
• You may not ask an applicant with a disability about his or her history of workers compensation claims at the pre-offer stage.
• If the cost of accommodating an applicant with a disability causes an undue hardship, you must give the applicant the opportunity to provide the accommodation or pay for the portion of the accommodation that constitutes the undue hardship.
• You cannot ask an applicant whether he or she has a disability or about the nature of the disability. You can, however, ask an applicant with a disability questions about his or her ability to perform job-related functions, as long as the questions are not phrased in terms of a disability. You can also ask an applicant to describe or demonstrate how, with or without reasonable accommodation, the applicant will perform job-related functions.
• You cannot require an applicant to take a medical exam before making a job offer. However, after a job offer is made, you may ask an applicant to take a medical exam if everyone who will be working in that job category will be required to do so.
• Since testing for illegal drugs is not considered a medical exam, you can administer preemployment drug tests. Also, it is not necessary to show that the drug test is job-related or consistent with business necessity.
• You can require a written test of an applicant with dyslexia if the ability to read is the skill the test is designed to measure, and all applicants for the position are tested.
• You may require an applicant with a disability to complete a test within a specified time frame if speed is one of the skills being tested and all applicants for the position must complete the test within that time frame.
• You may invite applicants who have disabilities to request accommodations for taking tests a reasonable time before the administration of the test, and you may request documentation verifying the need for accommodation.

Reprinted with permission. © CCH