Attention, Recruiters! Here’s what dyslexic folks want you to know.

Although unemployment in the UK is at a high since the pandemic , companies are still reporting a labour shortage … meaning we’re seeing a flurry of recruiter activity on LinkedIn.?

That’s great news if you’re looking for a new role. For some levels and industries, it’s easier to find a new job through your inbox than sifting through job sites— but if you’re dyslexic, you know this recruitment style can leave a little to be desired, too. Communicating over messaging is tricky for many dyslexic people because it’s hard to get all the information at once, and there’s so much reading and processing under pressure as we apply and arrange interviews. There are a few easy fixes that could make the process?much more accessible… we just wish recruiters knew them.?

The 5 things we wish our inbox recruiters knew!

1. We need you to keep communications short and relevant. Reading (and screen-reading) can get draining, even for those of us with decent reading skills. Keep your opening messages as short and to the point as possible: details about the job, company and benefits are great, but stats on the sector, how much you liked our profile, or long client pitches? These can exhaust our reading energy before we’ve even got halfway, and it’s easy to miss out on vital information.

2. We’re going to need more information about the process. Do we have to do a one-stage interview, or a four-stage one? Are there AI interviews? Is there a written task or test— and are we being scored against any kind of competency matrix? These considerations might mean the difference between interviewing and not interviewing, and disclosing dyslexia or not disclosing, so it’s important information to have.

3. We’d like the questions up-front. As a rule, recruiters don’t have control over how businesses process an application—that’s how we end up having to send a CV to a recruiter, then fill in a company’s online application, then do a cover letter… you get the picture. But one thing recruiters can request for us is the questions before the interview. This is becoming relatively standard practice for neurodivergent candidates, and can be really helpful if our dyslexia impacts our processing speed and short-term memory.

4. Hybrid, remote, or office is a first-stage conversation. We may prefer a specific working environment: this might be the office (where we have human reading support), our home (where we have space to concentrate), or a mixture of both. That work location needs to be a day-one conversation, not ‘it’s negotiable’ or revealed halfway through—applying and interviewing takes a lot of mental energy, and that’s wasted if the role location can’t meet our reading needs.

5. Ask about accessibility needs. A major thing you can do for us is ask if we need support at the start of the process. This might be offering to communicate on the phone instead of messaging, it might be asking if we need reasonable adjustments at interview, or consideration changes on our behalf, or even just being more flexible with response times. It can be anxiety-inducing to ask for these ourselves, especially when we’re worried it might cost us a job— but when the recruiter asks first, it breaks down the barrier, and it’s often a lot easier to be open about our needs.

…But how do recruiters know if someone’s dyslexic?

Unless you’ve got it in your LinkedIn bio, they don’t.?

That’s why it’s important to advocate that accessibility changes like these are made to recruitment communications across the board. It’s not only dyslexic folks who can benefit from them: people with other neurodiversities, processing disorders and anxiety disorders can have a less stressful time too. And it normalises the process of asking for adjustments and changes, too— meaning that in future, fewer folks will feel singled out or awkward asking for them.

Recruiters, we need your support on this one. Let’s build a better working world for all! For more tips on job-hunting with dyslexia, check out SWD’s handy 5-step guide to bossing your job interview !