Hiring Knowledgable Staff

It is clear to you that web developers need to have a good understanding of accessibility, as they will be responsible for much of the company’s digital accessibility. But, you also want to understand what knowledge and skills other staff should have, so you can ask the appropriate accessibility questions during job interviews with potential candidates.

Roles and Accessibility Responsibilities

For most positions an organization may be hiring for, digital accessibility knowledge or skills need not be a requirement, though having that knowledge or skills should add points to a candidate’s overall score. For most positions, a little training will provide the needed details of accessibility requirements for particular roles.

Of the various roles that could be found in an organization, it is the web developers who will need to be most familiar with accessibility requirements and the strategies to meet those requirements. Knowledge and skills for web developers will be covered separately later in this unit.

The following lists in general terms the skills and knowledge each role in an organization should possess or be trained in, starting with knowledge everyone should possess and followed by additional specific skills for particular roles:

Everyone

• Disability sensitivity
• Organization requirements (high level, legislated obligations)

Senior managers

• Organization requirements (details of legislated obligations)
• Experience with change-management projects

Store managers

• Customer-service accessibility

Sales staff

• Customer-service accessibility

Office staff

• Document accessibility
• Basic web accessibility

Human resource staff

• Role-based accessibility knowledge and skills
• Accessible employment practices and local accessibility regulations
• Document accessibility
• Knowledge of training, change management
• Knowledge of accommodations for people with disabilities
• Knowledge of the organization’s accessibility efforts

Communication and marketing

• Document accessibility
• Multimedia accessibility
• Basic web accessibility

Purchasers

• Organization requirements (procurement)
• Basic web accessibility

Telephone support staff

• Customer service accessibility

UI designer

• Universal design principles
• Basic web accessibility

Web content authors

• Basic web accessibility

Media support staff

• Basic web accessibility
• Multimedia accessibility

Distribution centre staff

• Minimal

Cleaning and maintenance

• Minimal