LinkedIn Inclusivity: Empowering Job Seekers with Disabilities

Natasha Martin

Disclaimer: I’m aware that such questionanswer might be sensitive to some people; I don’t intend to hurt anyone.

Clarification questions:

Can I please ignore the word “Good” since others might intercept it differently? Sure
Since LinkedIn might have different implications in different countries, may I focus on the US market first? Sure
People with disabilities? What kind of disabilities? For you to determine
Are there any budget/time constraints? Be efficient and focused 🙂

Structure:

I will review LinkedIn’s mission and how such a product serves it. Then, I’m going to talk about the users, explore their user journey, and search for pain points and opportunities; I’ll focus on one and ideate a few solutions and explain who am I going to measure it.

Mission & Product: connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful. A product that will allow people with disabilities to connect and find a workplace will serve LinkedIn’s mission.

Who are the competitors or stakeholders

I’m not familiar with such organizations at scale.
Stakeholders may include the family and friends, government, organization that people with disabilities are part of and the community.
Another main stakeholder is the companies looking for employees and head-hunters.

Users

Physical disabilities
- Can’t see
- Can’t hear
- Can’t talk
- Can’t move
- Others
Mental disabilities

I’m sure that there are many other different types of disabilities;

I would like to focus on people who struggle to talk or to hear for two reasons,

I think that they struggle even more during the pandemic.
I’m familiar with some people with challenges to hear or speak, and that it’s why I believe it will be easier for me to get into their shoes.

I’m going to review their user journey and think about pain points and opportunities for LinkedIn.

#		Significant Unique Pain Point
1	Register	–
2	Set a profile	–
3	Search for opportunities	+	Unclarity about which companies and openings are relevant for “a person like” me
4	Apply	–
5	Interview	+	How can I be interviewed remotely? How can I prepare the interviewer for “me”?

	Another journey
6	Respond to headhunters	+	Sometimes interviewers approach me, and then they fall back once they understand “who I am.”

I think that there are a few opportunities to simplify the process of exploring job opportunism for people with disabilities.

The goal: simplify the process of exploring job opportunities for people with disabilities.

Ideas:

#		Description	Additional Info
1	Job Seeker Search filters	When searching for a job, have filters for people with capabilities, with subfilters of listen, see, speak, move, etc.	Will require companies to tag the openings as such
2	Headhunters Filters	Have filtering options to search for people with disabilities	Will require people to classify themselves as such
3	Community assistance / LinkedIn assistance	Allow people to assist people with disabilities to find a job – e.g., redirect phone calls and screening interviews, prepare for interviews, adjust.	Paid, Free, Earn Badges,…

Prioritize

#		Effort	Impact on the goal
1	Job Seeker Search filters	Low	High
2	Headhunters Filters	Low	Medium
3	Community assistance / LinkedIn assistance	High	Medium

I would prioritize #1, then #2, and maybe later #3

Metrics

Main metrics
- The number of users used the filters and then applied to a job.
- # of companies and openings marked as compatible for people with disabilities.
Secondary metric
- Was there an increase in # of submissions of users who started using the filters?
- Was there an increase in profile adjustments by users who started using the feature
- Was there an increase in messages sent by those users?

Trade-Offs Concerns

Follow the number of complaints and messages around that feature.
Social Media and Public Relations.

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